ASK HOLLYFairway Recruiting

Fairway Home Mortgage · Recruiting

Ask Holly anything about joining Fairway. 

38 straight answers from Fairway's President of Recruiting — confidentiality, culture, technology, leads, products, compensation, and what the move is really like. No pitch, no form, nobody finds out you looked.

Nothing you type is sent anywhere — this page filters itself.

    Nobody will know you're looking. That's the whole point.

    Holly Mattson, President of Recruiting
    Holly MattsonPresident of Recruiting

    Holly leads Fairway’s national recruiting effort with three decades in the business. Her promise to every candidate: confidential conversations, zero pressure, and an honest answer to whatever you ask.

    Honestly? I'm producing fine. Why would I even ask?
    Because asking costs you nothing and stays between us. Ask me anything — I'll tell you if there's nothing here for you.
    Holly replies fast. And keeps it between you.
    Email Holly directly →
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    Years Holly has been in the mortgage business
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    Consecutive USA TODAY Top Workplaces awards
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    Most asked

    The questions almost everyone asks first

    Each one opens to Holly's full answer. Short version first, details after.

    JoiningIf I talk to Fairway, will my current company find out?No. Every conversation with me is confidential. Nobody at your current company is contacted, you are not added to a mailing list or a CRM campaign, and there is no follow-up sequence. You reach out on your own email or DMs, and it stays between us until you decide otherwise.Read Holly's answer →JoiningHow does a conversation with Holly actually work?Three steps. You reach out by email or DM and I reply personally. We talk through your production, your market, and your ceiling where you are, and I tell you plainly whether Fairway moves the needle for you. Then you decide on your own timeline — there is no expiring offer and no pressure clock.Read Holly's answer →JoiningI'm not looking to move. Can I still ask questions?Yes — and curious is where every good conversation starts. Most people who reach out are producing fine and simply want an honest comparison. Ask whatever you want; I will answer it straight, and nobody will know you asked. There is no obligation and no follow-up campaign.Read Holly's answer →JoiningWhat happens to my pipeline when I switch to Fairway?Switching companies is where momentum usually dies, so Fairway built onboarding to protect your pipeline and get you funding fast. Licensing, systems, marketing, and your personal web presence are set up in parallel, and a transition team works your open files with you. The goal is a move you can time around your business, not one that stalls it.Read Holly's answer →JoiningDo loan officers who leave Fairway come back?Yes — a lot of them. Last year alone, 174 loan originators returned to Fairway after stints at other companies. They left, saw the alternatives up close, and came back. That boomerang number is the proof point I trust more than any pitch, because it is people voting with their licenses.Read Holly's answer →Life at FairwayWhat is Fairway Home Mortgage?Fairway Home Mortgage is the brand of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation (NMLS #2289), a full-service, employee-owned retail mortgage lender founded in Madison, Wisconsin in April 1996 by Steve Jacobson. Today it is the #2 retail mortgage lender in the United States, licensed in all 50 states, and a six-time consecutive USA TODAY Top Workplace.Read Holly's answer →Life at FairwayIs Fairway employee-owned?Yes. Fairway launched its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2016, and the company is being sold back to the Fairway team — the people who built it, own it. For an originator, that means the leadership making platform decisions has the same long-term interest in the company you do.Read Holly's answer →Life at FairwayWhat is the culture like at Fairway?Hometown, at national scale. Fairway has won six consecutive USA TODAY Top Workplaces awards, judged entirely on confidential employee feedback, runs on ten core values written with employee input, is employee-owned, and funds two nonprofits. The shorthand we use: loans are what we do, not who we are.Read Holly's answer →Loan officersWhat technology does Fairway give loan officers?A five-system stack: your own launch-ready personal website, Navigator (Fairway's proprietary AI layer built on partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI), Total Expert CRM with automated journeys and an AI sales assistant, branded reporting that generates polished proposals in minutes, and business intelligence on your market, partners, and pipeline.Read Holly's answer →

    All 38 questions →

    Browse by what you're deciding

    Four conversations, one place

    9 questions

    Joining Fairway

    How a confidential conversation actually works, what happens to your pipeline, how long a move takes, and how to know whether Fairway is your fit.

    All joining questions →
    9 questions

    What Fairway is like

    Culture, core values, employee ownership, the Madison roots, the Top Workplaces streak, and the nonprofits — the parts of Fairway you only hear about from the inside.

    All life at fairway questions →
    14 questions

    For loan officers

    Technology, AI, CRM, leads, marketing, products, coaching, and the honest answer on compensation — what originators ask before they take the call.

    All loan officers questions →
    3 questions

    For branch leaders

    Moving a team, what a branch is backed by, how recruiting support works once you are inside, and where to see Fairway live before anyone has to commit.

    All branch leaders questions →
    Holly Mattson, President of Recruiting at Fairway Home Mortgage

    Who's answering

    Thirty-two years in. Still picks up the phone herself.

    Thirty-two years in the mortgage business will teach you two things: which promises hold up, and which ones were just recruiting pitches. Holly has spent her career on both sides of that lesson — from her start at Regions Bank, through production leadership at MortgageAmerica, to more than a decade at Fairway — and it’s why her approach to recruiting looks nothing like the industry default.

    01
    Ask, quietly

    Email or DM. Holly responds personally — not an assistant, not a sequence. Nobody is notified, nothing is logged in a CRM campaign.

    02
    Get a real answer

    Your production, your market, your ceiling where you are. Holly will tell you plainly whether Fairway moves the needle for you — and if it doesn’t, she’ll say so.

    03
    Decide on your timeline

    No expiring offers, no pressure clock. Some conversations turn into a move in weeks; some stay warm for years. Both are fine.

    Meet HollyJoin a Virtual Fairway Day

    Hear it straight

    The story — and why originators keep making the move

    The Story of Fairway — with Steve Jacobson
    Why Fairway Makes Sense for Originators — Bill Murphy

    100% confidential — always

    Didn’t find your question?

    Ask it directly. Email or DM — Holly answers personally, usually the same day, and nobody at your current company will ever know you asked.

    Email HollyDM @holly_mattson_fairwayJoin a Virtual Fairway Day