Applications / Mortgage Analytics / Lenders / Georgia / First Option Mortgage
Atlanta, GA · Independent non-bank lender · CFPB · 1,736 loans in 2025
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1,736
loans originated, 2025
2,560
applications, 2025
26
states and territories
0
gaps bigger than at similar lenders
Our analysis, 2025
First Option Mortgage, an Atlanta mortgage company lending in 26 states, does far more of its business in minority and poorer neighborhoods than similar lenders, but its loans fell by more than a fifth in 2025.
More than half its loans (55.2%) went to majority-minority neighborhoods, where most residents belong to minority groups, against 25.3% at similar lenders, independent mortgage companies making between half and twice as many loans. Five years before, its share was 27.3%. Low- and moderate-income borrowers took 42.8% of its loans, against 28.5% at its peers. Both shares were higher than at about nine in ten of them.
A third of its loans (33.1%) were insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), against 22.7% at similar lenders. Nearly nine in ten (86.9%) financed a purchase. Its typical loan, $275,000, was below their $315,000. That mix fits its lending to buyers of modest means.
Its loans fell 22% to 1,736, while similar lenders grew 6% and the whole market 10%; only about one in twenty peers fell further. It is down from 5,047 in 2021. The figures do not show why, though its share held in Las Vegas and rose in Laredo, so the fall was not across the board.
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta is its biggest market, where it ranked 59 of 892 lenders. Its strongest position is in Laredo, Texas, which it entered in 2021 and where it ranked 8 of 168. In 2025 it added Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, Janesville-Beloit and Charlottesville.
Similar lenders: same lender type, originations between half and twice the lender's in the data year. Written from the 2025 HMDA data and checked figure by figure against it.
FIG. 1 — LOANS ORIGINATED, 2018–2025
Originated means the loan was made: applications denied, withdrawn or not accepted are not counted. First Option Mortgage took 2,560 applications in 2025.
SOURCE: FFIEC HMDA, LOANS ORIGINATED (ACTION TAKEN: LOAN ORIGINATED)
FIG. 2 — PRODUCT MIX, 2025
Purchase 86.9% · Refinance 13.1%
Conventional 63.3% · FHA 33.1% · VA 2.8% · USDA (RHS or FSA) 0.7% · of 1,736 loans. Purchase: buying a home. Refinance: replacing an existing mortgage, including cash-out. FHA: insured by the Federal Housing Administration. VA: guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Conventional: neither.
SOURCE: FFIEC HMDA 2025, LOANS ORIGINATED
Where it lends, 2025
| State | Loans | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 836 | 48.2% |
| Texas | 302 | 17.4% |
| Indiana | 185 | 10.7% |
| Florida | 95 | 5.5% |
| Louisiana | 76 | 4.4% |
| Nevada | 58 | 3.3% |
| Maryland | 43 | 2.5% |
| Missouri | 23 | 1.3% |
| South Carolina | 23 | 1.3% |
| Virginia | 21 | 1.2% |
Largest metro areas, 2025
| Metro area | Loans |
|---|---|
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | 597 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood | 152 |
| Marietta | 137 |
| Laredo | 111 |
| Dallas-Plano-Irving | 68 |
| Baton Rouge | 62 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas | 58 |
| Gainesville | 38 |
| Washington | 29 |
| St. Louis | 25 |
Identifiers
| LEI (Legal Entity Identifier, the global company code HMDA has used since 2018) | 549300PFJ7GCGDLB2E65 | 2018–2025 |
| RSSD (the Federal Reserve's identifier for banks and their parents) | 3914564 | 2010–2023 |
| Respondent ID (the HMDA filer code before 2018) | 7680570826 |
Established 3 October 2003. Reported under HMDA 2005-2025.
Mergers, name changes, data editions and corrections: First Option Mortgage's data.
First Option Mortgage's data
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First Option Mortgage and its peers, 2018–2025: every application in the HMDA data, cleaned and corrected, as Parquet files, with the Jenner programs that made these pages.
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