Meet the team
Pick Your Rate
Pick Your Rate is a Connecticut mortgage brokerage built on a simple belief: the best mortgage isn't automatically the one with the lowest rate — it's the one that best aligns with your financial goals. Led by broker-owner John Schwarzkopf from our Watertown office, our team shops a wide network of lending partners and shows you how different rates, points, and lender credits actually affect your payment and long-term costs, so you choose with confidence instead of pressure.
We're licensed in Connecticut, Florida, and Colorado, and we work with first-time buyers, move-up buyers, veterans, investors, and self-employed borrowers every day. Knowledge is power — and confidence comes from understanding.
Our loan officers
John Schwarzkopf
John founded Lennox Mortgage Group in 2022 — and built Pick Your Rate — on a belief he's held since starting in financial services in 2008: borrowers deserve transparency, education, and the freedom to make informed decisions. A licensed Mortgage Loan Originator since 2013, John spent years at a national bank and an independent mortgage company before going independent so he could shop a wide network of lending partners for every client. John lives in Connecticut with his wife, Renée, and their two children. He coaches youth football, serves in his church community, and is a Connecticut Justice of the Peace. His promise to every client is the same: understand your options, choose with confidence, and know you have a trusted advisor in your corner long after closing day.
Nicholas Tarasovic
Nicholas is a licensed loan officer on the Pick Your Rate team, helping buyers, homeowners, and investors across Connecticut compare their options and understand the numbers behind every choice. Like the rest of the team, Nicholas believes confidence comes from understanding — he'll walk you through rates, points, and payments in plain English so the decision is genuinely yours.
Amber Cardamone
Amber is a licensed loan officer on the Pick Your Rate team, guiding clients through their loan options with the education-first, no-pressure approach the brokerage was built on. She takes the time to understand your goals, lays out every option side by side, and stays accessible throughout the process so you always know where your loan stands.
How we work
We don't sell rate. We lay out your down payment, closing costs, real monthly payment, and escrows clearly, so you know exactly what you're getting into before you commit.
You're never bounced around. Our loan officers handle the details together and keep you and your realtor updated the whole way.
Our clients come back for their next home, an investment property, or a refinance down the road. We're here for all of it — before, during, and long after closing.
Let's talk — no cost, no pressure
You don't need perfect credit or a big pile of savings to start. The best thing you can do is have a conversation and build a roadmap — whether you're ready now or a year from now. There's no charge and no obligation.
Pick Your Rate · Lennox Mortgage Group LLC, NMLS #2323240. Equal Housing Opportunity.