S. John Murray

With nearly 40 years of experience and more than 10,000 families helped into homes across the Massachusetts North Shore, Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist S. John Murray is one of the most tenured and credentialed mortgage loan officers in Essex County. Based in Beverly, Massachusetts, John is a Sales Manager at Synergy One Lending, NMLS #1907235, NMLS #20116, serving move-up buyers, investors, and first-time homebuyers across Essex County and the greater North Shore. He specializes in conventional loans, jumbo mortgages, investment property financing, and advanced income structuring strategies including retirement asset distribution for borrowers looking to qualify at a higher level without liquidating their portfolios.

John earned the Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist designation, one of the mortgage industry’s most rigorous credentials, focused specifically on integrating mortgage strategy with long-term financial planning. He is also certified in Phil M. Jones’ “Exactly What to Say” communication framework. A University of Michigan graduate, John has spent four decades building a referral network that now spans financial planners, CPAs, and family members who have trusted him across multiple generations. His clients are not sourced from advertising. They come from the people who already know what working with John looks like.

The specialty that sets John apart from other North Shore mortgage loan officers is his ability to use retirement distribution income to strengthen a borrower’s qualifying position. Rather than requiring clients to liquidate retirement assets, John structures their loan to leverage distributions as supplemental income, allowing them to qualify for a higher mortgage while keeping their investments working. In a market where move-up buyers and investors often have significant retirement portfolios but complex income pictures, this capability is the difference between an approval and a decline.

John has spent the last four decades helping clients into low or no closing cost mortgage structures specifically so they can refinance easily when rates move. He is a student of the rate environment and advises clients accordingly, building loan structures designed for flexibility rather than one-time optimization.

When he is not working, John is skiing in New Hampshire at his second home on Black Mountain in Jackson, boating from his home on the North Shore, or watching Michigan Football in the fall. He lives in Wenham, Massachusetts, ten minutes from the beach and two hours from the mountains.

John Murray serves clients throughout Essex County including Beverly, Danvers, Hamilton, Wenham, Gloucester, Salem, Middleton, Lynnfield, Andover, North Andover, Wilmington, Dracut, Wakefield, and Reading, as well as clients statewide and nationally. NMLS #20116.