Who runs this
My name is Mike Jaghnoun. I'm a Mortgage Loan Originator licensed by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) in 26 states. I've worked inside the mortgage industry for years, originating loans, walking borrowers through Loan Estimates, and watching how the process actually plays out from the inside.
I still work in the industry. Jahno is a separate publication I run independently. The two surfaces don't share data, don't cross-refer business, and operate by different rules. The publication exists to educate borrowers; my day job exists to originate loans. They're kept deliberately apart.
Why I started it
Most mortgage content online falls into one of two buckets. The first is lender marketing — articles produced by banks and brokers that read like sales funnels disguised as education. The second is broad personal-finance commentary — useful at a generalist level, but rarely specific enough to help a real borrower decode a real Loan Estimate.
What's missing is what I would actually tell a borrower if they sat across from me with no obligation to do business together. The plain-language explanation of what each fee is, what the lender is required to disclose, what they're hoping you don't notice, and what to ask before you sign. Not pitched, not generalized — specific enough to be useful, honest enough to be trustworthy.
Jahno is an attempt to publish that.
What this publication does
Seven tracks, each treated as a long-term commitment rather than a one-time blog post:
- Mortgage basics — The documents, terms, and moving parts every borrower should understand first.
- Loan types — Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA — what each is, who backs it, and who it fits.
- The business behind your loan — Who you borrow from, how they get paid, and what happens to your loan after closing.
- Costs, fees & credit — Mortgage insurance, fees, and the credit scores lenders actually use.
- Specialty & Non-QM loans — Cash-flow, bank-statement, bridge, and piggyback loans for situations outside the box.
- When things go wrong — What actually happens — and what to do — when paying gets hard or something on your statement changes unexpectedly.
- Refinancing & equity — When refinancing makes sense, tapping equity, and what the move costs.
The newsletter sends one email when a new piece is published. No marketing sequences, no upsells, no list-building tricks.
Independence
How Jahno is funded
The integrity of borrower-side content depends entirely on how the publication makes money — and how it doesn't. The rules I operate by:
No affiliate links. No commissions.
The publication earns nothing from the products or services it explains — there are no affiliate links, no referral fees, and no commissions. And it will never take money from lenders, mortgage brokers, title companies, escrow agents, mortgage insurers, appraisers, home inspectors, or any other settlement service provider regulated under RESPA. The reason is simple: a borrower-side publication cannot be funded by the entities a borrower needs to evaluate against each other.
No sponsored content. No paid placements. No display ads.
The publication does not accept sponsored articles, paid placements, "thought leadership" partnerships, or display advertising. The reader sees the same content regardless of who's paying. The only ones paying for the content are the publication itself and the readers who choose to support it.
No data sales, no list rentals
If you subscribe to the newsletter, your email is used to send you the newsletter. It is not sold, rented, shared with sponsors, or used to build lookalike audiences.
The costs of running Jahno are paid by me, and by readers who choose to chip in. Support never buys influence over what gets written.
What I can't do
This is a publication, not a lender, not a brokerage, and not a substitute for professional advice on your specific situation. The content is educational. It explains how mortgages and homebuying actually work. It does not constitute personalized financial, legal, or mortgage advice.
If you're actively shopping for a mortgage, talk to multiple lenders, request Loan Estimates from each, and compare them. The articles here will help you read those documents accurately. They won't replace your own due diligence or the licensed professional you ultimately work with.
How to reach me
For editorial questions, story suggestions, corrections, or to point out something the publication got wrong: the Contact page is the right place.
For my professional licensing information — NMLS individual ID and how to verify my current state licenses — see the Licensing & Disclosure page.
For ongoing updates as new articles are published, the newsletter is the easiest way to stay connected. One email when something new goes up. Nothing more.