I have used Pete and now Tom for a purchase and then refi in San Francisco, and now a purchase in SoCal. They are proactive and hypercompetent. In one of my loan application processes, I called Pete to ask about some wording that I didn't understand. It seemed like there was the potential for some phrasing to be interpreted in a way that would cost me much more than I had anticipated. A lot of the paperwork was relatively new--a result of the mortgage market's tightening post-fiscal crisis. Pete, at the end of a long day, was struggling to wrap his mind around the phrase I was relaying over the phone. After several minutes of conversation, he ultimately admitted that he couldn't give me an informed explanation of what the wording meant, but he gave me his word that the ultimate cost of the loan (the fees and such) would be very close to the amount he had originally estimated. He, of course, was right. It was a very confidence-inspiring experience; I have had no desire to try anyone else, even after locating to LA county. read more

Stephen at Gauranteed Rate will take care of you and find you the best mortgage terms and help you from beginning to end of the approval process. If you're buying a home in San Francisco, I would definitely recommend contacting him. read more

I had a unique challenge to present a prospective lender regarding a potential home purchase. After having spent a couple of years in the Caribbean teaching windsurfing and running a B&B, my wife and I knew it was time to return home to San Francisco and for me to resume my career as a software consultant. Crazily enough, we had enough money in the bank to pay cash for the home we wanted, but wanted to take out a loan instead. "What lender", I thought, "wouldn't want to lend to me?" I went to Lending Tree and was rudely awakened. And I mean rudely. I never felt so dirty after I submitted my phone number and email address to their website. Not even 30 seconds later I started receiving phone call after phone call, email message after email message, all from lenders who weren't going to be able to lend to me due to FHA guidelines requiring at least two years of documentation for my consulting income. Informative, but ultimately a huge waste of time, and nothing like a more positive experience I'd had with an online lender 10 years ago. Feeling sullied by the Lending Tree experience, I went to the bank that I've banked with for 25 years. "Sorry, we know you have enough in assets to buy that house but we still can't lend to you." Click. Seriously? Here I am willing to put 40 or even 50% down on a house, have enough in the bank to pay it off in cash and these people still won't lend to me? I stopped over at Guarantee Mortgage and walked upstairs without an appointment, just so that I could sit down face-to-face with someone and express my astonishment at what seemed like a completely ridiculous bit of illogic that was keeping me from my home loan. Stephen Barber was willing to sit down, review my situation, and lay out exactly what I should do to make myself more attractive to potential lenders. I did exactly what Stephen outlined. Two months later, I had a pre-approval on a house that I actually do need a loan to pay for (it's more expensive than the first house that had piqued our interest), and today, the lender has removed all conditions so that funding can move forward a day from now. My wife and I will have keys to our new house in a couple days, and the movers are scheduled for a day after that! A huge thank you to Stephen Barber, for taking the time to lay out the strategy 3 months ago, for taking the time to listen again a month ago (for an even more expensive house), and today, for making this 30-day close a reality. I'm not one to use superlatives (note that I didn't say "awesome" or "amazing" even once), but I can't recommend Stephen at Guarantee Mortgage highly enough. read more

Working with Natasha Lovas and her team has been a great experience. Natasha and Shawn Leonard got us locked into a great rate during our refi. They answered all our questions in a timely manner and communication was never a problem. We would do business with them again and recommend to others. read more

We were referred to May Montana from our realtor. My husband & I were in the market to buy our first house. With housing market the way it is right now, we were really confused as to what we could afford & what mortgage options were available. May cleared all this up for us. She had developed a process that was personalized for us & made sure that was easy and clear to understand. She also eased our anxiety about our purchase. She kept us informed, letting us know where our loan was through each step of the process. We have May to thank for the purchase of our first home. Yay! read more

This is a review for Monica DiPerna. Monica has now helped me with 2 new purchases, a refi, and a condo conversion. She didn't just help me with the financing for those transactions, but with the transactions themselves. She kept the whole process on track and the closings went without a hitch She has a talent for explaining the very complex (and there's a lot of "complex" in bay area real estate!) in simple terms that even I could understand and follow. She was incredibly responsive and helpful. Not only did she immediately answer all my questions, but also provided a lot of great ideas and advice. I think she did more to keep the process on track than my realtors! I would not hesitate to call her if I ever need more financial help with these types of transactions, and you should too. Thanks Monica!! read more

First time home buyer here... totally had no idea what I was doing and was so, so happy that a good friend recommended Kami Zolfaghari and his team. They were helpful and available every step of the way and worked closely with my realtor on all the offers, and then of course with the actual loan- jumping through hoops to get things done on time with a great rate. And answering literally a million of my questions a long the way! Extremely reliable and great service, I highly recommend! read more

This guy doesn't have the first clue what he is doing. Save your money. Go elsewhere I set up an appointment twice with him the first time he was an hour late and didn't bother to call. Not sure why I even rescheduled but I did Again he was late but only 10 mins. He was totally unprepared and scattered to collect information read more

5 stars for the loan officer. 2 stars for the servicing/post-customer support portion. My loan officer was extremely knowledgeable and competent, went out of his way for us, and the entire extended process and closing went smoothly under his guidance. BUT the servicing of the loan has been a huge pain -- their back office clearly disorganized with silos between different departments and it taking weeks for me to resolve fairly straight-forward issues. And then they sent me a threatening letter saying I had not paid my taxes so I was in danger of defaulting on my agreement when my taxes weren't even due for another month... *And* the website klunky, with the last tech glitz resulting in my paying late by 10 minutes, and their charging me a large late fee. Yes, I should have gone into the site the day before instead of 40 minutes before, but I've never had a problem paying online for any of my other financial accounts -- auto loan, other mortgage co, etc. so didn't think too much of it. And despite my calling, they were very impersonal and pretty much wrote me a letter saying it was late so tough luck. My last servicer would have given me the benefit of a doubt -- for 10 minutes -- and waived the fee in the scope of my being a lucrative account for them... read more

May Montana has possibly the worst customer service and communication skills of any "professional" I have ever met. Others in the office are far more experienced and personable, so if you go with Guarantee Mortgage, definitely try some one other than her. read more

This review for Tim Higbee is long overdue. I had the expensive misfortune of working with him a while back ago, and after recently closing on a loan for an investment property, I was reminded of how horribly unprofessional Tim was. After sending him all the requested documents to prequalify me for a mortgage, he gave me a breakdown of my options from which I started my house search. Throughout several months, I submitted about 5-6 offers on houses which I was outbid on. Finally the stars aligned, and I submitted an offer on a house which the sellers accepted. Then a few days into contract, Tim Higbee tells me that there was something on my tax returns that was raising a red flag with the lender. Why was this 'red flag' not realized during the prequalification review? Why was this 'red flag' not realized at any time during the 4-5 previous offer letters? Rather than giving me a straight answer (that he missed it), he twisted it around and put the blame on me - that this 'red flag' would not have happened if I filed my income taxes right. Even worse, he actually accused me of being a tax fraud. So almost 3 months later, after paying the sellers out of pocket for their daily expenses of holding the property while escrow was dragging on, after applying to another lender, after dealing with Tim being m.i.a. in the last few weeks of escrow, I finally closed on my house. I've relayed my experience with Tim HIgbee to 3 other mortgage brokers and they all agreed he dropped the ball professionally and was a jerk to make any accusations at all. Such a horrible experience. read more

Jeff Parrott, VP of Mortgage Lending, is the greatest! I came to him with what I thought was an impossible refi situation, and he made it happen! Everything went so smoothly, and extremely fast. He is both optimistic and extremely knowledgeable. I was always kept "in the loop," all questions answered immediately. All the staff were pleasant and easy to work with, including the title company, Old Republic. To say I was thrilled with the service would be an understatement. I thank my lucky stars I came across this firm. I heartily recommend Jeff to anyone looking for a mortgage. read more

sylvia curletto is a rock star broker! she is extremely hard working, always available and perpetually positive. she will explain every possible scenario, and with the incessant changing of rules over the past two years this was no small feat! she always had our best interest in mind and we could trust her with all of our info. if you want someone who will go the extra mile for you, go with sylvia. read more

The team of Tom Barnes 415.694.5516 and Pete Elting 415.694.5520! They did an amazing job on our refinance. Tom and Pete got us a great rate and worked their magic, and the appraisal they arranged was over $100K MORE than our appraisal with another lender. Which meant no PMI, no money down, and a lower monthly payment. A much much better deal than the direct lender offered. Amazing. Plus, they were incredibly responsive, e-mail and phone. They worked with our crazy schedules/timelines. They are just wonderful, experts, thoughtful, professional. They provided a level of customer service I have not seen in a long time. Initially, we were working directly with lenders (we had already paid for an appraisal, done lots of paper work etc.) but were very unhappy with their numbers/service, so on a whim we decided to call Tom (who was highly recommended by friends). I am very grateful for all their help and recommend working with a broker (particularly Tom and Pete) to anyone. read more

Pete Elting at Guarantee Mortgage helped us get a loan for our first home last month. Despite a lot of extra nonsense many lenders were demanding, Pete managed to get us our loan, on time, at a good rate. He worked with us for over 6 months, as we almost closed on a home, lost it at the last minute, and ended up searching for another 6 months before we found another home and were ready to get a loan. Since it was our first time through this process, we had a lot of questions. Pete willingly and patiently explained everything and answered questions for us in personal meetings as well as by email and cellphone, even after hours. Also, in our initial meeting, our financial files and statements were pretty much a giant messy pile and despite our lack of organization, Pete managed to get our loan application in order quickly and efficiently. Particularly after hearing horror stories from other friends of ours who worked with less competent brokers, I would highly recommend working with Pete. I think he saved us a lot of stress and hassles - definitely worth it. read more

Dean, Chance and Shawn made a fantastic team when I refinanced. They were extremely efficient, professional and provided just the right amount of communications throughout the process. Not too much, and not too little. They made the process very easy, and I felt confident that I was getting the best service possible every step of the way. They handled my confidential information with respect and discretion. I would highly recommend them. read more

My husband and I recently worked with Natasha Lovas, Shawn Leonard and Chance Haynie to purchase our first home together. We met with Natasha earlier this year to prequalify. She was very thorough from the start and did a great job of preparing us for the process ahead. Once we found the property, the team kicked into high gear and navigated us through the mortgage process like pros. Even when we hit some rough waters, they were able to manage our expectations and help us get the bank what they needed. We closed in record time and are now nesting comfortably in our new fabulous pad. Thanks Guarantee Mortgage! read more

Mortgage lending regulations have become pretty discriminatory against borrowers who are entrepreneurs / owners of early stage companies. We worked with Tom Banducci and found him to be exceedingly more knowledgable than any other broker in his understanding of how to navigate these challenges. He was also very sharp in his understanding of the nuances of TICs and condo conversion scenarios. A very sharp, conscientious numbers guy who provided excellent customer service at every step of the process. read more

I can't get off their email marketing lists, and I'm sick of the SPAM. I got passed around from one broker to another when trying to buy a house a few years ago. When it came time to buy, the broker I was working with was no where to be found. Now, three years later, he continues to email, despite having requested several times to be removed. read more

This review is for Stephen Barber and his team in San Francisco. Stephen is incredibly professional and efficient, very friendly yet still very no-nonsense, with a "let's get this done" positive and motivated attitude that's perfect for navigating through the mortgage maze. He is very patient at explaining every step, why things are happening, very sensitive when there are thorny financial or personal details or issues involved (as there always are). I've worked with him before and when it was time to find a new home, he was my first (and only) stop. More than the people, I was very impressed by Guaranteed Rate's use of technology. Their use of secure cloud storage for uploading my docs, and use of digital signatures made the entire process a breeze. It only took a week or so for me to gather all the docs needed and get them uploaded, which meant I went from a pre-qualification to a pre-approval that I could use in making an offer very promptly. And I got an excellent rate! The rest of the process was smooth and Stephen and his team worked well with my Realtor and the title company to get every last detail sorted out. It was a painless, efficient, and dare I say pleasurable process! Well, as pleasurable as it can be when you're going this far into debt. ;-) But I have a beautiful new home with an affordable payment and am thrilled. When it's time to do this again, I won't hesitate to reach out to Stephen... he'll be my first stop once again. He should be yours. read more