The mortgage broker for Grosse Pointe families.
Purchase, refinance, and homeownership planning, led by a Certified Financial Planner™ who sees your whole financial life.
Find out what you can actually afford.
Most mortgage calculators online will tell you what a bank will approve. Mine will also tell you what fits your life. Real wholesale rates. Real Pointes tax assumptions. Two numbers, side by side.
Most brokers aim for the closing table. I aim further out.
Your mortgage is probably the biggest line item on your household budget for the next 30 years. Typical underwriting guidelines will let you take on a payment that eats up to half of your pre-tax income.
That's what a lender will let you borrow. It's not what you can afford.
The gap between those two numbers is where families get hurt. House-poor at 38. Behind on retirement at 45. A monthly payment that works on paper but eats the travel, the college fund, the renovation, the early retirement.
My job is to show you both numbers and tell you which one to listen to.
The Move-Up Blueprint™
A mortgage process designed around your financial future.
I'm David Rakecky, CFP®. I started in mortgages six years ago, moved into wealth management, and founded Tetra to bridge the two disciplines under one roof.
When you work with me, you're not getting a loan officer. You're working with a financial planner whose job is to help you make the right decision on your mortgage.
What you get when you work with Tetra.
Every component below is included with your mortgage. No additional fees. No upsells.
The Move-Up Blueprint™
A 60-minute CFP-led financial intake before any pre-approval letter. We review your full financial picture and structure a loan that fits your actual life.
The Multi-Lender Rate Shop
I shop your loan across my wholesale lender network and present a side-by-side comparison so you can see every option. No black box.
The Underwriting Stress Test
Before I submit your file, I run it through a simulated underwriting review. Issues get caught in week one, not week five.
The Friday Check-In
A text update every Friday until closing, with your realtor copied in. Between Fridays, I'm reachable by text or call whenever you or your realtor need me.
The Homeowner's Wealth Plan
Within 30 days of closing, you receive a complete written financial plan: net worth snapshot, retirement trajectory with the new mortgage in place, specific gaps identified with dollar amounts, and a prioritized action plan. Yours to keep. Execute it yourself, or have me execute it for you through Tetra Wealth Management.
The Refi Watch
I monitor your loan for the life of the mortgage. When rates drop enough to make a refinance worth it, I call you. When they don't, I tell you so.
The Annual Homeowner's Review
Once a year, a 45-minute check-in on the mortgage and the broader financial picture. Included for life.
How I'm paid, in plain English.
I'm paid a commission by the wholesale lender at closing. You don't write me a check. My compensation is disclosed in writing on your Closing Disclosure before you sign, and I'm happy to walk you through the numbers at any point before then.
My pricing is competitive with wholesale rates in the Pointes market. I don't pad the rate or the fees to cover the extra service. Everything in the stack above is included because I structured the business that way.
Most brokers earn a percentage of every dollar you borrow with no ceiling. On loans above roughly $650,000, my commission caps out, which means my compensation stops growing even as your loan gets bigger. On a Pointes jumbo, that's real money back in your pocket.
I stand behind the experience.
If you engage with me, starting from the Move-Up Blueprint meeting through closing and the Homeowner's Wealth Plan, and you're dissatisfied with the experience, I'll personally send you a $250 check. No forms, no disputes.
Whether or not your loan closes, I stand behind the experience you have with me. Just email me with what went wrong and I'll have the check out within 5 business days.
About David.
I'm David Rakecky, CFP®. I live in Grosse Pointe Shores with my wife, and our first son is due in July. A couple of years ago we were the clients I now work with: selling our starter home, moving up to the long-term home our family will grow into, and running the math on whether the new payment still left room for everything else a family needs.
I started my career originating mortgages, then moved into wealth management as a financial advisor, and earned my CFP® along the way. I left the industry I grew up in because I kept watching firms put shareholders ahead of clients and charge fees that didn't match the service. I founded Tetra in 2023 to run the kind of practice I would have wanted as a client.
Most mortgage brokers only understand loans. Most financial advisors only understand investments. Move-up families in the Pointes deserve someone who can see both at the same time and tell them the truth about how the two fit together.
Outside the office, I'm a parishioner at St. Paul on the Lake, where my wife and I were married. I'm on the water when I can be: boating, golfing when the weather agrees, offroading when it doesn't, and scuba diving when the Lake cooperates.
My practice is small on purpose. I work with a limited number of clients each year, most of them Pointes families moving up within the community. If that's you, let's talk.
Schedule a 15-Minute Intro Call →What Pointes families and realtors say about working with Tetra.
Real clients. Real closings. Real words.
The Grosse Pointe Homebuyer Guide.
The real cost of ownership by neighborhood. The biggest financial mistakes move-up buyers make. A one-page affordability worksheet you can actually use.
Dropping soon. Join the waitlist and you'll get the guide the day it's released.
Common Questions.
More than a mortgage.
Most of my mortgage clients eventually enroll in Tetra Wealth Management to execute their Homeowner's Wealth Plan. They could DIY it, and some do. Most find that having one person quarterback the plan, coordinate with their CPA and attorney, and manage the investments is worth the fee.
If that's a conversation you want to have, now or later, Tetra Wealth Management is the companion firm I run in Grosse Pointe.
Visit Tetra Wealth Management →One conversation. No commitment. A clearer picture of everything.
Start with a 15-minute intro call. We'll talk through your timeline, your goals, and whether Tetra is the right fit. No documents, no credit pull, no pressure.
If it is a fit, we'll schedule the full Move-Up Blueprint: a 60-minute CFP-led financial intake that kicks off your mortgage and leads to your written Homeowner's Wealth Plan after closing.