About
Derek Shao
Twenty years, 1,200+ loans, and one working theory: people make better decisions when someone actually explains the trade-offs.
I've been arranging residential mortgages in California for twenty years. In that time I've placed more than 1,200 loans in 192 cities across the state — the majority of them for repeat clients and the people they sent my way.
I never set out to be the loudest broker in the room. What I've tried to be is the one who picks up the phone, explains the actual math, and tells you when the answer is "wait six months."
Why independent matters
A loan officer at a bank has one shelf to sell from. If your file doesn't fit that bank's guidelines, the conversation is over.
As an independent broker I work the wholesale channel across many lenders. If one lender's overlay stops us, I move the file to a lender whose guidelines fit. I compare real pricing side by side — rate, points, lender credits, structure — and I show you that comparison rather than just announcing the winner.
Clients ask me what the difference is. I tell them it's like shopping wholesale instead of retail: the volume is higher, the pricing is sharper, and there's more than one aisle.
Where I work
My licence covers California, and the work reflects that. The San Gabriel Valley is home — Pasadena, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Arcadia, Temple City, Monterey Park, Rosemead — and it accounts for the largest single share of the loans I've placed. But Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire together account for more.
That breadth matters practically. Property tax rates, HOA structures, condo warrantability, appraisal dynamics and the realistic pace of an escrow all differ between Irvine, Rancho Cucamonga and Pasadena. Twenty years working across all of them means I'm not learning your market on your file.
The office is in Arcadia. The work is all over the state.
Why I'm on TikTok
Mortgage information online is mostly written to generate leads, not to inform. So I started answering real questions on camera, in plain English, one at a time — co-signer versus co-borrower, what pending condo litigation does to your financing, when tapping equity makes sense and when it doesn't.
If you have a question you'd like answered, send it to me. There's a good chance someone else is quietly wondering the same thing.
Credentials
- Individual NMLS
- 242117
- California DRE
- 01358261
- Company NMLS
- 393986
- Entity
- Financial Dynamics, Inc.
- Doing business as
- Emory Financial
- Licensed in
- California
Verify any mortgage professional at NMLS Consumer Access. You should do this before working with anyone, including me.
Track record
- Loans placed
- 1,233
- Total funded
- $479M
- California cities
- 192
- Households served
- 648
- Median loan
- $375,000
- Records since
- 2011
From Emory Financial's closed-loan records. Past results don't guarantee future terms.
How I work
Four commitments, and I'd rather lose the loan than break them
I'll show you the math
Not just the payment — the total interest, the break-even, the trade-off you're making. If a decision looks good monthly and bad over ten years, you'll see both numbers.
I'll tell you to wait
Sometimes the right advice costs me the commission. Refinancing isn't always worth it and stretching for a house is sometimes a mistake. You'll get the honest read.
You get me, not a queue
Same person from first call to funding. You'll have my direct number and I expect you to use it — especially at 8pm when escrow is closing Friday.
No surprise fees
Every cost disclosed up front and in writing. The number at signing matches the number we discussed, or I explain exactly why it moved.
Say hello
Fifteen minutes, no credit pull.
Whether you're six weeks or six months out, the conversation is free and the advice is honest.