About David Van Waldick
David Van Waldick has spent more than thirty years in mortgage banking, housing finance, and residential development — accumulating over $1 billion in closed transactions across multiple market cycles. Based in Carlsbad, California, he operates Western Realty Finance (Carlsbad, CA) and serves as Principal Consultant to LANDCO NEXA, a real estate development company.
His experience spans the full spectrum of residential and commercial real estate finance:
- Mortgage banking: Loan origination, underwriting, secondary market execution, and portfolio management
- Capital markets: Asset-backed securities structuring, warehouse lending, whole loan sales, and institutional relationships
- Banking: Positions at Wells Fargo Bank (AVP Secondary Marketing), Key Bank Private Equity Group (VP/Investment Officer), and Crocker Bank (Secondary Marketing AVP)
- Executive leadership: CFO of Winter Group Commercial Insurance MGA (leading the company's successful sale to a Wall Street investment bank)
David is the author of the patented ePrequal automated underwriting system — a technology platform that gives buyers access to a preliminary automated underwriting decision before they ever sit down with a lender. He is a former President of the San Diego Chapter of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, Fox News, and the San Diego Tribune.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Investment from San Diego State University and served in the United States Navy as an Air Intercept Controller (OS2), including attendance at the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School ("Top Gun"), two overseas tours, and multiple decorations.
David founded ICONYCS Housing Intelligence to solve a problem he observed throughout his career: the data that institutional investors use to make real estate decisions was inaccessible to ordinary buyers and communities. ICONYCS changes that.
About ICONYCS Housing Intelligence
ICONYCS (pronounced "eye-CON-ix") is a housing intelligence platform covering 109 million residential properties across all 50 United States, with profiles of 73.6 million homeowners.
ICONYCS was built on a simple but powerful premise: the homeownership gap is not an abstraction — it's a data problem. If you can map exactly where the gap is, exactly which communities are underserved, and exactly which lending patterns are contributing to it, you can address it with precision rather than rhetoric.
The platform is used by:
- Lenders conducting fair lending analysis and CRA assessment
- Government agencies evaluating housing policy
- Community organizations advocating for underserved communities
- Individual buyers (via the reports platform) making informed purchase decisions
ICONYCS Data Products:
County and Census-Tract Reports — iconycs.com/reports
Homeownership rates, lending patterns, demographic data, property inventory, and market trends — at the county and census-tract level for every market in the United States.
Fair Lending Analysis — iconycs.com/fair-lending
Fair lending performance metrics mapped against population demographics, lending activity data, and regulatory benchmarks. Designed for lenders needing to understand their CRA and ECOA compliance posture, and for buyers and communities wanting to understand how well they're being served.
About ePrequal.com
ePrequal is the author's patented automated underwriting system, designed to give home buyers a legitimate preliminary underwriting assessment before they engage with any specific lender.
The platform runs a buyer's financial profile — income, credit, assets, and debt — through automated underwriting logic to return a preliminary determination of:
- Which loan programs the buyer qualifies for
- What their maximum loan amount is likely to be
- Any issues that could cause a denial or delay
- What steps can improve their qualifying position
ePrequal is not a lead generation tool. It's a buyer's tool. The output is actionable intelligence, not a sales pitch.
About SimpleStepsHome.com
SimpleStepsHome is the author's digital homebuyer education and certification program.
The program delivers this book's content in an interactive, verified format — with quizzes, assessments, and a digital certificate that unlocks real financial benefits for completing buyers. See Chapter 11 for full details on the program and how to earn your certificate.
Recommended Resources
Mortgage and Financing
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| ePrequal Automated Underwriting | eprequal.com | Preliminary AUS decision before you apply |
| CFPB Owning a Home | consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home | Mortgage calculator, loan comparison tools |
| Bankrate | bankrate.com | Rate comparison |
| NerdWallet | nerdwallet.com | Personalized rate comparison and education |
| LendingTree | lendingtree.com | Multi-lender rate shopping |
| Rocket Mortgage | rocketmortgage.com | Digital mortgage application and origination |
| Better.com | better.com | No-commission digital lender |
| loanDepot | loandepot.com | Full-service digital/hybrid lender |
Credit
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| AnnualCreditReport.com | annualcreditreport.com | Free official credit reports (all 3 bureaus) |
Connect with David and Western Realty Finance
Reserved placement for consulting, advisory, and author-related services.
Home Search
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Zillow | zillow.com | Home search, Zestimate valuations |
| Redfin | redfin.com | Home search with fast MLS data |
| Realtor.com | realtor.com | MLS-direct home search |
| Homes.com | homes.com | Home search with strong new construction data |
Property Intelligence
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| ICONYCS Reports | iconycs.com/reports | County/tract homeownership and lending data |
| ICONYCS Fair Lending | iconycs.com/fair-lending | Fair lending analysis by county |
Down Payment Assistance
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| DownPaymentResource | downpaymentresource.com | Searchable database of 2,200+ DPA programs |
| FHA County Loan Limits | entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm | FHA maximum loan amount by county |
| USDA Eligibility | eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov | USDA property and income eligibility lookup |
Counseling and Education
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| HUD Counseling Agencies | hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/hcc/hcs | Find a free/low-cost HUD-approved counselor |
| SimpleStepsHome | simplestepshome.com | Earn your Home Buyer Certificate |
Fair Housing and Legal Resources
Digital Closing
| Resource | URL | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Notarize | notarize.com | Remote online notarization |
| Pavaso | pavaso.com | Digital closing platform |
A Final Word
Every market cycle, I hear buyers say the same things: prices are too high, rates are too high, I'll wait for it to get better. And sometimes waiting is the right call. But more often, the buyers who wait until conditions are "perfect" discover that perfect never comes — and that the buyers who acted, even in imperfect conditions, are the ones who built wealth.
You now have the information. You know how to qualify, how to search, how to negotiate, how to close, and how to maintain your investment. You know what programs are available and how to access them. You know your rights.
What you do with this knowledge is up to you.
I've seen buyers with less than $5,000 in savings become homeowners using programs most people don't know exist. I've seen veterans who didn't know they qualified for a VA loan get into homes with zero down. I've seen buyers who thought their credit was too damaged spend six months repairing it and close their purchase on the other end.
The system isn't always fair. There are real barriers and real inequities, as Chapter 8 made clear. But within the system, there are also real opportunities — and informed buyers claim them.
Go to SimpleStepsHome.com, complete the certification, get your certificate, and go find your house.
You're more ready than you think.
— David Van Waldick