Nik Athanasiou

Chief Operating Officer

As Chief Operating Officer, Nik Athanasiou provides the vision and strategic leadership that helps drive Rate’s extraordinary growth. As a highly trained jazz guitarist, Nik has taken the virtues he cultivated in music— discipline, dedication, and improvisation—and applied them to his career, delivering unmatched results throughout the mortgage industry. His extensive experience and knowledge have brought improved efficiencies and optimized performance to the company’s national sales, operations, and underwriting departments.

After opening the company’s first New England branch in Boston, Nik moved to the corporate headquarters in Chicago in 2011 to run Rate’s Direct Division, ensuring a streamlined mortgage process for borrowers. In less than two years, he guided an operation of 150 employees and $400 million in volume to one with 400 employees that funded $2 billion and continued on the path to become Rate’s COO in 2015.

His accomplishments as a rainmaker in the financial world have not gone unnoticed. Crain’s Chicago Business included Nik in its prestigious “40 Under 40” list in 2017, noting the company’s rapid growth and his strategic leadership during his tenure. He was named as a 2019 HousingWire “Insider” for his implementation of numerous initiatives to manage costs and streamline the loan process.

Nik credits the recession of 2008 for his discovery of novel avenues and approaches to success. “It provided the opportunity to build an identity,” he explains. “I had to find creative solutions for reaching customers, and my music background allowed me to do that. I played with big bands since I was in high school, so learning how to collaborate with many different people, to understand their needs and preferences really served me well. When I joined Rate, it felt so natural because the company’s identity and culture also focuses on teamwork, collaboration, and creative solutions that make an impact on people’s lives.”

In 2017, Nik played a key role in developing Guaranteed Rate Affinity, LLC., a joint venture between Rate and Anywhere Real Estate Inc. (NYSE: HOUS), the leading and most integrated provider of U.S. residential real estate services.

Recently, Nik ensured that Rate’s flexible workforce and robust technology platform were ahead of the industry curve so borrowers would have fast, efficient remote closings. Under his leadership, Rate launched the award-winning FlashClose℠ technology and boasts a reputation as one of the most tech-forward lenders in the country with over 5,000 employees in a total of 700 offices across the U.S. In 2019, the company funded $37 billion and ranks as one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the United States.

He also helped lead the effort to launch Proper Rate, LLC, a joint mortgage origination venture of Rate, and @properties. Powered by one of the nation's largest mortgage companies with highly experienced loan originators, leading-edge technology, and access to the best loan programs and rate structures, Proper Rate delivers all of the advantages of a big lender with the hands-on service of a small firm.

Currently continuing to focus on bringing Artificial Intelligence to the next generation of home buying, Nik asserts that this spirit of innovation and unconventional thinking is intriguing for recruiting new talent, and it’s what he looks for in potential loan officers as he helps scale the company.

“Rate is a playground of personal development. We focus on hiring and training the ‘best of the best’ so they thrive here. We’re growing so fast that it’s like engineering a plane in mid-flight: There has to be a certain level of business maturity to keep it all together, while simultaneously challenging the status quo to keep ascending.”