This mortgage keeps an escrow account after closing even I paid more than 50% downplay and have around 800 credit score. It caused big trouble because Bay equity sells the mortgage right after closing, so do not accept request to close the escrow account. It is very clear no borrower wants to have escrow account to save property tax and insurance beforehand, no interest and lost control. I was not being asked and explained during mortgage application process. Bay equity is also very pushy especially when asking me to sign, I was not being given enough time to ask all my questions, I was told that version is not final, only after I signed they could schedule appraisal to keep closing in time. DO NOT RECOMMEND unless you are super clear and all hidden agenda in mortgage! read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. I would leave 0 stars if I could. they will not communicate with you throughout the process and then they will rush you at the very last minute. You will be ignored, pushed around, transferred to different contacts, and will be working with inexperienced loan officers in training. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY. read more

I was urged to use Bay Equity to facilitate a quick close because the buyer of my home was using them and both loans needed to close at the same time. I was mislead and misinformed about my earnest money deposit and surprised at closing that it had to be repaid and the original payment had to be refunded. I requested that my property be recorded in my trust as my current property was in my trust. the lender failed to record it in my trust, tried to blame me that I didn't ask for that type of recording and when I showed proof that I asked I was told it would be an easy fix. 60 days post closing the lender still hasn't recorded my property in my trust. because that puts the beneficiaries of my trust at risk for probate I was forced to pay $300 to have the deed properly recorded. The lender has failed to respond to my request to reimburse me. Finally when the lender sold my loan they provided an inaccurate address for the new loan servicer and my first payment was missing for three weeks. The lender had no response for this error. The new servicer does not appear to be much better and I will quickly refinance to get my loan away from shady financial institutions. I will never use or recommend Bay Equity. read more

My wife & I have been working with Mike Rafii & his team off & on for the past 2+ years. Upon meeting them they didn't just try to make a sale, they got to know us, they asked what we love to do in our free time & made sure that we would be able to continue doing those things after purchasing a home. This was not simply a transaction to this team, it was so much more. This was our first home purchase so we had a bit of anxiety & A LOT of questions... Mike & his team, specifically Rich, gave us their numbers & answered any texts/calls no matter the time of day. Despite us having to take breaks from the home search the team stayed in touch until we were ready & we are finally first time home owners. We can't recommend Mike & his team more!! read more

Nora Smith our amazing loan officer has been so knowledgeable, amazingly helpful and so professional from the start of our loan application process until the end! We are grateful and really happy that we went with her and Equity Bay! Please shed her out if you're looking for someone who can help you with home financing! read more

We took out a bridge loan to pay for a new house while we sold our old house. Once we sold our old house, we needed to take out a new mortgage to replace the high interest bridge loan. Bay Equity made oversight after oversight, causing a 2 month delay in closing on the new mortgage. One of their Jr reps told us it was because they were short staffed. Once we told them we didn't want to pay for delays that weren't our fault they stopped communicating with us. They didn't take any responsibility for their actions or even explain why it took so long. They also charged us a mysterious $14k fee that went to a company that isn't googleable or searchable on LinkedIn. One of the least professional companies I've ever dealt with. Our Real Estate Agent will never work with them again. read more

Was referred to them through a Redfin agent as a first-time home buyer looking to get pre-approval for a home. They were very pushy after I contacted them - 1 or 2 emails per day even though I had already contacted them telling them I had a busy schedule and planned to get to it in a few days. And then when I finally finished the application, they sent me a one-sentence email about my pre-approval amount, which I'm guessing was lower than what they had hoped, because they never responded to any subsequent emails from my following that. Highly do not recommend these guys. Don't seem like decent people. The whole interaction left a bad taste in my mouth. Take your money elsewhere. read more

This was my fifth mortgage and was talked into trying Bay Equity. They took away the joy one should feel when buying a house. Their underwriting process takes too long, is painful, and never ends. No other lender has ever taken right up to the night before closing. Recommend using anyone else for your mortgage needs! read more

I was bait and switched with my pre-payment penalty which may cause a ~$50,000 loss to me. Only at closing was a new provision with a large pre-payment penalty added to my loan offer. I have a screengrab of my correct loan offer from my Bay Equity loan officer that shows the option I chose for my loan which explicitly states 'no' under the pre-payment penalty portion. I approved this with over the phone. Unfortunately other paper trails are difficult to obtain, they may do so intentionally, they are not in my online portal and they refuse to provide the full versions. Luckily I made a screenshot of the outline of the options, without this I would have no proof of what I discussed verbally on the phone which was an option with no pre-payment penalty, as I knew that rates were widely expected to go down. When I requested the documents showing what my offer was, ie a full version of the screengrab I had taken, I was stonewalled and they refused to provide them / deliberately obfuscated my questions. I told him I would need to escalate. I did so in linkedin messages to superiors and then through the customer care form on teh website, where I was again not provided the documents, my request ignored, and referred to the loan issuer Nexfi, although it was a bay equity employee that offered me the deal I agreed to. It is still an open matter of dispute for me, and I was fortunate enough to have taken the screen grab - otherwise, like most, I would have no proof of this, they would likely say I was confused about the prepayment option. Others are probably not so fortunate as to have that, although without a lawsuit I doubt it will be remedied. I would like to stop others from being tricked/ possibly construed as defrauded. They need to have clear offer acceptance protocols on their site with a paper trail to prevent this. read more

Bay Equity's service was great when we were first securing the loan. However, the service quality completely fell off after they finalized the loan. Our home insurer made a mistake that Bay Equity failed to catch resulting in our home insurance policy being cancelled. When the insurer fixed the mistake, it became clear the best way to pay them was out of escrow. Bay Equity refused to initially pay the insurer even though it was a burden for us to do it and pressured us to complete the payment because it "made it hard for them to sell our loan" (boohoo). We finally convinced them that they needed to pay the insurer out of escrow, but after repeated emails they never confirmed they made the payment. A month later I receive notification that the insurer was never paid by Bay Equity and they have since sold my loan so its not longer Bay Equity's problem. It is incredibly reckless to put our home insurance status into question for so long and now I'm in a position where I have to pay insurance twice and work with another company to figure out a problem they didn't make. Bay Equity's customer service is atrocious after they sweet talk you into letting them be your lender. 5/5 stars for their team that gets you started 1/5 stars for everything else they do read more

We really enjoyed working with TJ. He helped us break down each cost line-by-line and was so incredibly patient, answering any questions we had, both the acute and the obtuse. He also took the time to talk with us, holding our hand every step of the way and made sure our concerns were attended to. I would highly recommend TJ to anyone and everyone, and am looking forward to working with him again when we buy our next house!! read more

Not impressed. We sold our townhouse. It is a community of 72 units of townhome/condos, surrounded by single-family homes - meaning there are not many like-for-like comparables. However, 2 townhomes in the neighborhood, with the EXACT same layout and extremely similar level of upgrades did sell within the past year: one for 445k, the other for $465k. We had agreed to an offer for $416,150, and the appraisal came back at $410k. Mr. Burke had the wrong square footage, he claimed the 445k lot had open space (it's the exact same layout, exact same corner building, maybe a view of "open space"?... however, ours has a view of downtown Reno...). When our realtors disputed the report, he just told us too bad, and he wouldn't adjust anything even though there was clear evidence he was in the wrong. Would NOT recommend - and this process feels illegal...that one person can set the market and ruin a deal, ESPECIALLY when there is precedence for the price. Burke's Appraisals, LLC, and Bay Equity Home Loans (who allowed this unreasonable appraisal) should be ashamed of this appraisal and of themselves. read more

As a first time home buyer, I had no idea what I was doing or needed. My agent recommended Bay Equity and I'm so glad we decided to go with them. Janet Yingling was SO HELPFUL. Throughout our long process of finding the right house and getting an offer accepted, Janet was there the whole way and answered my several hundred questions and emails. :) Can't thank her enough for all the questions and calls she answered/took while off work hours. I also want to mention Molly Seefried, their Processor. She was also very helpful, responsive, and kind! Thank you both and Bay Equity for all your assistance. You gave me the confidence I needed to buy my first house and made the whole thing so much less painful and stressful! read more

We just started our loan process with Justin Corbin. He has been very helpful in the process. We were already approved with 2 other lenders that made us feel like just another number. Justin is there we you every step of the way. He always answers your calls and even text. He will also respond while he is out of the office. We are not done yet but I can tell that this will be our lender for life. Updates to follow... read more

Putting in a recommendation for Tony at First Rate. I am a first time homebuyer and he has helped me every step of the way. I cannot say enough good things about my experience. I can't imagine trying to navigate the FHA mess without someone on my side. The other people I've been in contact with have also been very helpful. read more

We were first time home buyers and had a lot of questions when we first started thinking about buying a house. Michael Colagrossi's recommendation came from our realtor and we decided to speak with him along with a few other lenders in the area, my conversation with Mike was really good and he offered to meet us in the Bellevue office to help us understand everything about buying a home, very few people do that and we are so thankful we got to chat with him and learn more about everything. His team is really good and Molly made the entire approval and buying process so much easier for us. Highly highly recommend Michael! read more

Jeff was beyond helpful, communicative, and friendly. Jeff helped my wife and I know what we could spend on a home to meet our financial and family goals. He actually got our rate down by .45% and helped us shave off an additional $500+ off our monthly payment. His laser-like focus on customer satisfaction is why we chose Jeff for the second purchase of a home and will continue to refer our friends and family to Jeff. read more

I had a great experience with Joshua. He goes out of his way to make sure that loan gets closed on time and will offer advice on matters related to mortgage. I was trying to workout a settlement on my loan and he did not hestitate to offer his advie and review settlement offer. I will go with his services again if I were to be in market for mortgage/refinance. read more

After two failed attempts at refinancing that had nothing to do with our credit or cashflow situation, we contacted a trusted mortgage consultant, now a senior consultant with First Rate Financial, Garett Holbrook. Various circumstances led us down the first two regretful paths or we would have started on the right path (working with Garett and FirstRate) to begin with. Another great experience with Garett and First Rate has reminded us of the value of people who are expert at what they do and dedicated in their execution as well as the value of firms who put customers first, truly care and go above and beyond to make what can be a painful and complicated process reasonably straightforward and free of snags. Garett has years of experience in the mortgage industry and has stayed current as this industry has morphed and changed through the volatility of the mortgage and banking crisis. He is always straightforward in conducting transactions and works hard to clarify the process and document the costs in a way that the layman can understand. More importantly, unlike our experience with our other two lenders, the first quote remained the quote throughout the process. With the other lenders, it seemed we were informed on a daily/weekly basis that one thing or another had changed or that an entire program we thought we were confirmed for had gone away. Garett tracked every detail to assure that any questions or potential problems were addressed or that we were prepared to address them, keeping things moving forward quickly and getting us to closing in record time. He also tracked rates and locked us at the best possible time and we are thrilled with the loan we've secured. Needless to say, we highly recommend First Rate and Garett is without a doubt your go-to guy! read more

Josh is excellent to Work with. He was reachabel on phone anytime I needed him and being a first time home buyer he took the time to go over every minute detail and did this till I fully understood everything I needed to know. Overall had a nice experience and I would gladly recommend him and his services to anyone who is looking to buy a home. read more

Here's a recommendation for Josh at First Rate Financial. He worked with me patiently on arranging my mortgage refinance, and provided information and assistance at every step of the way. I highly recommend him and would use his services again. read more

If I would have to rate then 5 Star is less for this company. It is great experience from begin to end with them. I was so overwhelmed with first experience so again went to them for REFI and will do in future too. First Rate keep posting you best rate and advise best of best in market. I would 100% recommend to anyone who are looking for best mortgage. Perfect company with excellent staff. And, Joshua Boswell will make sure you will satisfy. ********** 10 Star - Rakesh Trivedi (Bothell, WA) read more

I am working with josh finding my third home. With every one of them he has worked hard to find me a loan that is what I need for the property when others couldn't. He is honest and up front about what can be done and he is always there for me when I have questions read more

Have gotten two loans with Garett at First Rate. He patiently helped us through a complex refi situation, and made everything incredibly easy. Best rate I could find anywhere too! Highly recommended. read more

I have refinanced twice with Joshua and he has stayed on top of things all the time. Tracking and updating me on the rate changes. Getting the loan closed ASAP. read more