Start with the real goal
Purchase timing, cash after closing, target payment, flexibility, and risk belong in the first conversation—not after an application is complete.
Meet your mortgage broker
Experience you can
actually reach.
Fred Chilton gives buyers, homeowners, and real-estate investors direct access to the person building the recommendation—from the first scenario through closing.
Fred Chilton · NMLS #1810817
Why I work this way
The loan is a product.
The decision is personal.
A mortgage changes far more than a monthly payment. It affects the cash you keep after closing, the flexibility you have later, the risks you accept, and sometimes the offer you can confidently make today. That is why I start with the decision rather than a rate advertisement.
I compare options across a broad lender network, model the useful tradeoffs, and explain why one structure may fit better than another. The recommendation is built around the property, income, timeline, reserves, and plans you share—not around one institution's product shelf.
Clients work directly with me during the strategy process. My responsibility is to make the numbers understandable, keep the important details visible, and stay accountable when a file needs judgment rather than a scripted answer.
A practical kind of expertise
My work spans purchase financing, refinance analysis, home-equity decisions, and investment-property strategy. That includes conventional and government-backed programs as well as jumbo, DSCR, bank-statement, and portfolio scenarios when they are appropriate and available.
I have spent more than a decade in mortgages and finance. I have also contributed mortgage and real-estate expertise as a Forbes Advisor Advisory Board member and have spoken to real-estate professionals in Austin. Those credentials matter, but the useful test is simpler: can I explain the tradeoff clearly enough for you to make a confident decision?
What working together looks like
Clear numbers.
Visible tradeoffs.
You do not need to arrive knowing the right loan program. Start with the outcome you want, then we can work backward into a structure that supports it.
Model more than one path
I compare useful structures and lenders, then show what changes in payment, cash, qualification, and longer-term cost.
Stay personally accountable
The strategy remains connected to the file. You have a direct line to Fred when assumptions change or a decision needs context.
Start where you are
Useful preparation,
without the paperwork dump.
The private mortgage snapshot asks for only the information needed to understand your direction: the goal, property state, estimated value or price, available funds or current balance, and timing. It is not a full application and does not trigger a credit pull.
If you already have a Loan Estimate, fee worksheet, purchase contract, or scenario from another lender, bring it. A good comparison looks at the rate and the costs used to create it, not merely the headline number.
If you are still exploring, use the calculators first. Nothing is sent to Fred unless you choose to text the result or submit a snapshot.
Your next move
Bring me the decision.
I’ll bring the options.
Share a private snapshot, call, or text. Fred will review the scenario directly.