BUYERS BE AWARE!!!! Kate Beck!! Thanks I drove all the way from Everett 10am in the morning to attend a home buyers class she was supposed to teach...Well I arrived 10 minutes early to find a sign at the door saying Home buyers class call this number..... Well called the number and Kate had the nerve to not pick up the phone....We had gone back and forth a week earlier and the last thing I heard the class was on so I know it hadn't been canceled...I called again and still no one picked up the phone. I mean how rude do you get??? I told her that this is a requirement for the homestead program so she knew the seriousness of getting this class done...if you are reading this the homestead program is for low income people...which I am a single parent and trying to purchase a home....hmmmm makes you wonder....DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING BUISNESS WITH THIS UNRELIABLE PERSON!! Update-Kate Beck called at 1046am an hour later in the car...as evidenced by the noise in the background....she left a voicemail stating the class started at 9am this morning...I had received an email on August 4th 2010 at 6:55pm stating "the class is on saturday from 10am-3pm...no other emails indicated a change in the time and or location. Once again VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!!!! read more

We bought our first house in October of 2009. Waited a long time to do so and we were nervous. Kate did a great job of hand-holding, explaining and advocating - she got us an amazing rate, a great loan, and the Obama $. We're happily ensconced in our new castle, and just wanted to give Kate a shout-out for her part in it. read more

Kate taught at the 1st Time Home Buyers class my husband and I attended. We felt her personality was a good match and we were excited to work with her for our first home buying endeavor. We contacted her soon after the class, and the first two weeks of communication went really well. Then, nothing from her for almost two months. I emailed a couple of times, always including her assistant on the emails, yet no one ever got back to me during those two months. Then suddenly, Kate emailed me to say she broke her leg and had been very sick. Breifly, maybe two weeks, we communicated often and productively. Then suddenly, again nothing from her for nearly a month. Finally her assistant replied to an email I sent for the second time. Renae, the assistant, apologized and said that Kate had been away a lot for her PT on her leg. Makes sense, sure. But so odd that no one ever contacted me prior, both time. After two credit pulls, Kate did a third one in anticipation of us making an offer on a home. At this time she emailed me about how my new school loans have pushed our DTI to a higher percentage. New school loans? I don't have any school loans other than the ones I've had since 2007. Kate claims that one of them wasn't on the prior credit pulls and thus they are new to her. So that caused our preapproval to loss $75k. How devastating. After we had been thinking we had up to $275k for a first time home to buy for the past four months. All that time we spent looking at homes, getting our credits pulled (which now have too many inquiries on it and so no one wants to look at them), driving around. What a waste. To add insult to injury, Kate said to me, "well you probably wouldn't have gotten that house anyway." Gee, thanks. If your pre-approval is too small to bother with, than you're screwed working with Kate Beck. She'll feed you some line about how no one wants to see you own a house more than she does. I can't believe I fell for it. read more

The first house we bought we went through our credit union, it was fine but nothing to right home about (so to speak). Our real estate agent recommended Kate when we went searching for our second house. We had a to do a jumbo loan so the rate wasn't too great but it was better than the C.U. Kate even came to the the signing which made us feel so much more comfortable when we were literally signing our life away. As I said, the rate wasn't that great, but when rates started to fall, Kate called to see if we were interested in refinancing, we weren't able to at that point so we put it on hold for a few months. In the mean time my hubby found a guy through a friend (blah blah blah) who could supposedly refinance at a *great* rate for a ridiculously low fee. When I called Kate to see if she could match it, she let me know that what the other guy was saying he could do, he really could not do. I went round and round with the other guy and you know what? Kate was right. She handled the refi beautifully, we saved about 10% on our monthly mortgage payment, and the cost of the refi will be made up by the end of the year. In a couple more years when the market improves a bit more & we are out of jumbo loan territory, I'll be calling Kate again for another refi and in the mean time recommending her to anyone who asks. read more

I cannot say enough good things about Kate! She made my refinance so easy, and was so reassuring at every step, that I wish she could handle all of the details of my life. In addition to helping me refinance my home with absolutely no hassle, she was also extremely kind and supportive as I dealt with other difficult life circumstances that affected my loan processing. Despite it sometimes feeling like nothing else would come together, Kate continually reassured me that things would work out, and that no matter what - my refinance was not in jeopardy, and would be fine. She was right, and I am so grateful for her kind, supportive help at every step of the process! read more

Kate is so great to work with in providing options for our mortgage! She has helped us look at our situation creatively and revealed ideas we hadn't yet considered. I love that she listened to my wife's and my concerns and then let us decide our best direction without pressure to "buy" anything from her. She's simplified the complicated and has been very reassuring about this whole process. We are excited to move forward with her recommendations! read more

We needed a loan done quickly as we were given 30 days notice to be out of our rental. I called a few lenders that had been recommended to me one evening. One never called back, one called back a few days later, and Kate called back that night and that's how we started working together on a pre-approval. I explained to her that we were looking to move fast through the whole process and she assured me it could be done. We had our pre-approval 2 days later as Kate and her team guided through all the documents that we needed. When it came time to close we had a goal of 20 days to make it work. Kate said that was quick but she would do her best to make it happen. And she did. She and her team worked with us to get documents sent to them while we were on vacation in Mexico, they helped navigate the process of using gift money for a down payment, and most importantly we closed the day before we had to move out. All in all Kate was very professional and knowledgeable and made good on her promise to be quick. read more

I was referred to her by a friend and she asked me to fill out a on-line application which i did. Kate never replied to the application, nor to any of the follow up e-mails or voice messages. I'd have to say i was the opposite of impressed and have gone elsewhere. read more

Kate and her team were responsive, caring, thoughtful, and knowledgeable. This was my first time buying a home and was a fish out of water, but she talked me through all of the relevant details and made sure I wasn't left in the dark. I would recommend Kate to anyone in a heartbeat. read more

We browsed the real estate market for almost two years. We were completely unprepared when we found a house that we fell in love with. We didn't have an agent or even a pre-approval. And to make matters worse the house already had multiple buyers interested. On a co-workers recommendation we contacted Kate by phone. We filled out her online application and had a quote in our email within hours. We also contacted a few other lending institutions but their fees and rates were higher, they didn't have a local agent and all transactions would be handled over the phone, or they just plain didn't contact us back. Fortunately for us we got our offer in quickly and it was accepted! Kate walked us through the mortgage process and even met us at the house while our inspection was being done so we could sign paperwork. Being a little anal I had a lot of detail oriented questions about the loan process. Kate answered them all patiently, thoroughly, and extremely quickly. If you prefer corresponding by email you'll love Kate! She replied to almost every one of my emails super quickly even some of the ones sent after normal work hours. We had an aggressive closing schedule during the holiday season. Even with Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays mixed in the mortgage team at Metlife got our mortgage approved on time. I can't recommend Kate enough. Her patience and willingness to answer all my (sometimes not even mortgage related) questions made the loan process so much less stressful than I thought it would be. read more

Kate and her team worked hard to get us into our first house. It was a bit hectic at the end of the process but all turned out well, and we are now four months into our new home. I will definitely return to Homestreet in the future! read more

Kate was a joy to work with in every way which is saying a lot because coming up with document after personal document for myself and my husband to finance a new primary residence before moving out of our old residence was pretty much pure hell. Kate helped my husband and I buy our third house (6th mortgage) and compared to other mortgage brokers (she can't really be compared) it was like dealing with a friendly social worker, coach or a kind teacher instead of working with a black box of mystery. Kate became personally invested in our process and that was comforting. Sorry other mortgage counselors, I can't remember your name and I don't need to because I found all I need for future real estate investing. Thanks, Kate! Note: Recommended highly! read more

Kate Beck was the best mortgage broker I could have imagined! She listened to me and my story, and helped me refinance my house with no snags and no drama. She was encouraging throughout the entire process, and helped relieve any anxiety I had. I will recommend Kate to my friends and family when they are ever looking for a competent and respectful mortgage broker. She made a what I thought would be a difficult process smooth and easy! read more

Kate and her team were very helpful, and made the process of getting pre-approved and then closing on my first real estate purchase very easy. I'm told that often, the main hassle involved with closing is getting the buyer's bank to cooperate, but in my case, it was actually the seller's bank (not affiliated with Kate or Homestreet) which made the process take way longer than it should have. In the end, we closed and everything worked out fine. Next time I am looking to buy a house or condo, I will probably call Kate first. read more

Kate is a true professional and provided us with top notch services. She responded to every request very fast and has always made herself available. She and her assistant Renae came up with multiple plans and acted immediately when we met problems during the process. We would highly recommend Kate and Renae to everyone who needs loan service. read more

Kate was an invaluable resource to us as we built our home. She was accessible, informative, and quick to respond. Even though the process seemed overwhelming at times Kate was incredibly helpful and a calming and supportive presence from start to finish. read more

Kate helped me refinance my current house after my CU said they couldn't help me, and financed my new house at a great rate. Excellent timely communication. Expert advice including conference calls with credit rating bureaus and other super helpful efforts. Very flexible as I traveled during final underwriting overseas. And perhaps most important kind and friendly to work with. Wouldn't hesitate to use her again. read more

couldn't be easier. decided to purchase a home 12/2011. when the looking got serious i applied at my bank and my credit union. wasn't too impressed with either so our agent referred us to kate. couldn't have been a smoother process on her end. things went quickly and i never had any issues. even when she had a trip out of town her staff kept me well informed of everything that was going no and was always easy to reach. the whole group over there deserves a 5 rating! read more

Had such a lovely experience with Kate and her assistant, Renae. My husband and I are first time homebuyers and they both helped us understand the intimidating process and fielded our never ending list of questions! Kate was always available by phone or email and incredibly responsive. I truly felt like she was bending over backward to ensure our loan was approved and that our home buying process went smoothly! Can't recommend her highly enough. read more

We worked with Kate for the first time in 2013 on securing our second home & had a great experience. She was very knowledgable, took the time to meet with us & walk us through the entire process before we put any offers down. Kate was also very available when we needed to check in about various complications that came up. This year after deciding to purchase a new construction home we immediately checked in with Kate to make sure we could work with her again. As usual, she made the process easy and smooth, despite closing challenges caused by a construction delay. She locked us in at an amazing rate at the right time and offered invaluable advice along the way. Kate is our go-to, trusted mortgage lender. While we hope to settle in our new home for a long time, we will definitely work with Kate again if needed and are always recommending her to our friends. read more

I highly recommend working with Kate Beck from HomeStreet Bank. I took a homebuyer's education class from her, which, among other things, highlighted Kate's knowledge, patience, and ability to communicate complex ideas. As a first time home buyer, these traits meant a lot to me. Months later, Kate provided me with a pre-approval. Kate and her assistant, Renae Dahlquist, were remarkably attentive and responsive. I put in multiple bids, and each time, they produced customized cost estimates. Kate was frequently available to talk on the phone or meet in person to answer my many questions. When a bid of mine was accepted, the seller requested we close in an unusually short amount of time, which posed no problem at all for Kate and Renae. Additionally, I feel very good about the rate that Kate was able to secure for me. Throughout the process, they would periodically check up with me on the status of the next deadline, which I greatly appreciated. Overall, working with Kate and Renae was a pleasure, and I walked away feeling like I got a great mortgage, and a better understanding of the housing market in general. read more