Lesser Lending — Mortgage strategy, execution, and communication

Spokane Valley · Licensed in WA & ID

Know exactly what you can buy. Before you write the offer.

Most buyers find out what they qualify for and stop there. We go further: what it costs, how to structure it, and what makes your offer stronger than the one next to it.

Takes about 12 minutes. No credit pull until you say go.

Conventional · FHA · VA · USDA Down payment assistance · WA & ID Purchase-focused

Loan Strategy Center

Run the numbers yourself.

Ten tools built around the decisions buyers and agents actually have to make. No login, no credit pull, and no lead form standing in front of the answer.

Home Buying Game Plan

Answer questions about your timeline, savings, and credit. We map which programs are worth looking at and what is actually standing in your way.

3 minOpen →

Down Payment Assistance

Enter price, income, and what you have saved. See roughly where you would land out of pocket once assistance and a seller credit are working.

2 minOpen →

Buy vs. Rent

Put in what you pay in rent and a target price. Compare it against an estimated payment with assistance and seller credits factored in.

2 minOpen →

Can You Afford This House?

Price, income, monthly debts, savings. Returns the payment, your debt-to-income, what is left in the bank after closing, and which programs fit.

90 secOpen →

VA Eligibility Check

A few questions about your service and the property. Shows what applies to your situation and what your Certificate of Eligibility still has to confirm.

2 minOpen →

Start Your Pre-Approval

The full picture — credit, income, timeline, agent, location. Goes straight to a loan officer for a real review, not an automated letter.

3 minOpen →

Payment Calculator

Pick a loan type and the rate and mortgage insurance adjust with it. Taxes, escrow, amortization schedule, and a cash-to-close range.

InstantOpen →

Can We Beat Your Rate Offer?

Enter the rate and points you were quoted. We break down what those points actually cost and where the real difference between offers hides.

60 secOpen →

Should You Refinance?

Your current rate, balance, and home value. Returns the break-even in months — the number most refinance pitches leave out.

90 secOpen →

Market Rates

Eleven national averages updated daily, with a chart running back decades. Useful for context, useless for knowing what you would actually pay.

InstantOpen →

Every tool has its own page, so you can text one straight to a client or drop it in an offer email.

Browse the Loan Strategy Center  →

Payment estimate

What would that actually cost per month?

Pick a loan type and the rate and mortgage insurance adjust with it. Want the full picture — taxes, escrow, amortization, cash to close? Open the full calculator.

Payment Calculator
CONVPMI if <20%
FHAMIP always
VANo monthly MI

The rate is an assumption you control, not a quote. National average index shown by default.

Estimated monthly payment

$2,410
Principal & interest≈$1,746
Property tax≈$277
Insurance≈$108
Mortgage insurance≈$139

Calculators are self-help tools. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative use only. Not a quote, rate lock, approval, or commitment to lend. Assumes a 30-year term. All loans subject to credit and property approval.

Loan programs

The program is a strategy decision, not a default.

Most buyers get handed whatever the lender runs most often. The right answer depends on your cash, your credit, your timeline, and what you're trying to negotiate.

Flagship · Washington & Idaho

Down payment assistance is the most misunderstood money in the market.

Most buyers assume it means a worse rate, a slower close, or a program they'd never qualify for. Usually none of that is true. Washington runs WSHFC. Idaho runs through IHFA. Both can layer with a seller credit, and in a lot of scenarios that combination potentially puts a buyer into a home for roughly a thousand dollars or less out of pocket.

Income and purchase price limits apply, and they're different in every state and often every county. Which is exactly why most lenders quote you a conventional loan and never bring it up.

See what you'd qualify for
Conventional

3% down is real

HomeReady and Home Possible open the door well below 20%, and mortgage insurance comes off later. Twenty percent down is not automatically the smarter move.

FHA

Not a bad-credit loan

3.5% down, flexible ratios, and it's assumable — which matters more in a higher-rate market than most agents realize.

VA

Zero down, no monthly MI

The strongest financing available to anyone who earned it. We'll also call the listing agent so your offer doesn't get passed over on a myth.

USDA

Zero down outside city limits

The eligible map covers more of eastern Washington than buyers expect. Worth checking before you rule it out.

Jumbo & Non-QM

When the box doesn't fit

Self-employed, bank statement, DSCR, ITIN, physician. A complicated file isn't a no — it's a different program.

Refinance

Only when the math works

Cash-out, rate-and-term, VA IRRRL. If it doesn't clearly help you, we'll tell you to leave it alone.

Market rates

What the market is doing. Not what you'd get.

National average index figures, updated daily. These are not our pricing and not a quote — your rate depends on credit, program, down payment, occupancy, property, loan amount, and lock period.

Eleven products, updated daily

Conventional, ARM, FHA, VA, USDA, and jumbo national averages, with a chart going back decades. Useful for context, useless for knowing what you'd actually pay.

See current rates  →

Rates subject to change without notice. Averages shown are third-party national index figures provided for general market context only. They are not an offer or commitment to lend, and individual rates will differ. All loans subject to credit and property approval.

Our process

Go shopping in four steps.

No guesswork, no overwhelm. Just a clear path to being the buyer a seller takes seriously.

STEP 01

Book a call

Fifteen minutes, before you fill anything out. We get to know your cash, your income, your credit, and what you're actually trying to do.

STEP 02

Application

About twelve minutes, guided the whole way so nothing feels overwhelming. Soft credit pull only, one score per person.

STEP 03

Approval

Finally, the numbers you've been trying to get a straight answer on. What you qualify for, what it costs, and what your real options are.

STEP 04

Go shopping

With actual direction instead of a max price. You'll know what to offer, what to ask the seller for, and what the payment looks like before you write anything.

And we don't disappear once you're out looking. Offers, listing agents, negotiation, contract to close — we're in all of it.

Closings run anywhere from 10 to 45 days. Every file is different, and anyone who gives you a timeline before reading yours is guessing. We'll read yours and tell you what's actually realistic — then hit it.

Ask about your timeline

Reviews

Don't take our word for it. Take theirs.

Reviews are submitted by clients and reflect their individual experience. Individual results vary and are not a guarantee of future outcomes or loan approval.

Refer a friend

Know someone who should stop guessing?

Send them our way and we'll take care of them. You'll hear back on where it landed, so you're never left wondering whether it went anywhere.

Refer someone  →
The Lesser Lending team

The team

A whole operation, not one guy with a phone.

Dave Lesser is a senior loan officer and sales manager with Canopy Mortgage, ranked in roughly the top 1% of originators nationally. But you're not buying one person's memory. You're getting a team where everyone knows their role and nothing sits in someone's inbox over the weekend.

For real estate agents

We're not asking to be your number one.

If you already have a lender you trust, keep them. But if you've ever needed a second option on a Saturday, or a file someone else turned down, that's a reasonable place to start.

  • Pre-approvals over the weekend, not Monday morning
  • We call the listing agent on your offers
  • Weekly status updates without you chasing them
  • Buyer leads we generate and hand to partners
  • Financing education your clients will actually sit through

Try us on one file.

Send the deal you think is going to be a problem. That's the honest test.

Start with a real number.

The application takes about 12 minutes. Or skip it and just talk to Dave first — that works too.