About Us

Founding Principles

Today people want to know who someone is in addition to who that person is professionally.
I was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in a Jewish/Catholic neighborhood with kids and bikes and
sleds and flag football on every block.

In the mid-1980s went to Wayland High School and graduated at the top of my class. While being
a Gay teen in late 20th Century Boston was tough, it taught me to live my life with dignity, with
purpose and to understand that no matter how hard my struggle was, two things were certain:
First, that the struggle was worth it if it made the world a better place; and second, that eventually
the experience will be one that can help others.

My undergraduate work was done at Loyola University, New Orleans followed by the University of San Diego (USD), where I graduated Magna Cum Laude while working to put myself through school. In the last two years of school I had the terrific experience of teaching Spanish to 1st & 2nd Semester freshmen at USD.

After graduating I took at job as a simultaneous translator (English-Spanish) and an account manager for a banking software firm, in charge of all Mexican and South American accounts. I traveled, translated, write technical manuals in Spanish and taught Spanish speakers in large classes on how to use our software. Not only did this job further hone my teaching skills and expose me to banking (which moved me into mortgaging), but it was also a fantastic experience flying three weeks out of every month for three years visiting numerous Spanish-speaking countries and visiting innumerable capitals, museums, cultural landmarks and meeting the peoples of a continent to which I had never been.

Interestingly, one of the greatest experiences of my life occurred during this time. I had been sponsoring children in foreign countries since I chose the activity as my charitable action during the process of my confirmation. I was 14 at the time. Many years and many children later, I happened to be working with Banco Antioqueño in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia. At that time my sponsored child was a little girl named Kelly who lived in a coastal city of Colombia, Barranquilla. So one weekend, instead of traveling home, I flew to Barranquilla and met her. We spoke and went to the zoo, bought books and crayons and shared a lovely and memorable day. When the grind and responsibilities of owning and running a business get me down - I remember Kelly and her home without even a stove and refamiliarize myself with the fact that my problems are problems I am very lucky to have.

I am lucky to have found a profession in which I can use one of my great passions - teaching. I love it when I explain complicated mortgage concepts in a way that gets across to my client and I can literally see the expression of understanding right before me. I believe this also helps my clients immensely. I am also lucky to have the clientele I have built over 25 years.

We created the company in order to bring ethics, law, respect and transparency back to the mortgage industry. We looked about and saw that it was lacking and that we couldn’t find a brokerage that dedicated itself to educating clients, meeting ethical responsibilities and providing respectful, top notch customer service. So we started one. And it worked.

I am thankful to many, but particularly to the Southern Baptist, African-American community in Austin, TX - a loving community that practically built my mortgage brokerage in the early years. Their commitment to referring congregation members and friends to MPS was remarkable and I am forever grateful. For this reason and because we believe in the cause, 10% of net income from all African-American clients or from any client that wishes to support the cause, is donated to Black Lives Matter every quarter.

And while I am thankful for all clients, I am especially thankful for our repeat clients (of which there are many hundreds) as well as our builders, our appraisers, our home inspectors - they all played a part in forging the brokerage that is here to help you today.

After 25 years in this profession I find myself and older man, but very proud to have established an ethical, legal, careful and responsible voice in the choir of mortgage lenders out there. But that which makes me most proud is that I helped to create the first openly and publicly Gay-owned, independent mortgage brokerage in Austin. By 2003 we were the 4th largest mortgage concern in Austin and the only Gay-owned mortgage firm in the city. That made me really proud.
But many people don’t understand why this was (and is) so important. They say “I don’t say my accounting firm is a straight firm." And you know what? I am glad they don’t need to. But it’s different for us. Being public about being a Gay-owned brokerage is not done in order to get accolades or to have people look and say “oh good for them”. Actually, we’ve gotten some scorn ove it and probably lost some business because of it. So why, you ask, did we do so? We did it because we felt it was important for young, Gay people. There is so much around today that helps marginalized or minority kids feel “a part of” the American fabric: An African-American boy can see an image of a Black, male, CEO on a magazine and he can aspire. A little girl can see the image of the first female president and she can imagine herself in public service. An Asian kid can see an Asian sports star on a billboard and that child can strive to be a great athlete who just happens to be Asian. But what about the Gay kid? To whom can that child look to feel like he or she too can belong and become something important in society? One cannot “see” Gay on a magazine cover about a CEO or instantly notice it in an article about a president or on a billboard. To help those young people, it has to be deliberately stated. And in this nation, where 40% or more of Gay youth contemplate suicide, stating it deliberately might just save a few lives. If just one Gay kid saw our commercials or read about me in the Austin American Statesman or saw our rankings in the Austin Business Journal and because of it he or she felt proud or felt inspired or just didn’t kill him or herself - then it was all worth it. Hopefully I accomplished that at the very least. Preferably I showed many young Gay men and women that they too are equal citizens with bright futures. Maybe I helped show them that they too can rise above the ignorance and make the world better for themselves, their communities and future generations. I set out to create a great company serving American homeowners with great products, rates and service. But I ended up creating many jobs, charitable donations, new friends and a lot of understanding in a lot of communities about how real estate and mortgaging work. The fact that I also created hope and saved some parents from burying a Gay child - that’s what really counts.

I never thought I would be in finance. I was a language major and was thinking about law school. But when I found mortgaging, I found it to be a creative, exciting profession where the better I became at my job, the better I could serve the people who needed me. Then I learned that if I shared what I knew freely with my team and my clients, the more trusted I became. When I began to look at each loan like a puzzle that can come into clear view with enough effort - I really found my stride and I became known as an expert. From there I started becoming an expert witness in mortgaging and started learning other segments of the industry. It has been an extremely fulfilling career I hope you will entrust us with your financial goals so that we may serve you as best we can. I will be sure to send a handwritten note thanking you when we finish - as I have done for every client for 25 years.

Thank you for reading these thoughts, for considering MPS and I look forward to continuing to be of service for another 25 years or more.