After 28 years in the local banking industry, Donny Bradley is beginning a new chapter in a career that has helped shape the financial landscape of Central Arkansas.

Bradley has partnered with Joey Fulgham, owner of Integrity Insurance, to launch a Motto Mortgage franchise in Conway. The venture pairs Bradley’s decades of underwriting and lending experience with Fulgham’s established insurance infrastructure, creating a business model focused on simplifying the final, often stressful, stages of the home-buying process.

A Simplified Closing Process

The partnership between Bradley and Fulgham—who have a personal history dating back to their time as fraternity brothers—addresses a specific logistical hurdle in real estate. Because every mortgage requires proof of homeowners’ insurance before a loan can fund, the transition from lending to insurance typically happens in the final days before a scheduled closing.

By offering both services, the duo provides a streamlined path for the borrower. While Bradley manages the mortgage, the firm can simultaneously evaluate the client’s insurance needs.

“We like the model of trying to catch more than just the mortgage transaction,” Bradley said. “We’re getting a mortgage loan, and then a day or two before closing, we have to have proof of insurance to do the loan. That allows us to look at the requirements and offer to quote the insurance as well. We want to be able to capture that insurance side by offering a competitive option right when the client needs it.”

Independence and Local Roots

While Motto Mortgage is a national brand, Bradley is positioning the Conway office as a strictly independent, locally owned operation. Unlike many mortgage firms that are owned by or embedded within specific real estate brokerages, Bradley and Fulgham have intentionally maintained a neutral stance in the Faulkner County market.

“We didn’t want to affiliate ourselves with a specific realty company,” Bradley said. “We felt like that would be a barrier with other realtors. We want to be able to service every real estate company in Faulkner County and not show any favoritism. We have no ownership in any real estate company, and we service all our clients the same.”

This independence is a central component of Bradley’s strategy to build trust with local real estate agents. By remaining a third-party provider, the firm aims to act as an objective resource for any agent in the market, regardless of their brokerage affiliation.

“We’re just two Conway guys who have been in this community servicing the real estate community for years,” Bradley noted. “We want to be able to service anybody who’s in real estate in Faulkner County.”

The Wholesale Advantage

For Bradley, the shift to a wholesale brokerage model provides access to a vast network of national lenders. This allows him to source a wide variety of loan products that may not be available through a single retail institution.

“By having this franchise, it gave me instant access to the biggest wholesale banks in the U.S.,” Bradley explained. “If there’s a product out there, I have the ability to go get it. Motto has about every investor, and if I don’t have access to a specific product, I can go find where it is and set up an account.”

This expanded toolkit has fostered a collaborative relationship with local banks. Because Bradley’s firm is a pure mortgage brokerage and does not accept deposits, he has become a resource for traditional bankers who have clients with unique financing needs.

“Banks are actually my biggest referral source,” Bradley said. “A banker can refer a deal to me that might not fit their specific appetite at the moment. I get the loan done, and they get to maintain the banking and deposit relationship with that happy customer. It’s a way to keep the deal local.”

A Vision for Growth

As the firm establishes itself, Bradley is leaning into the “outside-the-box” thinking that has defined his nearly three-decade career. He noted that the flexibility of the wholesale model allows him to find homes for viable deals that might not fit the specific appetite of a single institution at a given time.

The long-term goal for the Conway franchise is to continue adding new vendors and expanding its product offerings, leveraging the local expertise of its founders to provide a high-touch alternative in an increasingly automated industry.

“I spent my career learning what works in this market,” Bradley said. “Now, the dots have connected. We have the backing of a major franchise and the local connections to take care of our friends and neighbors here in Conway.”