Stacey Melton
A rate is one number.She starts with your whole picture.
She is a mortgage broker who looks at your whole financial picture before any preapproval. She works with buyers and agents, and she is licensed in Arizona, Florida and Tennessee.
Snapshot
Every fact below has been checked. Her license number links to the public record.
- NMLS ID
- #180081
- Team
- Sand 2 Sand Lending, powered by Lending Heights
- Company NMLS
- #1425476
- Experience
- Since 2001
- How you meet
- On Zoom, about an hour
- Licensed in
- Arizona, Florida, Tennessee
- Main markets
- Phoenix area and Tampa Bay
- Recognition
- UWM Top 1% Certified Partner, 2024 and 2025
- Last reviewed
- October 2026
The lender agents learn from, since 2001
Before any preapproval, Stacey spends an hour on your whole financial picture: income, debts, savings, timing and what you want next. If another lender said no, she looks at the actual file and tells you why. Then you get a plan, even when the honest answer is to wait. You keep a written recap, and your agent gets the same notes.
Until 2020 she was Hunt Mortgage's Responsible Individual in Arizona: the person the state held answerable for its lending there. For three years she trained agents every week across seven offices. Today her team, Sand 2 Sand Lending, is part of Lending Heights. She lends mainly around Phoenix and Tampa Bay, and has a home in each. In August 2026, The New York Times quoted her on home equity lines and refinancing, in a story about paying down credit card debt.
Her record
What the press said, what she was answerable for, what she taught, and what she closed. Each line names its source.
Press
- The New York Times quoted her on home equity and refinancing, 11 August 2026.Source: The New York Times, 11 August 2026, Gregory Schmidt, "As Credit Card Debt Mounts, Home Becomes a Piggy Bank"
- Mortgage Professional America quoted her on how brokers work with clients, 19 May 2025: “we call each other mortgage consultants.”Source: Mortgage Professional America, 19 May 2025, "Brokers using blended interest rate to bring hesitant clients to the market"
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- HousingWire featured her in a story about mortgage brokers, 30 May 2025.Source: HousingWire, 30 May 2025, a story on mortgage brokers who left retail lending
Responsibility
- Hunt Mortgage's Responsible Individual in Arizona, until 2020.Source: her own account, confirmed with Knowology. There is no public page to link.
Teaching
- Her desk sat inside a real estate office from 2003. An Arizona broker's 2006 web page names her as his lender, in the same office.Source: An Arizona associate broker's own web page, 2006, naming her as his lender
- She ran the lending for a team ranked #7 in the United States by volume.Source: RealTrends team profile, 2026 list, ranked on 2025 sales volume
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- Weekly trainings for agents across seven offices, for three years.Source: her own account and a photo from one of the sessions.
- One of four speakers on a UWM loan officer panel, 2025.Source: UWM's event slide naming her, in her own photo from the event.
Awards and rankings
- UWM Top 1% Certified Partner, 2024 and 2025.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
- Ranked 120 on Scotsman Guide's 2025 Top Mortgage Brokers list, which counts 2024 loans: 103 loans, 98% of them home purchases.Source: Scotsman Guide, 2025 Top Mortgage Brokers
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- UWM Top 1% in Arizona, 2024 and 2025.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
- UWM Top 20 Purchase Loan Officer in Arizona, 2024 and 2025.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
- UWM Top 100 Purchase Loan Officer, 2025.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
- UWM Pro Elite, 2024, and Pro Elite Excellence 120, 2025.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
- UWM Fastest Closer, 2024, across all loan types.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
- Rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on 18 July 2024, at a UWM event.Source: her own photos from the event, with the date on the screen behind her.
- Mortgage Executive Magazine Top 1% Mortgage Originators in America, 2021. The list required at least $30 million in personal production that year.Source: NFM Lending, Mortgage Executive Magazine Top 1% Mortgage Originators in America, 2021
- Reasy Financial, the brokerage she co-owned, earned UWM's ASR Shining Star Award and a place in UWM's Top 100 accounts, both for 2025.Source: UWM. Award papers go to the winner, not the public.
CareerIn order, since 2001
Show her earlier roles, 2001 to 2026
- Altus Financial, from 2001.Source: her own account. Scotsman Guide's 2025 list gives her 23 years in business, which matches.
- Lucas Mortgage Funding, from 2003: the lender inside a real estate office.Source: LinkedIn, Stacey Melton, work history
- Hunt Mortgage, Senior Mortgage Consultant, 2008 to 2020, after Hunt bought Lucas.Source: LinkedIn, Stacey Melton, work history
- NFM Lending, 2020 to 2023.Source: LinkedIn, Stacey Melton, work history
- Reasy Financial, Vice President, 2023 to 2026.Source: Mortgage Professional America, 19 May 2025, "Brokers using blended interest rate to bring hesitant clients to the market"
- Lending Heights, from 2026, with her team, Sand 2 Sand Lending.Source: Lending Heights, Stacey Melton's page
The Truth-First Financing Framework
Six steps she follows on every file, for buyers at a turning point and the agents who send them. You leave with a clear plan, the math behind it, and a written recap you keep.
The Full Financial Picture
One hour on your income, debts, savings, credit, timing and goals. Nothing gets quoted until the picture is clear.
The Strategy Design
She weighs the real paths against your situation, not the fastest loan. You see each of your loan options laid out, with the math, so you can compare them yourself.
The Honest Direction
She tells you what serves you best, even when the answer is to wait. Hard news always comes with a next step.
The Documented Recap
Your plan goes to you in writing. Your agent gets a copy too, so everyone works from the same plan.
The Unified Transaction Team
Stacey and your agent work as one team until closing. Problems get solved together, not passed around.
The Standing Commitment
The work does not end at closing. If a refinance or your home equity could truly help later, she reaches out.
Who she works with
Buyers at a turning point
A new job, a move, a divorce, a parent moving in. A guide for each moment is on the way.
Coming soon-
Real estate agents
The numbers on a house before your buyer falls in love, and a second look at a stalled file.
For agents -
Military and veteran families
VA loans, moving after service, and a second look when you were told no.
For military families
What clients said
Short excerpts from reviews on Zillow, from 2020 to 2022, before Sand 2 Sand Lending.
“Stacey is one of the best mortgage consultant I worked with. It was my first home buying experience & Stacey made it easy for us.”
Nilesh S, Phoenix, AZ. First home, FHA loan, closed February 2020. Read it on Zillow “Prior to meeting her, the loan origination process seemed murky at best. With Stacey, The process was simple, easy and VERY refreshing.”
Joe Brown, Gilbert, AZ. Refinance, closed April 2021. Read it on Zillow “She looked out for my best interests and gave me options that made sense for me.”
Logan Cordrey, Phoenix, AZ. Refinance, closed January 2022. Read it on Zillow
Every fact here has been checked
Knowology checked this site against public records before it went live. Her license, her awards and her press were each matched to whoever issued them. Where a fact rests on her own account, the Sources list says so. If we could not back something up, we left it off. We check it again every month.
Insights
Short guides for the moment something changed. The first ones are being made now.
Denied for a mortgage? What to do next, and what to ask
Your loan is already in process. When is a second opinion worth it?
Check the numbers on a house before your buyer falls in love
Your first consultation: what to bring, and why you can come as you are
Questions
Have a question that is not here? Call Stacey at (602) 690-2277.
What happens in the consultation?
It is on Zoom, so there is no drive. You spend about an hour going through your whole financial picture: income, debts, savings, credit and what you want next. Nothing gets quoted until that picture is clear. Afterward you get a written recap you can keep and share with your agent.
Can I get a second opinion on a loan that is already in process?
Yes. Send her the file. She looks at the actual file, not the summary, and tells you plainly what she sees, including when staying where you are is the better choice.
How does she work with real estate agents?
Send her the address, the HOA and the taxes, and she will tell you if the numbers work before your client falls in love with the house. After the consultation you get her notes with your client copied, so nobody is guessing what happens next.
Which states is she licensed in?
Arizona, Florida and Tennessee. You can check her license any time on NMLS Consumer Access: her number is #180081.
When should I book, and what do I bring?
Before you shop, and before any preapproval. Come as you are: there is nothing to gather first. If the honest answer is to wait, she will tell you.
Start with an hour and the whole picture.
The first hour covers your whole financial picture, and afterward she sends a written recap you keep.
Sources
- NMLS Consumer Access, Stacey Lynne Melton, NMLS #180081
- The New York Times, 11 August 2026, Gregory Schmidt, "As Credit Card Debt Mounts, Home Becomes a Piggy Bank"
- Mortgage Professional America, 19 May 2025, "Brokers using blended interest rate to bring hesitant clients to the market"
- HousingWire, 30 May 2025, a story on mortgage brokers who left retail lending
- An Arizona associate broker's own web page, 2006, naming her as his lender
- RealTrends team profile, 2026 list, ranked on 2025 sales volume
- Scotsman Guide, 2025 Top Mortgage Brokers
- NFM Lending, Mortgage Executive Magazine Top 1% Mortgage Originators in America, 2021
- LinkedIn, Stacey Melton, work history
- Lending Heights, Stacey Melton's page
- Zillow, Stacey Lynne Melton lender profile and reviews
- Sand 2 Sand Lending, her team's site
Last reviewed October 2026. Checked by Knowology.
Not linked: her first job at Altus Financial, her Hunt Mortgage role and her weekly trainings (her own account), the UWM awards (UWM gives award papers to the winner, not the public), and the stock exchange bell and the UWM panel (her own photos from each event).
Left off on purpose: a count of her reviews. The main site that held them no longer loads, so the number cannot be checked.