According to HousingWire, Fairway Home Mortgage brought back Jeff Gilmore, Matt Gray, and their entire 28-person team from Matthews, North Carolina after the group had spent two years working elsewhere. The team originally worked at Fairway from 2010 through 2024 before departing, and they returned in September of last year.
The lending data tells an interesting story about the market conditions. Through mid-August, the team logged 418 loans worth about $125.5 million. When you compare that to their full-year performance in 2025, they did nearly double that volume. The contrast shows how the mortgage landscape has shifted over the past year or so.
Gilmore explained that leaving Fairway wasn't about losing faith in the company. He said the team wanted to explore opportunities for growth elsewhere, but that experience ended up clarifying what they valued most about their former employer. He highlighted Fairway's responsiveness in underwriting, the accessibility of leadership, and a culture where people genuinely look out for one another.
What caught my attention is that this isn't an isolated return. According to HousingWire, Fairway has seen 159 employees come back over the past year, including 52 loan originators who brought roughly $558 million in production back to the company. Holly Mattson, Fairway's co-president of recruiting, suggested that people frequently mention missing the company's culture and its commitment to speed and efficiency.
Gray added another dimension to why they decided to return. He noted that being away made the team realize how much they valued working for leadership that actually has hands-on experience originating loans. That background shapes decision-making in ways that are hard to fully appreciate until you've worked somewhere different.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area and throughout the East Bay is that mortgage professionals continue to prioritize company culture and operational support over just chasing commissions. Borrowers benefit when their loan teams work for companies with responsive underwriting and leadership that understands the business from the ground up. If you're shopping for financing right now, it's worth asking potential lenders about their underwriting timelines and whether their decision-makers have actual origination experience.
