I spent months learning about searching for a home, watching videos, doing monthly payment calcs…read moreand preparing for a rough market in 2021. Probably a typical first-timer mistake, most of my time was spent on the home-finding side of the process, assuming the lending process was straightforward with some bank or FCU system. At some point in November, a realization happened and it clicked "hey! why even bother looking at a home without money?!" and I frantically started diving into lenders. I learned basics of the financials involved, and most advice was to start speaking to lenders early. What I thought was months early actually only turned into... weeks early.
I clicked a handful of yelp high rated, local brokers / lenders in my purchase area. Out of the few lenders who responded to my inquiries, my first call with Michael was all about education and familiarity with the loan process. Most lenders get your info and tell you a possible rate. Michael is wonderful to talk to and always provides valuable insights. This has benefits beyond direct customer service, for instance having every seller agent LOVE him, putting a stamp in their mind when sorting through 40+ offers (most 10s of k over asking).
With some short discussions, it was clear we could move faster than I had anticipated back in 2021. We were very well qualified, but lacking larger down. Some ideas I had about the funding process were not correct, and money is basically made up anyways, so...
When looking for an agent, I talked to several. Ultimately, based on my gut feel with Michael, I went with a recommended agent that he was familiar with, Autumn&Cassidy. They were a very efficient team to work with, and this was a great coordination move. Starting the home search in Jan 2022, the market was molasses slow, rates were OK but hikes were looming scary. With assurance from Michael, this seemed like "the time" to move forward.
We went through 2 aggressive offers before winning the 3rd in early March. Getting paperwork sorted with Michael was painless, and he stitched together a handful of very messy bank accounts which eventually equaled my closing cash. Employment history was OK, but that too required some finesse (hey, life is complicated). He took care of our DU instantly once things started getting serious with offers.
During the counter and acceptance of our winning offer, Michael was on top of it. Frequent communication, late night texts, locking fantastic rates only hours before increases. I was able to effectively do my entire escrow while out-of-state with Michael's and our agents' help.
Not but days into escrow (which was less than 15 days by the way, light-speed), some poor financial logistics put me in a solvable, but tough spot for closing the purchase.
Michael was up doing research with me Sunday night after hours, completely responsive and, quite frankly, stable and put together which I was not. Gladly, that was solved, and we moved on to a low appraisal!
This is all too common right now, and unfortunately we ended up coming up with the difference out of pocket. This is the market we are in, its not the best but the small difference over time is still worth the purchase of a home in Southern California. Getting a great rate during such an unstable time offsets momentary pain of an out-dated appraisal system in the long term.
The lender and escrow that Michael ended up recommending were fast and flexible with our timeline, allowing a crazy fast close. Escrow provided a mobile notary, which was also very convenient. The only speedbumps in the entire process were self-inflicted.
I think my largest disappointment in the process has been COVID making it difficult to meet Michael in person, which will happen in the very near future!
Michael and his family have personalized this experience and made us feel totally and completely comfortable borrowing existentially large amounts of money. One thing I was not looking forward to was shopping for lenders. Having a broker to essentially work for you to get you the cheapest money is totally worth it, especially when that someone is as effective, personable, and professional as Michael and his family is.
I'm sure there are a million other fantastic things Michael has done for our benefit, and as a first time home buyer I would do it all again with Michael. Too bad I can only give 5 stars. I will be coming back to him for refi when the time is right.
