Austin First Mortgage usually directly provides the lowest interest rate on the market. They are very motivated to get things done in time BUT they tends to put everything they requested from the customer's (loan applicant) end on extreme rush. They once sent me a document of more than 30 pages and ask me to sign within 2 hours. They also sent me a list of requested 7 or 8 documents (e.g. copy of ID, bank statements, etc.) and expect me to get all of them ready within the same day. Every time if you do not provide what they need in time, they will "remind" you that the delay from your end might DELAY CLOSING. It was a thrilling experience, but once passed this phase (and got used to their style and pace), it went smoothly. The front desk lady who will be processing your "lock rate" documents sounds grumpy and very impatient. All the other people I have worked with from Austin First Mortgage were pretty nice and helpful (except that they put everything on rush). I do recommend the management at Austin First Mortgage to consider training their employees to be more courteous to the clients. I am really glad that they were able to get the loan ready to close the transaction on time. From what I have heard, some big banks does not push you (or not even follow up with you regularly) for the documents but it usually ends up delaying closing. To sum up, I would recommend Austin First Mortgage to people who want to get their loan ready in time. But it does take a while to get used to their "pushy" style. However, if you cannot stand being "bossed" around at all, my suggestion is to get a quote from Austin First Mortgage (as they usually directly provide the lowest rate on the market) and then go to your bank and ask them to match the rate. read more

First off, their rate is very competitive. But be ready with bad service and lack of communication. We closed in almost 90 days. First 60 days, we uploaded Loan application and many documents. Locked in rate. Didn't hear for 60 days. Kept trying to reach them. Their main phone number - a receptionist who doesn't know anything got unfriendly and just transferred me to a voicemail. Nobody ever called me back. I called direct phone number of the person sssigned to me. Her phone said "this mailbox is full. Goodbye". Could never leave a voicemail on her phone. When I emailed them, there was hardly any responses once I paid them $500 to start the process. I prayed they really processed our refi. Otherwise I lost $500 The last 15 -20 days the person kept emailing us wanting this, that, although many documents we already uploaded in their system. And always hurrying us up.. .. I need this ASAP.. ..need that ASAP.... First she said would close in 2 weeks. Then suddenly on Thursday night emailed me saying wanna close on Saturday morning. Well, I didn't open my email till Friday afternoon and I wanna review the numbers she put together to make sure nothing was wrong. We are not talking small amount when it comes to refi house. I emailed her saying "can we close on Monday?" She said nope .. rate gonna expire. Well, if they didn't drag their feet the first 60 days, rate wouldn't have expired. Until Friday night, I still didn't know where the title office is. We normally go title office to close. It turned out Saturday morning the person from title company called to setup closing time at our house. Even after closing, we still got an email from this mortgage company, asking my Company HR was I still employed ? Then they emailed asking if my house was damaged in Feb winter storm, sent them pictures of our house and signed declaration our house wasn't damaged. They stay true to their quoted numbers but the pain , lack of communications and disorganization make me hesitate to use them again. Only go if you are ok with very little communication read more

Very competitive rate and excellent service as well. They closed my loan smoothly. All the loans require a lot of document, so just be patient and follow the instructions exactly. read more

After shopping around for rates for a refinance, I found Austin First Mortgage. They offered the best rates, so I went for it. I spent the time to fill out the application and provided all documentation necessary. I was told closing time would be about 45-60 days, which is standard right now. After 3 weeks, I was told that they could not process the loan because the quote they originally gave me was for a single family home, when the property is a condo (which I stated on my application). So in effect, I turned down 2 other companies offering to do the refinance, lost 3 weeks of time and spent hours wasted on providing documentation all due to their error. Now I'm back at square one and have to do it all over again with a different company. Don't be fooled by their rates. They don't come through. read more

10/27, I was told today that my file was sent to the under writer. I'll be checking back within two weeks and will share the progress. Update 11/6 two weeks have passed since my file was supposedly sent to underwriting. I haven't heard anything. This has become frustrating since I'm nearing 2 months since I started this process and I don't see an end in sight. Hopefully things will get better and at least I'll hear a positive update next week. read more

Buyer paid for a rush appraisal, appraiser was there for 1.5 hours and measured every exterior and interior wall and also took many pictures. Then two days later we hear the Appraiser refused and couldn't do the appraisal. So now we do not have a close date! This has placed an emotional and financial stress on both the seller and the buyer read more

This company is disorganized and unresponsive. They made me fill out the online forms for my two separate refis and one new loan request. They emailed me in response to call them back about one of the requests (not sure what happened to the other two). When I did, they could barely focus on the topic (and one of them was flat out rude) and eventually asked me to drop the call and wait for them to call me back. Its unlikely I can trust them with my financing needs. read more

I got quotes from 8 different lenders and Austin First Mortgage's rate was really competitive. I couldn't find anyone who could beat their quote. They were also very efficient - they were able to close the house even before my original closing date even though many lenders warned me that my closing date was too aggressive. Frankly I'm surprised to see so many negative reviews here but for me I'm extremely happy about their service. I'll definitely recommend Austin First Mortgage to all of my friends. read more

I'm a first time home buyer and based on my experience with this company, I hope I never have to go through it again. These are only a few of the issues we had: -mistakes on documents at closing -resubmitting paperwork -non communication from the owner when we had issues -being accused of lying regarding a personal loan -confusion over closing costs They did offer us a lower rate than other companies but it definitely wasn't worth the hassle. read more

Do not go to this business for your mortgage! If you do, you will regret it. While shopping for a loan is different for every person, I feel that it is my duty as a good citizen of Austin to share what might happen to you if you work with this company, based on my experience: 1) You might be matched with a loan processor who does not understand sentences in English without multiple iterations and variations of the information you want to convey. 2) You might be told to submit documents you have already submitted. 3) You might be told to retrieve documents that do not exist. 4) You might be told to retrieve documents from a bank whose policy prohibits the distribution of such documents. 5) You might be told to retrieve blank tax forms that you never submitted to the IRS. 6) You might be asked to pay fees that have not actually been charged. 7) Your closing date might be postponed due to your loan status changing to pending after your loan has been approved. 8) You might be asked to provide autographed documents from home inspectors after your loan has been approved. 9) Your HUD statement at closing might be inaccurate. 10) Employees of the business may speak rudely to you and/or your real estate agent. 11) Your personal information may be sold to companies this business works with. 12) You may receive at least 5 letters in your mail per week from companies who have purchased your information from this business that use deceptive messaging to offer overpriced financial products. 13) You may take hours of time out of your working schedule to speak with the employees of this business regarding your loan application, which may nullify the thousands of dollars of savings this business offered in the first place. Frankly, a 1-star rating is too high for this company because it deserves lower than 20% approval from consumers. Unfortunately, Yelp's rating system is restricted in this way. You will regret doing business with this company so steer clear, even if you're enchanted by the slightly lower rate. There are better deals out there. read more

In short I fell for the low rate promise and "most mortgagees processed" and my house closing process was very painful. This shop is run by Nancy Sun a Chinese person and her team of almost all Chinese employees and there's nothing wrong about that except its very evident that everyone's second language is English. Communication was not very smooth. The person I worked with Lucas was a very nice person, and he even went out of his way to help my process as much as he could. I should mention here that I have high credit scores and my finances are immaculate. However they didn't work diligently enough the loan did not close within 45 days (for various reasons attributed to the underwriters taking too much time, not catching missing documents till the last minute, the owners not being available to sign off on documents etc.) and so I was stuck with a loan extension fee. So I wasn't happy and I won't use them ever again. read more

My lending officer is Tracy. I am glad that I met her. She introduced their programs to me. Almost available to me 24 hours. She helped me closed a property in a very fast speed. She always keeps her promise and gives me the honest answer. She is responsible for what she is doing. Her boss Nancy is always behind her to give us the best support. Nancy is a very experienced lending woman. She knows how to provide what we need. Fast, honest, and helpful and resourceful. You may want to talk with Tracy about what you are looking for. read more

I have had very bad experiences with this mortgage company. Even though I am a Chinese. I found it is very hard to communicate with them. They are very rude. Even though they were talking to you on the phone, suddenly they will hand the phone to some else whom I don't know. I called several times to talk to owner Nancy Sun. Someone would tell me she was not there. But she was there. I know. They just don't want to answer my phone. Also, my mortgage was sold to several companies after closed. I need to track by myself to see who I should pay the monthly loan to. Do not go to this business for your mortgage! If you do, you will regret it. read more

Nancy and her team have done a great job for us a number of times. On our primary home, we had another company that couldn't close for us in 3 months. We called Nancy and she got us closed in 3 weeks. I'm not sure what issues others have had but we have never had problems. read more

We worked with Nancy and Danielle for our mortgage and had a really awesome experience with them. We got the best APR compared to other lenders. Our loan processor was Danielle and she used to respond immediately to our phone calls/email. The whole process was seamless and we had peace of mind. We highly recommend them read more

Highly Recommend! As a first-time home buyer I was shopping around for rates and came across Austin First Mortgage recommended by my colleague who used them for their home in Austin. I decide to call them to know if they serve Houston area, in less than 15 minutes, I received the quotes from them with such fantastic rates that none of the other lenders could even come close. I decided to go with them. Since not local, I was worried about communication and service, but from day 1 their team did a fantastic job in putting things together step by step and getting my mortgage ready in time for a very short closing deadline. Daniel our loan officer was so easy to work with, she was very knowledgeable and responsive, answered my emails and phone calls right away. She explained everything and kept me in the loop every step of the way. I couldn't be happier. I would highly recommend her! All paperwork and numbers were provided well before closing and allowed me to review everything in advance. Our closing costs came in even less than expected because she was able to offer multiple lender discounts on top of their low fees and no points charged for such good rate. Austin First Mortgage got 5 stars from our Real State Agent and our Closer as well, because our financing stood out against their other clients. read more

Austin First Mortgage gave me the lowest rate at the lowest price. The process of closing was smooth. Danielle Wang is very responsive. I was able to close the house quickly as the seller was looking for a quick close. Very glad my friends recommended Austin First Mortage. read more

Zhiyong Li with Austin First Mortgage issued a glowing pre-approval letter for his buyer - we went under contract with my seller and met his many demands for repairs. 2 weeks before closing buyer is not qualified - reason - NO CREDIT! How does a mortgage professional issue a pre-approval letter without even checking credit??? Stay away from this company - or at least this one guy!! read more

Aweful experience. Read Rohan's post. My mortgage closed late, documents done incorrectly, communication extremely poor. Would not return phone calls. Do NOT use this company. read more

Nancy and her team gave me the lowest rate by far, with the lowest fees as well. I didn't have any problems getting a pre-approvals for offers, as she gave out her personal cell, and responded to all of my email very quickly. They worked with the title company requested by the seller, and everything about the buying process was smooth and issue free. I did have to provide a ton of information, bank statements, and pay stubs for the lender, but I think that is standard now for any mortgage. Based on the rate they were able to get me, I will definately be using them in the future. Post-sale, I did receive 2 letters inquiring if I would like to purchase mortgage insurance, but after both of those letters, I haven't recieved another one. read more

Do not use this company. My experiences were very similar to Rohan P. It was the worst loan application process that I have ever gone through. CDM read more

My first time house buying would be full of apprehensions and challenges I thought initially. I was lucky to have AFM. I couldn't put in words how awesome their service was. They have been very closely handholding and helping me throughout the process big or small. Very professional service, amazing rates tried multiple lenders but no one could beat their rates on multiple occasions. They were very patient and kept me transparent with each and every process and steps without rushing me into something. I just like to appreciate the entire AFM team Danielle, Xia and Nancy. You guys are amazing. read more

Contrary to the first reviewer, I found AFM (Ajay) to be very ethical, responsive and great value for the money. I had to refi a Texas Cash Out - already a difficult type to reprocess. Plus, I was just on the edge of enough equity and a good credit score. Actually, I was referred by my new good acquaintaince: Keri Adams (Certified Mobile Closing Notary). She saw how I was being mistreated at another lender, and gave me AFM's contact info. I saved almost 80% of the cost from the previous mortgage broker and the laon easily closed within 30 days. Now, the reason for the lack of a 5th star is because there was a substantial disconnect between the back office of AFM and their new escrow company. This generated a lot of micro-management from my side - all of which should have been unnecessary. No point going into the details, but I ended up having to cc Ajay on everything. To his credit, he immediately got things resolved. You can do a lot worse that AFM, so they get my conditional hearty endorsement. read more

Austin First Mortgage has successfully closed several home loans for us over the past 7 years. Their low rates and closing costs cannot be beat. Every experience we've had resulted in a quick close. Danielle Wang has been our loan processor and she is helpful and responsive . read more

I don't give them 1 star because they did get me the lowest rate I could find and ended up reimbursing me for some of the money they made me lose so that my realized loss was only about $150. These people apparently don't have much experience with purchases and they screwed up my loan BIG TIME. I went through a week of hell after the lender refused to disburse the funds because AFM forgot that the HUD settlement required approval even though the title company asked them specifically where to send it for approval. Instead of working to fix the problem they were just stumped and tried to blame the title company even though they made no mistakes. I was very lucky that the seller agreed to cooperate with me, even though he had a cash offer on the table, but the second closing happened 6 days later and I had to pay the seller a $100 per diem, plus the week that I missed out on renting the house. In the end I didn't lose the house plus all the money I had already invested on the purchase (earnest money, inspection, rate lock fee, etc) but I was awfully close. My first time home buying experience was an absolute nightmare because of AFM. Use them only if you're brave and don't have much to lose. And if you do, check on them every few days and make sure your stuff is moving along to close on time. read more

Communication was poor, I did not get updates when problems arose, They really didn't do anything except try to collect the commission. Would not recommend to anyone. We have credit in the 800's and Low DTI ratio, the issue was the appraisal, which came in at a good price but the bank asked for revision, most likely in an effort to squash the loan. AFM didn't even know about the hold up until I started asking questions. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM, Unless you just want to bloq $475 for an appraisal fee!!! I am just going to go straight to another bank and pay another Appraisal fee, that is how bad these guys are that I am willing to walk away from a $500!!! HORRIBLE! read more

We recently refinance through Austin First Mortgage. Process was not that bad. We did run into some issues, but they were able to fix it without causing much delay. You do need to follow up with them on a regular basic. The bad part was after we closed the mortgage. We were inundated with mails from life and home insurance. Its almost a month and we keep getting 2-3 mails a day. Avoid if you can. There are many more mortgage company that are honest in the way they do their business. AFM- Please stop selling our information. We will be reporting them to BBB as well. read more

I have been a real estate agent for over 22 years and this is one of, if not THE worst lender I have ever dealt with. A buyer came 'pre-approved' with an offer on one of my listings, but the crew at Austin First claimed they didn't even make application until a week later. Closing was delayed 8 days. I would contact them with 5 or 6 questions about the appraisal, underwriting review, etc, and I would be lucky to get an answer to ONE of the questions. They would not contact the underwriter to check on the status of the final review and they never would - it's as if they were afraid of the underwriter for some reason. Or maybe they were busy trying to hook more people into getting a loan through them. One email I got from them was almost illegible - typos, misspellings, and I honestly could not figure out what they were trying to say. As others mentioned before, they constantly tried to pass the blame for the delay, including blaming me when I have nothing to do with the loan app or the buyers-I was simply trying to check on the status! They are the WORST LENDER EVER! read more

I have had a very positive experience with my refinance using Austin First Mortgage and now plan to use them for multiple mortgages. All responses have been very prompt and courteous. If I ask for a pre-approval letter, I have it within 10 minutes, and no question has ever gone unanswered. This was by far the lowest rate and closing costs, which will save me a lot of money over time, and I really appreciate them being able to offer this service. I am very surprised by all the negative reviews. For the people who claim this company sells their contact information - those are the companies providing the credit reports, not the mortgage company. It will happen no matter who you use if you are not on the government's Do Not Contact list. Finally, I have had no language barrier issues - everyone I have communicated with speaks English. Shame on you for not wanting to work with a business where the employees speak English as a second language. read more

I'm a Real Estate Broker in Austin. I've been forced to endure the unprofessional behavior of Austin First Mortgage 3 times in transactions where I represented the seller. Not 1 time has the transaction closed on-time... NOT ONCE! In my opinion, they lie, mislead the parties to the transaction, blame others, including the Title Company... pretty much anything they can do to push their unprofessional behavior onto someone else in the transaction. Their voicemail system only answers if you allow the phone to ring about 10 times. They never return phone calls, etc... They have little or no communication skills, especially for a business. I can assure you the next time a buyer submits an offer on one my listings and the mortgage pre-approval letter is issued from Austin First Mortgage I will counsel with my client regarding my past experience with this company (company is a loosely used term for this outfit!!) read more

I currently close a loan with AFM, and it's a great experiences. The appraisal report shows the values was way much lower than sales price and Nancy help me negotiate the sale price to secure my benefit. Nancy always affidavit on borrower's behavior and she has the best rate among all other bankers. If I buy another house , I'll choose AFM again!! read more

Austin First Mortgage offered good rate and fees. We closed 2 houses on time without problems. Our mortgage broker was Sherry Qian. We did try to follow up on the status of loans to make sure we had a smooth closing. I saw that Austin was our lender themselves on the HUD statement for both of our loans. I was wondering who's the lender for the first reviewer. If it's AFM, they can approve their own loan, right? read more

I have been on the rental property shopping for some years. My involvement has been in the south, east coast and in the last 2 years, in the San Antonio area. I was extremely impressed by Nancy's crew with the efficiency of their work. My previous experience is not unpleasant with he east coast lenders, but dealing with Nancy is truly a no hassle, efficient process. The most recent mortgage started on 3/19/15 when I saw a good property on line; I closed it on 4/20/15. The property is on the market now and has already received multiple visits. One thing standing out is that the staff at the Austin First Mortgage is proactive, they do not drag, instead they push you to prepare all the necessary document for closing. They go out of limb to mediate among the buyer, bank, title company an realtor to have the closing go as quick yet smooth as possible. I would recommend any home buyers to use the Austin First Mortgage without reservation. p.s. did I say I got the best rate with Nancy after shopping around? read more

Annie was my loan processor. We just closed our refi last Friday and I have to say Annie is the best processor I have worked with. My husband and I have closed 4 loans in a year: lot loan, construction loan, refinance (construction to perm), and then refinance again with Austin First Mortgage. Honestly I was little hesitant working with AFM when I saw the reviews on Yelp, but Nancy, the loan officer, had offered me the best rate which I could not refuse. The whole loan process was pleasant. Annie was on top of everything. She was professional and experienced and answered all my questions on time, even after working hours. Another thing I like about her is she only asked for the necessary documents in order to clear the conditions, saving us time by not having to scramble for added paperwork. Regarding others' review, yes I agree that their English is not perfect, but if you want a best rate and a hard working processor who does not mind work extra hours to close your loan ASAP, then Austin First Mortgage is the company you should use to close your loan. read more

I closed on my house in November 2016. We shopped around a lot to get the best rate which Austin First Mortgage provided. This was my 3rd home purchase, and I was a little worried as I didn't know much about the company. Between Xia and Danielle, I felt comfortable doing business with them. As a home buyer, you really need to be prepared and ready to go with all your documentation. I would advise to start gathering bank statements, tax returns, etc before you even apply. This is the first thing they will ask for and if you are not timely in providing everything, you are delaying them for further processing your loan. I can recall exchanging emails and phone calls with Danielle at 10:30pm one night. I started wondering if she ever stopped working. Our biggest problem was trying to find an inspector as they were backlogged 3 weeks. I made a couple of calls and found an inspector that could do it the next day. I gave Danielle all the contact information and she made it happen. We were even able to close early. I will not hesitate to use Austin First Mortgage on my next deal. read more