Jack and the entire staff at Homestead are extremely knowledgeable and help simplify the financial aspect of the home buying process. They communicated frequently with us to make sure that we were confident with every step of the process. Jack was especially delightful to speak with and was willing and able to break down the complex world of financing a home. Everyone should be commended at Homestead for their excellent and caring service. read more

The worst business experience of my life, hands down. Tried to get a construction mortgage through Homestead. They began requesting documents, we would submit them and weeks would go by before we got updates, generally only after we asked for them. It took 7 months from first contact until we could close! At month 6.5 we were told that the longest building period they would give us was 8 months to build an entire custom home with a $5500 a month penalty for going over. They refused to give us a clause saying that time spent waiting for inspections and disbursements on their end wouldn't count towards the 8 months, even though every other thing they did took way longer than it was supposed to. Finally, they pressured us to close with 2 foot of snow on ground in middle of winter, and when I asked to postpone closing to spring they threatened us with "lots of fees". Finally, when we told them we wouldn't continue with them under these terms, they sent us a $105 bill for "adjustments" to costs of things that we already paid months ago. Do yourself a favor and use a real bank for your mortgage. Everything about the experience was head and shoulders better than with Homestead. read more

I had a horrible and stressful experience working with this individual Rick Solosky as well as his "manager Peter Tull. First he'd reply to texts very quickly ( either from a boat or from lunch or from vacation never in his office) mainly why his answer never made sense or were half the answers or was gibberish and it appeared he responded without even knowing what he was writing and his answers made no sense. Even when communicating worthy he attorney via email his communication was a disaster and I had to ask him to correct. Mostly every time clarification was needed. Used copy/paste loan application from one property to another adding incorrect charges to the loan. At the end, he took 25% down when I had agreed to do 20% down. Processed the loan and as I informed over and over this was not what I had agreed to, his response was "this is what you signed". Loan types and details were not explained properly, he never picked up the phone to explain exactly what was going on, only pointing out the "advantages" of the loan. The incompetence and disregard is out of this world and sadly we ended up closing with them after all attorney and appraisal was done. After so many complaints with his work, I was referred to his so called "supervisor Peter" who was even more incompetent. They kept passing me from one person to another and each time the experience was worse! I definitely do not recommend. They are liars/misleading and they will lure into signing a loan where they present one thing but make you sign another. Be very aware because at the end, they will simply say that's what you signed. And they give you no option to go back or cancel. read more

As first time home buyers, we were looking for assistance on the process; we had thought we were doing well, but in hindsight, after a couple of years and understanding more of the home buying process, we were clearly taken advantage of. Loan types and details were not explained properly, home price versus monthly payments were not thoroughly discussed, lack of information regarding first time home buyers programs, and basically everything we were told and "taught" about the process is now what I look out for to NOT do. Do not recommend going here until you have vetted multiple sources, but I do recommend talking to multiple sources and discussing pre-qualifications (NOT pre-approvals) so that information can be used from variety of sources while being able to ask the right questions to each different source. read more

You have your own employees coming in here leaving 5 star reviews in posts that defend themselves after a bad review and that still only bumps your average up to 2.5 stars? LOL. If you love stress and hate good customer service, then by all means go with Homestead. They pick appraisers who don't answer emails or phone calls and then don't re-assign the case to new appraisers after they miss appointments so that you pay for extension fees on top of the $770 you pay for the incompetent appraiser. Also, when I ask my loan officer to contact Homestead and ask a question, Homestead doesn't provide an answer to my question after three emails and two phone calls from me asking the same question. A real nightmare to work with. read more

I'll start by saying I got physically ill dealing with these people and I would say to anyone desperate to get a loan NOT to use this company. Disorganized and dishonest. Save yourself the headache and time try anywhere else but with this group. You've been warned. read more

Worse experience ever. As soon as worked with a different broker my experience was 100% better

Do "NOT" use this mortgage company. Absolutely the worst experience I have ever had in buying a home. And long after your closing they will continue to invade your financial privacy through non disclosed and hidden clauses in your loan contract. Stay away from these people!! read more

Take your business elsewhere unless you want to play which cup the bean is under. I got a pre approval for 289k and a final of 216K within a week time. I'm wondering who's running that place and how such a discrepancy occurred. My advice is to avoid this outfit and go with a more reputable one which has the client firmly in mind and not looked at like a child's toy: a yo-yo. read more

My husband and I used homestead funding in Syracuse. (6333 Route 298 Suite 200 East Syracuse, NY 13057) Unfortunately, we were highly disappointed with there service and how they got things done. There seemed to be a HUGE gap in communication amongst the the office staff..loan officer and loan processor. This was my first time purchasing a house, and I never want to go through that again. There seemed to be no organization with them. At one point the loan processor was on her honeymoon and another representative was filling in for her, and she even said " I do not know what is going on with your account, but it is a mess." One a positive note the bank lawyer and his staff were wonderful to work with. read more

Wow. There was never a point on this that I felt Emily McVay was working WITH me. It always seemed like when it fit her schedule, we would contact. Getting a mortgage is stressful and needs to be timely. Calls she asked for that she disappeared on and missing a week without alerting me are unacceptable. We almost got a mortgage, though - until my race was brought up. Then, the rates we had just agreed upon went out the window and everything that wasn't an issue before this point suddenly became a deal breaker. How could we get this far if everything is an issue? It seems that the only issue here is that I'm a Hispanic & Native woman. Avoid. read more

we've used this lender twice, first for FHA loan in 2019 and then again to refi into a vA loan a cpl of years later. we've had positive experiences both times, and have worked w Geoffrey Gold in COH. our attorney said she's never seen a closing run so smoothly (our first house in 2013 was through USAA, they kept losing our documents and we had to talk to a different person on the phone each time -- big banks suck). I'm sorry to hear that other folks hv had such poor experiences, it sounds like other offices may not be run so well. we plan on returning to homestead and Mr. Gold for our next loan. read more

Be careful using homestead funding. They gave me a crazy high.. (almost 6 percent interest rate) and all sorts of extra fees for a mortgage. When they sent me all the terms, I declined the offer, they SENT ME A Bill for $150. for NOT using them. BE CAREFUL!!!! read more

Horrible experience - screwed up the closing, shorted us a few thousands of dollars - I explained several times and they just blow me off.

If you enjoy confusion, misinformation, being ridiculed, being talked over and total frustration by all means use this company. It was one of the most uncomfortable business situations I have ever been involved in. read more

I worked with Mark Foley from Homestead, he was recommended by my real estate agent. Everything was smooth and easy, Mark was always available for any questions or concerns I had during the process! read more

Horrible. After initially submitting my application and receiving a pre approval I made an offer on a house. I didnt hear from them for a couple weeks and thought everything was moving along... Sent an email to homestead (and the 3 different people who were "working" my file, very unorganized and unprofessional )and was told the "underwriter" was requesting documents, sent them in, they claim they werent received, I resent them. It wasnt really an underwriter requesting the documents it was just them trying to save face for sloppy work. Moving forward a couple more weeks, sending in letters of explanation for credit inquiries etc etc, feeling good about getting the loan, spent roughly $3500 on credit report fees, inspection, appraisal, homeowners insurance, earnest deposit and attorneys fees then BAM!!! Hit a brick wall, it seems as though my median fico dropped 14 points because I was told not to spend any cash and my credit card balance increased $100!! The "investor" wouldnt approve the loan for two reasons, the drop in my fico score and because I wasnt at my current employer for two years, they couldnt use any of my overtime pay as income... Correct me if im wrong but wouldnt the broker know this ahead of time and tell me? Once again shoddy and unprofessional work. BUT if I had a cosigner they would expedite my loan DIRECTLY through homestead for immediate approval. Not to mention my previous rate lock was changed because they had to "switch investors " Best part is I never received a declination letter from homestead, got a copy from my Realtors office and my loan wasnt declined for any of the reasons they claimed. WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND. Will be filing a complaint with NYS seeking complete reimbursement. read more

Unhelpful and belittling. We were routinely told they had all of our paperwork, and then a few days later they'd send a response saying they hadn't received various forms. Every single form they were "missing" were forms I had specifically asked for confirmation of receipt. read more

If you love having your mortgage transferred on a regular basis, then this is the company for you. I'm only 4 months into my mortgage and I'm now on my third transfer where a new company is picking up my mortgage. I would love to setup automatic withdrawals so that I don't have to keep thinking about whether my payment is on time but with the constant transfer of loan servicing companies, this makes it near improbable. Stick with a reputable company read more

Although Merri Cook was helpful, knowledgeable, compassionate and great to work with as was her assistant, I was very dissatisfied with my experience at Homestead. The underwriter who I ended up calling "the undertaker" continually bombarded me with the endless amount of ridiculous requests. She BURIED me under all of the documents I had to provide, like writing a letter explaining the reason why I wanted to buy a house in Kingston. Or asking to continually see cancelled checks and proof of payment ten times over. I was told they were worried about me using my house as a rental property, money laundering or drug trafficking. I believe, but can't prove, that I was treated unfairly due to being an older single retired woman. Finally, the minute I got the loan they sold it to another mortgage loan company. I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYONE! A friend just got her mortgage immediately without any fuss. And my financial advisor who helps his customers when they apply for mortgages told me he had never seen anything like the hard time I was given. read more

I was incredibly surprised to read the previous reviews of Homestead Funding. I am weeks away from closing on my second home through Homestead, and both transactions have been worthy of 5 stars. There was constant, personable, and precise communication throughout our interactions. (Side note, I am almost 3 weeks ahead of schedule because they are THAT good!) Buying this home was honestly effortless because of Homestead. They truly are the best in the business! read more

Homestead today paid me the amount of money owed to me. I appreciate Homestead Funding addressing my billing concern. In light of this, I am updating my review of this company. read more

Three to four weeks of "Your Approved" "Don't Worry" only to find out at the end of the fourth week that we didn't meet their qualifications. IN MY OPINION, DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!! read more

Rich Norelli approved us for a USDA loan for our mortgage. We then paid for an appraisal and home inspection. When the loan moved on to underwriting, the underwriter discovered we overqualified for the loan. The process should have never gone as far as it did. Thanks to Rich, we are now out $425 for the appraisal, $460 for the home inspection, and $475 for lawyers fees, not to mention losing the beautiful home we have been dreaming of. He has not apologized or taken any measures to help us further. I would not recommend using this company. read more

I had a very unpleasant experience with homestead funding. If you plan to use them for your mortgage, make sure you have a back up plan. I was given wrong information multiple times, resulting in me paying more for my mortgage than I should have. They also damaged my credit by pulling my score 4 times. They never never provided me with a copy of the appraisal that I paid for and didn't tell me the appraisal happened. I had to ask for a copy and got it a month after it happened. Before my first payment was due, they have already sold my loan to another company. This is the third mortgage I've obtained and it has been the biggest headache with the worst customer service. I would never recommend them to anyone. read more

Had the best experience with Laura Guillerault and Luann Friello at Homestead Lending. Super friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, quick responses to my many questions. You truly can't do better than to choose them! read more

Came highly recommended but could not have had a worse experience. Told us for weeks we were fully approved, even told the realtors. A few days before closing we learn approval was anything but true and would have lost the house had it not been for alternative financing. This company had our documents for 3 months and sat on them until the very last minute. To add to the frustration, they rarely returned calls, when they did, gave limited information that created more questions than answers, and were often quite rude. Furthermore, they did not display much competence in understanding loans in general. In this day and age it was surprising to come across a mortgage company that was across the board incompetent at every level. If you use this company, have a back up plan and never believe you are approved until you see in writing. read more

Year and a half into my mortgage and I find out they messed up my paperwork, forgot my school taxes and my payment goes from $1100 a month to $1800!! I may have to foreclose because of there mistake. They actually told me to stop making payments it would just ruin my credit. DONT USE HOMESTEAD!!!! read more

Quick update. Our negative review got some attention from Homestead and they picked up the pace in working on my son's loan. Unfortunately, it was too little ,too late and our son is stuck paying close to $1,000 in fees for extensions - even though the delay in closing was due to Homestead's incompetence. read more

We did a construction loan with the Vestal, NY office and do not recommend them at all. The amount of paperwork they requested numerous times, the 3 hour closing forcing us to sign documents that had been signed previously and causing us to incur additional lawyers fees and the ridiculous amount of employees who kept changing as our contact leads me to a bad rating. They also continually mailed information and bills to a house that did not exist (hence the term "construction loan" ) and did not have a mailbox even though documents were signed stating that all documents were to be sent to a different address. read more

If I could give half stars, I would but Homestead still wouldn't be worth it. I purchased a house last year and Jason Young was our loan office or whatever they are called. He seemed to be a decent guy through the whole process but little did I know how bad were were gonna get it. Through the whole process I jumped through the hoops but I always kept an eye on how much money in cash we needed to have at the closing. The only answer I kept getting was they wouldn't know until it got closer. A few days before I closed I found out that we didn't need to bring as much cash as we were estimating throughout the whole process. Jason made the statement to me that he always over estimates so it works out that you bring less than you thought. Fast forward not even 1 yr later and I get a notice from Lender Live (also a homestead funding company) that I did not have enough in escrow and that I was being reanalyzed. My 1562 per month payment just jumped to 1913.95, a $351.95 increase... And guess why? Because I didn't have enough cash at the closing to bring the escrow up to what it needed to be. Also, the fact that the underwriter probably didn't account for all the exemptions that I wasn't entitled to. Basically they didn't factor in the taxes for me and my age. The taxes and exemptions were based on a 70+ year old lady with veterans credits and I had no idea until January *Guess where my tax refund went?) Now I'm sure there are people who have great experiences with Homestead but I wasn't one and I will let everyone know. Think about this... If I wanted a 1900.00 per month house payment, I didn't qualify; but they can just jack up my payment to 1900+ no problem. The housing bullshit is still going on, its just a little different now. read more