Ryan Martinson

Once upon a time I was a mortgage loan officer looking for a way to set myself apart.

It was late 2000s. The mortgage world had collapsed and the recovery begun. In the aftermath, many mortgage lenders gravitated towards government backed FHA, VA, and USDA loan programs. My employer was no different.

These loans were not new. Their popularity was.

Recognizing an Opportunity

Government backed loans aren't that different from conventional mortgages. Except they include quirky fees and insurance premiums that affect the loan payment. This made it difficult for homebuyers to estimate an accurate payment when using an FHA, VA, or USDA loan.

"What's my payment?" became the common theme on many follow up phone calls.

Looking to differentiate myself from competitor loan officers and recognizing a void in online mortgage calculators equipped to handle the nuances of government mortgages, I took the leap.

whatsmypayment.com

I bought a how-to-build-websites book and built whatsmypayment.com from scratch.

I learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

My new calculators handled the math perfectly, and as far as I could tell at the time, What's My Payment? was the first FHA, VA, and USDA loan calculator online. If there were others, Google liked mine best and awarded my new site with #1 rankings.

The success of the calculators was great, but the reward was discovering my love for transforming code into websites.

Over the years, I constantly rebuilt the website from scratch. Each time using new technologies, skills, and designs to make it better. Every iteration more functional and focused on user experience than its predecessor.

Today, whatsmypayment.com is a Next.js web application utilizing TypeScript and Tailwind CSS. It supports user accounts, Stripe payment integration, third-party monetization APIs, and much more.

What's My Payment? continues to rank amongst the top for many keywords associated with government mortgage payments.

What's next?

Open to full-time opportunities and contract projects.

mail@ryanmartinson.com
(816) 885-0713