Meet the Contributors

Aleksandra is endlessly curious about the housing market and loves turning what she learns into helpful content. She's a DePaul alum, licensed real estate agent, and NAR member who traded Chicago winters for Phoenix sunshine.

Aly J. Yale is a mortgage and real estate writer based in Houston who has contributed to Forbes and worked for organizations such as The Dallas Morning News, PBS, NBC, and Radio Disney.

Andrew Penner has worked in the real estate and mortgage industry for over three years. He is the Marketing Director at Total Mortgage Services, a nationwide lender based in Milford, Connecticut.

Barbara Ballinger is a freelance journalist and former senior editor for the National Association of REALTORS®. She has co-authored 15 books, interviewed Martha Stewart, and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show as a home remodeling expert.

Britt Scearce is a mortgage, credit and personal finance expert working with consumers and training mortgage professionals for over 18 years.

Chris Birk is a former journalist and author of “The Book on VA Loans: An Essential Guide to Maximizing Your Home Loan Benefits.” He is also the content development director for Veterans United Home Loans.

With over 20 years in mortgage banking, Craig Berry has helped thousands achieve their homeownership goals.

Dawn Papandrea is a writer specializing in personal finance. She writes for Family Circle, CreditCards.com, and more.

Erik J. Martin has written on real estate, business, tech and other topics for Reader's Digest, AARP The Magazine, and The Chicago Tribune.

Francine L. Huff is a freelance journalist, author and educator who covers financial topics for major media outlets. She has appeared on TV and radio shows, and is available for speaking engagements. Follow Francine on Twitter.

With more than 10 years in the mortgage industry, and another 10 years writing about it, Gina Freeman brings a wealth of knowledge to The Mortgage Reports as its Associate Editor. Gina works with a team of world-class real estate and finance writers to bring timely and helpful news and advice to the audience. Her specialty is helping consumers understand complex and intimidating topics.

Jamie Johnson is a Kansas City-based freelance writer who writes about mortgages, refinancing, and home buying. Over the past eight years, she's written for clients like Rocket Mortgage, CBS MoneyWatch, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek Vault, and CNN Underscored.

Keith Flamer is a pop culture scribe who dabbles in celebrity real estate, travel, architecture and extraordinary design. He enjoys exploring attics, basements, exotic locales and history in search of provenance and treasures to share with curious readers. He’s been published in Forbes, Robb Report, Town & Country, Haute Living, Savoy, Veranda, Wristwatch, Art & Antiques, and Luxury Magazine. He’s also covered luxury brands such as Hermès, Chanel, Rolex, Cartier, Tiffany, Gucci, and Patek Philippe.

Kyle Hiscock is a REALTOR® in Rochester, NY with Nothnagle Realtors. Kyle is very active on social media as well as on his blog, Rochester's Real Estate Blog.

Larry Kirschner is with the Compardo Team at Moneta Group. Larry lives in Naples, Florida.

Lou Barnes is a credit and mortgage market expert with nearly 30 years of experience.

Marcie Geffner is an award-winning freelance reporter, book editor and blogger whose work has been published by Yahoo! Finance, Fox Business, Bankrate.com, AOL Real Estate, Fidelity.com, Inman News and dozens of major U.S. newspapers.

Mark is a 25-year veteran of the mortgage origination industry and now writes about the inner workings of the industry for Forbes.

Michele Lerner, author of New Home 101, is an award-winning freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience. Her work appears in The Washington Post, New Home Source, Fox Business, MSN, Yahoo, Realtor.com, and more.

Mike Cox (NMLS# 269700) is a loan officer and branch manager with GSF Mortgage, where he has been a 10-time Loan Officer Of The Year.

Nathan Golden is a freelance personal finance writer in North Carolina. He enjoys writing simple sentences about complex financial products. Along with The Mortgage Reports, Nathan's work has been featured on home.com, money.com, and finder.com. Before becoming a freelance writer, Nathan worked as a newspaper reporter.

Paul Centopani is a writer and editor who started covering the lending and housing markets in 2018. Previous to joining The Mortgage Reports, he was a reporter for National Mortgage News. Paul grew up in Connecticut, graduated from Binghamton University and now lives in Chicago after a decade in New York and the D.C. area.

Paula Pant is a real estate investor and the founder of AffordAnything.com, a popular finance website.

Peter Warden has been writing for a decade about mortgages, personal finance, credit cards, and insurance. His work has appeared across a wide range of media. He lives in a small town with his partner of 25 years.

Rania Efthemes is an award-winning journalist and content strategist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media.

Rose McMackin is Texas-based writer.

Ryan Tronier is a personal finance writer and editor. His work has been published on NBC, ABC, USATODAY, Yahoo Finance, MSN Money, and more. Ryan is the former managing editor of the finance website Sapling, as well as the former personal finance editor at Slickdeals.

Shashank Shekhar is a mortgage broker/lender with 10+ years experience, licensed in the states of CA, WA and TX. NMLS ID 8176.

Thomas is a loan officer at Total Mortgage Services LLC with over 10 years of experience in the mortgage industry, is licensed in 19 states, and is an expert on mortgage rates and trends.

Tim Lucas spent 11 years in the mortgage industry before moving into the world of digital media. He's helped thousands of families buy and refinance real estate at banks and mortgage companies and now continues that mission through industry-leading content. Tim has been featured in national publications such as Time, U.S. News and World Report, MSN, Scotsman Guide, and more.

Tom is an author, talk-show host and newspaper columnist where he shares his expertise in real estate and reverse mortgages.

Valencia Higuera is a freelance writer from Chesapeake, Virginia. As a personal finance and health junkie, she enjoys all things related to budgeting, saving money, fitness, and healthy living.