Diablo Funding Group Serves Both Wholesale and Retail Mortgage Markets

By Scott Eldredge, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Diablo Funding Group is a full service mortgage banking company headquartered in San Ramon. For the last two years it has been the largest residential mortgage broker in the Bay Area, with more than $4 billion in closed loans in 2005. The Pleasanton office is located in Hacienda at 5990 Stoneridge Drive.

The company was founded in 1992 as a result of the refinance boom occurring at that time. Much of the mortgage industry was involved with refinances, and realtors were having trouble finding loan officers for new mortgages. Glen Langston, Dean Langston, and Anthony Battagello of Great American Real Estate Team decided to open a mortgage company called Diablo Funding Group.

"There were too many refinances going on and not enough people focused on the purchase business," says Dean Langston, founder and director. "Diablo Funding was started with two goals in mind. One was to serve the realtors of Great American by providing the best loans and services to the borrower, and the other was to help people to grow to the best of their and our ability, together."

Diablo Funding discovered that others in the real estate industry needed help, and the company has grown steadily since, including the Pleasanton office run by Glenna Nickerson, branch manager. She now oversees the mortgage broker activities of thirty loan officers and staff offering a wide range of products and services.

"On the wholesale side, the mortgage banking side, we're able to underwrite and close loans in our own name, and then sell these loans to investors," says Nickerson. "So we have our own money to fund our own loan programs. As a broker, we have access not only to our own loans but also to those from roughly 450 different investors. We have the resources to provide loans that exactly suit our clients' needs."

Nickerson's office strives to provide information as well as loan services as part of helping clients understand and manage their finances. The office website, at www.dfgpleasanton.com, offers a library with more than 150 articles, an online section on mortgage basics, and a number of calculators to determine such things as payments, remaining principal, and tax benefits. Information is also available on all its loan programs as well as current interest rates.

Clients and potential clients can also learn by attending seminars on such subjects as first time home buying, credit repair, and reverse mortgages.

"These days people are living longer; they're working longer; there aren't retirement pensions like there once were," she explains. "With the baby boomers starting to retire, reverse mortgages are becoming huge in the industry. Diablo Funding does many every month now. We have two people in my office that specialize in reverse mortgages and also do seminars for people who want to learn about them."

Nickerson and her staff take training as well as provide it. This month they are learning about new first-time home buyer programs to be offered in January. Purchase prices go up to $615,000, with special opportunities for school system and other public service employees.

Diablo Funding Group has more than forty offices in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, South Dakota, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and Georgia.

Photo: Diablo Funding Group's Hacienda office is led by Glenna Nickerson, right.

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