PHOENIX, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NEXA Lending today announced that Mortgage Nerds, led by longtime mortgage professionals Mike Cox and Brian Hofmann, is joining the NEXA platform following an approximately 18-month search for the right home for the company’s next stage of growth.

For Cox and Hofmann, the decision ultimately came down to more than rates, resources or infrastructure. It was about finding a platform that would allow them to keep building Mortgage Nerds, gain access to new opportunities around servicing and borrower retention, and dramatically expand a mission that has become central to their business: changing the narrative surrounding the VA home loan.

Mortgage Nerds has built its brand around a simple philosophy: educate and empower. Over the last several years, Cox and Hofmann have taken that philosophy directly into the veteran community, traveling the country to educate veterans about their VA home loan benefit and combat the misinformation that too often prevents them from using it.

“Over the last several years, our mission has evolved into something much bigger than originating mortgages,” said Mike Cox, Broker and Owner of Mortgage Nerds. “If Brian and I can look back years from now and know that we played a role in changing the negative stigma around the VA home loan, that is legacy-type work. I do not need my name attached to it. I just want to know that we helped make a positive change for veterans.”

That mission played a major role in the decision to choose NEXA.

Cox and Hofmann evaluated multiple organizations during their search, but NEXA CEO Mike Kortas’ commitment to the veteran community, NEXA’s relationship with Vetted VA, and the larger vision being built around VA education gave Mortgage Nerds confidence that the mission could extend well beyond what they could accomplish independently.

“We had been looking for the right place for a long time, and the platform absolutely mattered,” Cox said. “But one of the biggest reasons we chose NEXA was Mike’s commitment to changing the narrative around the VA home loan. When you look at NEXA, Vetted VA, and the people being brought together around this mission, there is an opportunity to create something much bigger than what any of us could build on our own.”

Another major factor was what NEXA is building around servicing, long-term borrower retention and additional revenue opportunities for loan officers. For Cox and Hofmann, the move created a stronger path to grow and scale as owners while also improving the economics for the entire Mortgage Nerds team, giving originators the opportunity to earn more and build additional revenue streams within the NEXA platform.

“The servicing side changes everything,” Hofmann said. “The economics are exciting, but for me the bigger opportunity is retention. You did the work to build that relationship with the borrower. Having the ability to stay connected to that customer after the loan closes is huge for an originator.”

That opportunity is part of a broader shift taking place across the NEXA ecosystem.

With companies including evoLend challenging traditional wholesale lending structures and developing new ways for brokers and originators to participate in areas of the mortgage lifecycle historically controlled elsewhere, Cox and Hofmann saw an organization pushing beyond the traditional definition of what a broker platform could provide.

For Kortas, that is exactly the point.

“Mike and Brian did not come to NEXA because they needed someone to save what they built. They came here because they built something worth scaling,” said Mike Kortas, CEO of NEXA Lending. “Our job is to remove the things that slow great entrepreneurs down and continue building opportunities that historically have not existed for the broker community. Whether that is infrastructure, technology, servicing, retention or the work we are doing alongside Vetted VA, we want loan officers focused on building relationships and businesses, not fighting the machinery behind them. Mortgage Nerds understands that vision, and I believe what we can accomplish together for veterans is going to be much bigger than either organization could accomplish alone.”

For Cox, who entered the mortgage industry in 2000 and spent two decades in retail before entering the broker channel, joining NEXA does not represent giving up entrepreneurship. It represents removing the parts of entrepreneurship that were preventing him from spending more time on growth.

Mortgage Nerds had expanded across dozens of states while Cox simultaneously managed licensing, compliance, audits, payroll and the day-to-day responsibilities of operating an independent mortgage company.

“We did not get to this point because we failed, we got here because what we built worked,” Cox said. “This is still our company and still our brand. The difference is that now I can spend my time growing Mortgage Nerds, expanding Processing Nerds and traveling the country educating veterans instead of constantly reacting to everything required to operate the brokerage.”

Mortgage Nerds will continue operating under its established brand while plugging into NEXA’s broader infrastructure and resources.

Its affiliated third-party processing company, Processing Nerds, will also continue serving mortgage brokers and originators across the country, including NEXA producers.

“A great processor can make an average loan officer look like a rock star,” Hofmann said. “Processing is not just about getting documents and moving a file. It is part of the consumer experience. If you create a great experience, you create a relationship people remember.”

That focus on the consumer is also central to Mortgage Nerds’ VA mission.

Cox and Hofmann have seen veterans discouraged from using their VA benefit because a loan officer, real estate agent or listing agent involved in the transaction misunderstood the program. Their larger vision is to help create an ecosystem in which the veteran, originator and real estate professionals are all properly educated.

“If someday the entire real estate and mortgage community looks at the VA home loan and recognizes it as one of the best loan programs available, that would be an incredible accomplishment,” Hofmann said.

Mortgage Nerds’ move to NEXA represents more than another company joining a larger organization. It demonstrates what the next evolution of the broker model can look like: entrepreneurs retaining the brands and businesses they built while gaining access to infrastructure, servicing opportunities, technology and national partnerships capable of taking those businesses further.

For Mortgage Nerds, that means more time to grow, more ability to remain connected to the borrowers they serve, more resources behind Processing Nerds, and, through NEXA’s relationship with Vetted VA and its expanding military-focused initiatives, a much larger platform from which to advocate for veterans.

The next chapter of Mortgage Nerds is not about giving something up, it is about removing the limits on what they can build and using that scale to change how an entire industry serves those who served.

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SOURCE NEXA Lending