John Downs is the founder of the Downs Mortgage Group, a team within Vellum Mortgage serving DC, Maryland, and Virginia. He started in the business in 2000, servicing home builders, worked through the 2008 financial crisis from inside the industry, and, in 26 years as a mortgage advisor, has closed more than $1.7 billion in loans for more than 5,000 families, from first-time homebuyers to veterans, generals, and senators. He is now a Certified Mortgage Advisor and Senior Vice President at Vellum Mortgage, Inc., where he has personally funded more than $500 million and helps lead the advisor side of the company.
For most of his career, lenders made borrowers choose between great rates with poor service or great service at a higher rate. John thought people deserved both, and in 2020 he helped form Vellum Mortgage to prove it. The company was built from the ground up around technology and a new operational workflow that lowers the cost of producing a loan, which is how Vellum delivers industry-leading rates without cutting corners on advice. Vellum now closes more than $1.25 billion a year, and John spends much of his time testing the newest technology in the industry and helping build the company's own AI tools so advisors and loan managers can work faster and clients get answers sooner.
What sets John apart is how he handles the decision itself. He does not believe there is one right mortgage, only the one that makes the most financial sense for where you are in life and how the market is trading right now. His job is to explain the numbers plainly, walk through the tradeoffs, and keep going until the choice is obvious to you and not just to him. Clients describe that clarity as the reason they felt confident at the closing table, and it is the part of the work John considers his real strength.
John lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with a strong family focus and a long history of working with military families. He writes and speaks regularly on the DC-area housing market, loan programs and rates, and works with buyers across the full range, from jumbo and move-up purchases to VA loans, condos, and the local first-time buyer programs. The Downs Mortgage Group is made up of mortgage professionals who are also client advocates, coaches, neighbors, parents, and dog lovers, and they are committed to making sure you understand every decision before you make it.