Michael Hays Principal Magnolia Mortgage
3920 E. Indian School Rd., #11
Phoenix, AZ 85018
(602) 821-8046
michael@magnoliamtge.com NMLS #253304
I'm Michael Hays, founder and principal of Magnolia Mortgage in Phoenix.
My career in the mortgage industry began with G.E. Capital Mortgage Insurance in 1996, and I am forever grateful to Kelly Purcell, Sue Grummon, Diana Naderer and Pam Middleton for bringing me into the business. After several years with G.E. Capital in Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego and Seattle, I spent a couple of years in wholesale lending with SunTrust Mortgage before transitioning into retail lending as a loan officer with Washington Mutual in late 2000. My career as a Mortgage Loan Originator developed over 14 years with Stan Wang at The Advantage Mortgage Group and two years with Jacob Lausen at KDA Home Financial — and in April 2018, I opened my own firm, Magnolia Mortgage.
Magnolia Mortgage is a boutique brokerage, and my goal has never been to serve the most clients — it's to serve my clients better than anyone else in Arizona. I've always said our business isn't complicated, but it is detailed. Everything we do ends up on paper, which makes this a great business for people who demand honesty and transparency: clients are best served when they understand the process and know the real costs involved. As a broker, I work with several lenders to find the most cost-effective program, rate, and fee structure for every purchase or refinance — and I keep everyone in the transaction informed of exactly where the file stands. That's why referrals form most of my business.
Divorce is one of the few times in life when a mortgage decision gets made under pressure, on a deadline, in the middle of everything else. I hold the RCS-D™ designation — Real Estate Collaboration Specialist, Divorce — which means I've been trained specifically on the intersection of divorce and the house: who can qualify to keep it, how to remove a spouse from the loan and the title, what the settlement needs to say so the financing actually works, and how to avoid the mistakes that show up two years after the decree is signed.
I work directly with family law attorneys and mediators across Arizona, and with divorcing homeowners who need real numbers before they negotiate — not after. The goal is simple: nobody should lose the house, or their credit, to a detail that could have been caught early.
I'm a graduate of Jackson Central-Merry High School in Jackson, Tennessee, and earned a B.A. in English Literature at Auburn University. I moved to the Valley in 1992 and consider Phoenix my lifelong home. My wife, Sheryl, and I have four children between us — my sons Jackson and Hudson, and Sheryl's children, Zach and Abby. Outside of work, I read, play tennis, swim, and golf, but my real love is live music — I try to catch a concert at least once a month, and Phoenix has no shortage of great venues, large and small.