The LendHero Advantage

Our Story

In late 2021, Eric and Mike Bernstein, the co-founders of LendFriend, an Austin-based mortgage lender, saw a problem. The highly competitive housing market across the country, but especially in their hometown of Austin, Texas, was making it nearly impossible for our veterans and active-duty military to be able to join in the homebuying experience using their VA benefits. Many realtors had no interest in accepting offers from this well-deserving community simply because of a bad experience the realtor had, or more likely may have just heard about from a colleague, of a buyer receiving VA loan financing. The stigma around VA loans being more difficult and time consuming than the conventional loan process is one that Eric and Mike constantly challenge. The real issue with VA loans is that many lenders either don’t know how to navigate the VA loan rules and regulations or those that do end up charging the borrower excessive, unnecessary fees while being too slow to close in a timely manner. Eric and Mike, who began their career originating hundreds of VA loans in Florida and know how to navigate the rules and regulations with ease, wanted to create a mortgage lending arm that had the same low cost, customer first mentality as LendFriend to primarily serve and benefit our veteran and active-duty military and their friends and loved ones.

Eric and Mike knew that to be successful in this endeavor they’d need to partner with a team that’s already been successful in creating more opportunities for veterans, which is why they partnered with Laurel Reese and Joshua Leggett, two top executives from VA Claims Insider, a company that successfully streamlines and navigates the VA disability rating process, a notoriously difficult and overregulated process. VA Claims Insider has helped over 15,000 veterans increase their disability ratings by more than 30% on average. Laurel and Josh bring a wealth of knowledge that will help LendHero reach its intended audience and educate the community (both realtors and potential borrowers) on the merits of choosing the right local lender to handle your VA loan. Eric, Mike, Laurel and Josh, together with the team they’ve built around them, look forward to helping our veterans and active-duty military attain the financing that they want, with white glove service and at a low cost that they deserve.