Helping home buyers and homeowners across Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, and all of Idaho compare better mortgage options with local service you can trust.
We're a family-run brokerage in Meridian, Idaho. Because we're independent, we shop multiple wholesale lenders on your behalf instead of selling one bank's menu — and we've been doing it for the same community for more than 30 years.
On this page
1st Choice Mortgage Company, LLC opened its doors in 1992 and has operated out of the Treasure Valley ever since. We're a licensed mortgage broker in Idaho and Oregon, headquartered in Meridian, and we've spent three decades doing one thing: helping people in this valley buy and refinance homes.
That longevity matters more than it might sound. We've originated loans through the 2008 collapse, the 2020–2021 rate bottom, and the rate shock that followed. We've watched Meridian go from farmland to one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. When we tell you how an appraisal is likely to come in, or which underwriter will be comfortable with your self-employment income, that's pattern recognition built over thousands of Idaho files — not a script.
We're small on purpose. You'll talk to the same people from application to closing, and one of them is usually the owner.
You won't be routed to whoever picks up. Every file here is handled start to finish by one of three experienced originators.
Gerald E. “Jerry” Robinson is the President and CEO of 1st Choice Mortgage Company, LLC, holds NMLS #4475, and carries the CRMS (Certified Residential Mortgage Specialist) designation. He has spent over 30 years originating loans in the Treasure Valley.
Jerry's practice concentrates on the programs Idaho borrowers actually use and most often get wrong: VA loans (entitlement restoration, jumbo VA, assumptions, Tidewater appraisal issues), Idaho Housing down payment assistance, reverse mortgages, and the odd files other shops turn away — manufactured homes, self-employed borrowers, twice-moved homes, and properties with well and septic.
He writes the educational material on this site himself, including our guides to manufactured home financing, the VA funding fee, and appraisal reconsiderations of value.
NMLS #4475 · (208) 941-1778 · Jerry@375loan.com · Full profile →
Kerri works with buyers and homeowners across the Treasure Valley on VA, FHA, conventional, USDA Rural Development, and Idaho Housing first-time buyer loans.
A large share of her business is repeat clients and their referrals — buyers who come back for a second purchase or a refinance years later. That's the clearest signal we know of that the first experience went well.
NMLS #182963 · (208) 761-0801 · Kerri@375loan.com · Full profile →
Gabe guides buyers through purchase and refinance transactions across Idaho, with a focus on keeping the process straightforward and moving — clear next steps, no jargon, and no wondering where your file stands.
Clients regularly describe him as taking care of every step and going beyond what they expected.
NMLS #1200094 · (208) 350-8750 · Gabe@375Loan.com · Full profile →
Every originator here is individually licensed, and you can verify any of us — or any loan officer anywhere — through NMLS Consumer Access. Our company ID is #380736.
This trips up a lot of buyers, so here's the plain version.
A bank or credit union lends its own money and offers its own products. If your file doesn't fit their guidelines, or their pricing isn't sharp that week, that's the answer you get — because there's only one menu.
A mortgage broker doesn't lend its own money. We're approved with many different wholesale lenders, and we shop your specific file across them — then place it with the one whose pricing and guidelines fit your situation best. Wholesale pricing is what lenders offer through brokers rather than at the retail counter, and we pass it through to you.
Every wholesale lender prices differently on any given day, and every one of them has its own overlays — the extra rules a lender layers on top of the agency guidelines. Two lenders can look at the identical FHA file and reach different answers, at different rates.
When you apply at a single institution, you get one pricing sheet and one rulebook. That's it. When you apply with us, we take the same file to a whole panel of lenders and let them compete for it. You see the options side by side.
That matters most when your file has anything unusual about it — self-employment income, a credit event, a manufactured home, a rural property, a down payment assistance layer, or a VA entitlement question. a loan that doesn't meet one lender's overlays may fit another lender's guidelines, and we can find that out for you without you re-applying five separate times and taking five credit inquiries to do it.
To be fair about the trade-off: banks can be a fine choice if you have a straightforward W-2 file, strong credit, and an existing relationship that comes with a pricing discount. The honest answer is to compare a broker quote against your bank's quote on the same day, and look at the rate, the lender fees, and the APR together — not just the rate.
These two words get used interchangeably all over the industry, and they are not the same thing. The difference can cost you a house.
Someone asks what you make, what you owe, and roughly what your credit looks like — then hands you a letter based on your answers. Nothing is verified. No documents are reviewed. It's an opinion built on a conversation, and it can fall apart the moment real underwriting begins.
We pull your credit, collect and review your income and asset documentation, calculate your ratios off the actual numbers, and run the file through automated underwriting. Only then do we issue a letter.
By the time you're shopping, the questions that normally blow up a deal in week three — how your overtime is counted, how a rental property offsets, what an old collection does to you — have already been answered.
Why we made this our standard: in a competitive offer situation, listing agents in this valley know the difference. A verified pre-approval tells them the financing is real. Just as important, it protects you — you learn what you can actually borrow before you fall in love with a house, not after your offer is accepted.
It takes a bit more work up front. We think that's the entire point.
A pre-approval is not a commitment to lend. Final approval remains subject to acceptable property, appraisal, title, verification, and underwriting review.
These are the programs most Idaho buyers and homeowners use. Each one has its own page with the details.
Zero down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance for eligible Veterans, active-duty service members, and surviving spouses. This is our deepest specialty. VA loans in Idaho →
Low down payment and flexible credit guidelines — often the best fit for first-time buyers or anyone rebuilding credit. FHA loans in Idaho →
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing for primary homes, second homes, and investment property. Mortgage insurance is removable, which is why stronger-credit buyers often land here. Compare FHA vs. conventional →
Zero down payment in eligible rural areas — which covers far more of Idaho than most buyers expect. Income limits apply. USDA loans →
Down payment and closing cost assistance for qualifying Idaho buyers, with a low minimum contribution from you. Idaho Housing also services its own loans in-house rather than selling them off, so your servicer stays in Idaho. Assistance amounts, income limits, and price caps are set by Idaho Housing and change periodically — ask us what's current. Idaho Housing loans →
Lower your payment, shorten your term, drop mortgage insurance, consolidate debt, or pull equity out. VA Streamline (IRRRL) options are available for eligible Veterans. Refinance options →
We also broker manufactured and mobile home loans, jumbo, renovation, reverse mortgages, non-prime, and DSCR investor loans. Ask us about your situation →
Our office is in Meridian, and most of our business comes from the Treasure Valley — Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Eagle, Kuna, Star, and Middleton. We're licensed throughout Idaho and Oregon, so we also work with buyers in Mountain Home, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, Coeur d'Alene, and rural counties across the state.
1st Choice Mortgage Company, LLC
3023 E. Copper Point Dr., Suite 101Meridian, ID 83642
Phone: (208) 375-5626 · Company NMLS #380736
We'd rather point you to unfiltered reviews than hand-pick quotes for our own website. Our clients have left their experiences on Google — the good ones and any criticism alike — and you can read all of them without going through us.
Read our Google reviews
Whether you're buying your first home, using your VA benefit, or refinancing — a short conversation will tell you more than an online calculator will.
A mortgage broker takes your application and submits it to wholesale lenders rather than lending its own money. We compare pricing and guidelines across multiple lenders and place your loan where it fits best, then manage the file through underwriting and closing.
A prequalification is an estimate based on what you tell someone — nothing is verified. A pre-approval means your credit has been pulled, your income and asset documents have been reviewed, and the file has been run through underwriting. We don't issue prequalification letters; we pre-approve, because that's the letter that holds up when you're competing for a home.
Often, but not automatically. Brokers access wholesale pricing and frequently charge lower lender fees — we typically charge no origination fee, where many retail lenders charge about 1%. The only reliable way to know is to compare Loan Estimates from both on the same day, looking at rate, lender fees, and APR together.
Since 1992. We've been headquartered in the Treasure Valley the entire time and are licensed in Idaho and Oregon.
Yes — it's our deepest area. We handle entitlement restoration, VA jumbo, assumptions, Tidewater appraisal situations, and purchases for service members relocating to Mountain Home AFB and Gowen Field.
Yes. We're an approved Idaho Housing and Finance Association partner and work their down payment and closing cost assistance programs regularly. Worth knowing: not every Idaho Housing program requires you to be a first-time buyer. Program terms and limits change periodically, so ask us what's current for your situation.
It depends on the program. FHA and VA are considerably more forgiving than conventional financing, and the score needed also interacts with your down payment and debt-to-income ratio. Rather than guess, let us pull your credit and tell you exactly where you stand and what would move the needle.
Regularly. Self-employment income is one of the most common reasons a file gets declined at a single-menu lender and approved somewhere else, which is exactly the situation brokering helps with.
Look us up on NMLS Consumer Access. Our company NMLS ID is #380736 and Jerry Robinson's personal NMLS ID is #4475.
Loan programs change, and we'd rather you verify what you read here than take our word for it. These are the primary sources behind the program details on this page — all of them government agencies, the agencies themselves, or the official regulator database.
1st Choice Mortgage Company, LLC is not a government agency and is not acting on behalf of, or at the direction of, HUD, FHA, VA, USDA, or any government agency. Program guidelines are subject to change.
Jerry Robinson (NMLS #4475) is the President and CEO of 1st Choice Mortgage Company, LLC (Company NMLS #380736), a licensed Idaho and Oregon mortgage broker serving the Treasure Valley community since 1992. With over 30 years of localized lending experience specializing in Idaho VA loans, FHA programs, and specialized Idaho Housing down payment assistance, Jerry has guided thousands of local families through changing market cycles to achieve homeownership from his headquarters in Meridian, Idaho . Call us at (208) 375-5626 or visit 375loan.com.
1st Choice Mortgage Company, LLC is an Equal Housing Opportunity Lender.
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