I worked with Frank Sardina at the Buffalo office and I couldn't be happier with his expertise and…read moreexperience. Although I have purchased a home before it was not in NY. Frank was able to walk me through the differences between states and help me understand the process of purchasing a new construction home. After the first conversation I felt at ease that I could trust him to get our house funded. Frank was also very responsive to my calls, questions and concerns. I highly recommend him to anyone purchasing in and around the Buffalo area and will be using him again if I need a loan broker in the future.

called today to get my 1098. First person at the Rochester…read moreoffice had no idea whom to talk. Tried three other locations, two did not answer at all. Third location answered and put me into voice mail. its Thursday at 3pm really? Scott Sullivan called me back from Rochester from the first call. send an email to Kristin Thorton which was great. In the email he ask her if she is the person to provide this. Really? So he does not know? Disorganized mess!

Like many others, I really struggled with my homebuying process. I got pre-approved by 3 different…read morebanks before my realtor recommended Jake at Prime Lending and I was so glad I went with them! He was great and answered all my questions timely and was even available after hours. The process went smoothly even when dealing with SONYMA grants and they were able to help me achieve a 30 day close. I can't stand enough good things about my experience.

I'm sad to see the two prior poor reviews because our experience has been nearly flawless…read more I went to high school with Michael Davis and somehow ended up on his e-mail distribution list. It wasn't the first e-mail pitch I received from him, but on this one day, I felt spurred to reach out to Mike and see what he could do for us. We knew that rates were at all time lows and we could save big if we could refinance. The catch was that we digging ourselves out of some bad debt and I've had many other lenders ghost me once they pulled my credit score. We'd made great strides recently to fix that and needed someone to give us a chance. Michael placed us in the very capable hands of one of his team members, Marie Bolton. Not only was the answer, "Yes, we'll work with you" but "We've got a deal you can't refuse!" Our initial estimates seemed almost too good to be true; but by the time we were all said and done, our terms at closing were EVEN BETTER! In the end we cut a 30-year fixed to a 15-year fixed and saved 2.5% APR in the process. That will save us AT LEAST $130,000 compared to sticking with the original mortgage. We plan to make extra payments and save even more. Overall, the process was very smooth and simple. Everything but the closing was completely online. From the application to uploading documents to e-signing forms, we were turning things around within minutes. Any questions Chris Marcelo, our processor, had, were resolved promptly for a quick approval. We were actually shocked when we were told on Wednesday that we were "Cleared to Close!" that the attorney wanted it done Friday morning. A night/day difference from our purchase experience. Initial contact with Mike, May 10. Closing, June 18. That's pretty dang good by New York real estate standards! Having been through 3 purchases and now 2 refinances, I know that there's a good chance our mortgage may be sold to another servicing company. Mike tells me that they now do a lot of servicing themselves and there's a better chance they'll keep us for themselves. That would be nice. Less chance for errors like Zayne reported.

I would just like to say I am quite thankful for this bank and their employees. I am on the upturn…read moreof recovering credit after far too many hospital visits. I still had a few left over but had manage to recover back to 600+ as well as having a stable well paying job, it was time for a new vehicle purchase since I've been without one since April when my Camaro broke down. But as you know, credit lenders aren't so quick to forgive even with a nice salary and rising score. Banks everywhere were holding it against me or asking for outrageous downpayments. I'm also in the middle of having to move because of promotion, I can't dedicate that much to my car and still have a home as well, I'd rather lose the vehicle, figure out how to make it work for awhile than just be homeless. However I passed Van Bortel's used car lot and picked something I could more than afford. Sadly the question still was, who would trust me. But with Van Bortel's help and Canandaigua's trust, I was able to purchase the vehicle with only $2,000 down. I will forever be grateful for this and would in no way let them down. Thank you for making my life easier.

David Barnes' handling of our offer on Lake Front property was utterly unprofessional and…read moreunethical. Our offer was accepted, and we placed a $30,000 deposit, at Howard Hanna Brighton congratulating us on the purchase in their office. A week later, we were shocked to learn through our attorney--not David--that the seller took a cash offer instead. David ignored our calls and texts, never giving us a chance to counteroffer. This lack of communication and apparent greed is unacceptable for a high-value transaction. I believe this violates NAR's Code of Ethics, as David failed to act transparently or fairly. His Zillow reviews show only four sales under $80,000, proving he's out of his depth with luxury properties. Check his Google reviews--out of 10, at least 5 report the same issue: David chickening out after accepting offers. This pattern of behavior is alarming. As a bottom-tier realtor, he lacks the professionalism to deal with serious buyers. Avoid David Barnes to save your time, money, and trust!

Stay away! Horrible experience dealing with these agents. We had a signed and accepted offer on a…read morehome listed by them by the close of negotiations date. Two days later they accepted our $50k wire transfer for deposit, and then proceeded to accept another offer for a few thousand more. This is the last day of our 1031 exchange window, and they basically ruined our chances to buy costing us $20k in taxes. Be careful with these guys. They are crooks.

Julia and her team were wonderful! We toured many homes, made many offers, and even had to back out…read moreof a contingent offer before finding our home and Julia made it all seem easy. She guided us through the full process as first time home buyers, referred us to fantastic partners (inspector, mortgage broker, etc), helped us navigate using a VA loan in a competitive market, provided encouragement when our offers didn't get accepted, advocated for our best interests, provided great feedback on home repair/reno considerations, and so much more. I really appreciated how her team worked together to accommodate our schedules, and we loved working with her partners Debbie and Brett when she wasn't available personally. We couldn't be happier with our home and are so grateful to Julia and team!

OH.MY.GOODNESS!!! There is nobody like Kelly! My situation was a bit crazy because I was 2 hours…read moreaway and needed an accessible home during the craziest real estate market of my lifetime! Kelly not only previewed a bazillion homes for me but she was compassionate, funny, diligent about my budget and better still... when I finally was able to secure a home, she helped me offer a reasonable price, did the walk through for me and recommended great contractors for my renovations. It was as if I have known her forever. Call her because she will be on your team from the first moment of contact!