Hargreaves & Bellamy is an independent mortgage brokerage in Portland, Oregon. We work for you — not the bank — and we shop 48 lenders to find the loan that actually fits your life. Same broker from pre-approval to closing. Phone calls returned same day, every time, or I personally refund your appraisal fee. — Theodora Hargreaves, Principal Broker, NMLS #487211
Most of our clients close in 22 days. The process is simple, the paperwork is explained as we go, and the same broker who takes your first call is the one who sits with you at signing. That's not a marketing promise; that's how an independent brokerage is supposed to work.
Call us, or fill the 4-question form on the site. We ring back within 2 hours during business hours. First conversation is 20 minutes: we ask about your income, your down payment, your timeline, and what you actually want your monthly payment to be. No obligation, no pull of credit, no sales pitch. If we don't think we can help, we say so and refer you to someone who can.
Day 1 · 20 minutesWe collect your documents through a secure client portal (W-2s or last two years of tax returns, recent pay stubs, bank statements, ID). We pull one soft credit check across all three bureaus. Within 48 hours, you get a written pre-approval letter for a specific loan amount and rate, backed by a specific lender — not a "you might qualify for up to $X" estimate.
Days 2–4 · secure uploadOnce you have an accepted offer (or you're looking and want firm rates to anchor your search), we send your file to 4–6 of our 48 lender partners for competing quotes. You see the raw rate sheets, the fees, the adjustments. We show you what we earn on each loan so there's no incentive for us to steer you to a more expensive product.
Days 5–9 · 4–6 lenders quoteYou pick the loan. The chosen lender underwrites, we order the appraisal, and we quarterback every condition and document request to keep it moving. Median closing time is 22 days from full application. We attend your signing at the title company — because in 22 years I have seen one too many last-minute surprises, and I want to be in the room. — Theodora
Days 10–22 · closeThese are the programs we run most often. Each row is a simplified summary — we'll walk you through the details, trade-offs, and total cost of ownership on a real call, not a chatbot on the website.
Best for: buyers planning to stay 7+ years who want payment stability.
Best for: buyers who expect to move or refinance within 7 years — most of our 30-somethings in Portland.
Best for: first-time buyers, veterans, and anyone with <20% down or credit scores 580–719.
We're small on purpose. When you call, you talk to a broker — not a call center, not a "loan originator I of IV." Every member of our team carries a full NMLS license and can run your loan start-to-finish.
Founded the firm in 2004 after 12 years at Wells Fargo. NMLS #487211. 1,200+ closed loans. VA-certified. Reads every promissory note in full, every time, because "nobody else will read it for you."
Co-founded the firm with Theodora in 2004. NMLS #487214. Jumbo & investment property specialist; runs our Vancouver, WA office. Has closed loans on 38 houseboats and one working lighthouse (Tillamook, 2019).
Joined 2012. NMLS #912447. Bilingual (Spanish / English). First-time homebuyer programs specialist; speaks fluent Oregon Bond, ODVA, and USDA Rural Development. 680+ closed loans, 94% first-time buyers.
Joined 2018. NMLS #1447882. Former credit analyst; built our refinance break-even model. If a refi doesn't save you more than 1.5× closing costs in 5 years, he'll tell you not to do it. That's rare in this industry.
"We'd been pre-approved at three banks and were ready to give up on buying in Portland. Maribel looked at our file, suggested an ODVA loan we hadn't heard of, and got us into a 1923 craftsman in Woodstock at 0.625% under every other quote. She explained every page of the closing disclosure. We closed in 19 days."
"I refinanced my 2019 HELOC with Augustus. He actually ran the numbers and told me the refi would only save me $2,300 over five years — and that paying my $840 appraisal fee to save that was "statistically silly." He talked me out of hiring him. Six months later when rates moved, he called me. That's why I referred my brother to him."
"As a small-business owner with 2 years of fluctuating 1099 income, I'd been told by three lenders I couldn't buy. Theodora spent 90 minutes on the phone on a Saturday structuring the loan as a bank-statement program with one of her non-QM lenders. We closed on our house in Hood River in 26 days. This is what a broker is supposed to do."
A mortgage broker is an independent middleman between you and lenders. We shop 48 wholesale lenders (credit unions, mortgage banks, portfolio lenders) for the best rate and program for your specific situation. You get wholesale pricing that isn't generally available retail. We are paid a lender-paid commission of 0.85%–1.25% of the loan amount, disclosed in writing on the Loan Estimate you receive within 3 days of application. We never mark up your rate. You pay the same closing costs whether you use us or go direct to a bank — but with us you see 4–6 competing quotes instead of one.
Your bank has exactly one loan product to sell you: theirs. If you don't fit their credit box, they decline. We can place your loan at 48 lenders with different overlays — so a self-employed borrower, a first-time buyer with 580 FICO, or a jumbo borrower with a lumpy W-2 has multiple homes for their file. Banks also carry overhead and retail markups that wholesale lenders don't. On a typical $450k loan in Portland, we see brokers beat the big bank quote by 0.250%–0.625% in rate, which is $18k–$45k over 30 years. That said — if your bank gives you a great deal and you trust them, use them. We've told clients this.
The lender will typically approve you for a debt-to-income ratio up to 45–50% (total debt / gross income). We think that's too high for most families. Our rule of thumb: keep your all-in PITI (principal, interest, property tax, insurance, HOA) under 28% of your gross income; keep all-debt under 36%. We build your real monthly number on our first call — and we factor in Portland's property tax rates (~1.05% Multnomah, ~0.92% Clark WA), insurance, and HOA before we quote you a comfortable price range.
The honest answer: very few people are "uncreditworthy." 740+ gets you the best pricing; 680–739 is still conventional territory with small rate bumps; 620–679 opens FHA; 580–619 opens FHA with 10% down; under 580 is hard but possible with manual underwrites. We've closed loans for clients at 583 FICO with stable 3-year employment. If credit is a concern, we'll do a free 15-minute review and tell you exactly what to pay down (and in what order) to move up a pricing tier. Sometimes paying one $400 collection raises your score 40 points overnight.
They're real, live rates we ran from our lender portals on the date shown (refreshed 08:42 PST). They assume a specific borrower profile (20% down, 740+ FICO, owner-occupied SFR, $450k loan in Multnomah County, no discount points). Your rate will be higher or lower based on your situation and what the market does between today and your lock date. We do not run "bait rates" that can never be delivered — Oregon DFR 86-4 regulations prohibit it and we've been in business 22 years specifically because we don't. Call us for a real quote on your actual scenario.
Typical all-in closing costs on a $450k purchase in Portland run $8,800–$12,200. That's a combination of: lender fees ($995–$1,495 flat), title / escrow ($2,200–$3,400), appraisal ($650–$900), recording / taxes (~$125), and prepaid items — 12 months homeowners insurance ($1,400–$2,200), 2–4 months of tax escrow ($1,800–$3,200), per-diem interest (5–25 days, $400–$2,000). We give you a written Loan Estimate within 3 business days of application with every line itemized. No surprises. Ever.