This review is for Mark Richards, the DC area senior loan officer for Citizens Bank / Citizens One…read morehome loans. Working with Mark Richards has been a most interesting and exasperating experience. On the one hand, you get the best rates on your mortgage in the DC area -- by a lot. The competition doesn't even come close to matching what he can offer. On the other hand, you'll spend 3 weeks banging your head against the wall in utter frustration as Mark's people skills and customer service are on par with a toddler. He won't respond to your email questions (or only partly respond), will give you timelines for receiving important documents that are mere suggestions, will keep shifting blame for tardiness to the underwriter or his processor, and will disappear from the office for long periods of time without giving you any notice. In my case, he went on vacation to Italy in the middle of our closing and failed to notify me or leave anyone in his office in charge of communication. I only found out several days later from his assistant when I didn't receive a timely response that was promised. To be fair, the issue here is communication not competence -- Mark did move along the closing process and we closed on time. But the communication is a challenge and ultimately its a tough call. You can deal with this anguish for 3 weeks and get it over with. Then you can enjoy up to 30 years of paying less interest on your mortgage. For most people, thats a worthy sacrifice. If that doesn't float your boat, I'd recommend looking at Chris Washburn at Caliber or Alex Jaffe at FirstHome. In my search, those two were extremely responsive and offered good rates. Ultimately, as far as Mark goes its a shame. If he can improve on his customer service, heck even hire someone to manage his clients, he'll make a killing in the DC area mortgage business with his rates. If you're a first time home buyer like I was, then dealing with Mark can be a real pain. If you've done this before and have a good sense of timelines and closing requirements, then its a no-brainer -- go with him. The savings are worth it!

Citizens home loans need to address the incompetence within its escrow department. Their employees…read moredon't know how to do basic addition and subtraction that a child in first grade can do. The customer service reps are absolutely horrible. I had to request one to pull up her calculator just so she could understand that there was an error when Citizens said I had a shortage on my account. They refunded me $600 when I was supposed to be refunded $2k. It's basic math that they can't do. Now I have to contact them for the fourth time for them to correct the error.

Brian was fantastic to work with throughout the mortgage process. He was responsive, knowledgeable,…read moreand took the time to explain every step clearly, which made a stressful process feel much more manageable. He shopped options, answered questions quickly, and was always transparent about rates, fees, and what to expect. What stood out most was how professional and steady he was from start to finish. I never felt pressured, and I always felt like he had my best interests in mind. If you're looking for a mortgage broker who is sharp, trustworthy, and easy to work with, I would absolutely recommend Brian.

Brian was absolutely outstanding, and guided us through the entire mortgage process (as buyers)…read morewith poise and humor. We would absolutely use Brian again if we needed to get another mortgage. Cannot recommand him highly enough!

We used Todd and his team for our first home. Being first time buyers, Todd was able to explain…read moreeverything to us and he was extremely responsive. Todd and his team were on top of it which is extremely important in an ultra competitive market. Each time we bid on a home, Todd had a pre-approval letter ready to go in with our offer on short notice. When we won our bid on our home, Todd and his team handled everything to ensure we could close in less than a month. They worked with us and we were still able to travel internationally while getting everything done for our closing date. You can shop around all you want, but nobody is more responsive and will get you the rates Todd will. His team was a pleasure to work with too. Highly recommend!

Todd and his team at First Home Mortgage went above and beyond in helping us with a complicated…read morerefinancing process. We received several referrals and Todd not only got us the best rate but even worked with us on additional ways to save some money as the process went along. Natasha on his team has amazing attention to detail and kept the wheels turning as the underwriters requested mountains of information. I would highly recommend Todd Pede and his team if you are buying a home or refinancing an existing loan.

Hillary Legrain and her talented team were proactive, efficient, and professional. They made our…read morenew home finance experience straightforward while maintaining our expectations throughout the process. We'd highly recommend First Savings Mortgage to others.

I was fortunate to be introduced to Hillary through my real estate agent. Upon first meeting…read moreHillary, her attention to detail, responsiveness, and thorough knowledge of the lending system and Washington, DC market was readily apparent. Hillary worked with me to answer every one of my questions, and as a first-time home buyer, I appreciated this attentiveness. Hillary also helped me close on a condo that had several competitive offers on it by ensuring I could close without financing contingencies in a few weeks. Indeed, I would not be living where I am today without Hillary's superior lending practice. I sincerely appreciate all of Hillary's hard work and plan to employ her services should I need to pursue another loan.

Will Mitchell and the team at First Savings Mortgage are basically like a team of wizards…read more What is a group of wizards called again? A coven? A Hogwartz? Basically, JK Rowling should write another book entitled: "Harry Potter and the easiest mortgage ever executed" I'm telling you, the first time I bought a house I dealt with another mortgage company (which I... obviously didn't use again). Why did I not work with them again? Well... basically I put in an offer on a home, it gets accepted, then we'll just call him "Zack" - Zack gives me an estimate of how much money I'll need to close on the home. Then a week later that amount increases by a couple of grand. Then a week later the amount increases by several grand. And I'm like... dude... what is happening?! My breathing room right now is about equal to those little air pipes they used to use in coffins in case someone gets buried alive. The day of closing finally comes along weeks later and I put down every shiny cent to my name to close on my first home. I barely made it. Now comes along Will with his mortgage wand for my second home, yeah the interest rate core of that wand is a little thicker, and yeah the closing cost wood it's made out of is a little more expensive cause it's a townhome and not a condo. But man o man, not only did the estimated cost to close not go up during that closing process, it went DOWN. Yes DOWN. AND Will and his team (The Order of the mortgage) we're able to get everything approved and finalized within... jeez... I think it was 12 days. Will literally works like a boss. He's available at pretty much all times. He always took my calls, he always informed me of any changes. He was super responsive, he was on top of everything. I mean... he is professional and shows not a sense of urgency, but a glut of urgency. His team was also very responsive and organized with all the paperwork we had to do. I don't know if you've ever bought a home before, but it can be very stressful. For usually weeks you're balancing getting paperwork to the mortgage lender, paperwork to the real estate agent, going over paperwork from the seller's real estate agent, you inevitably have a billion questions even if you've done it before cause it's just a whole process and every home purchase is different. It's basically like a part time job for a month buying a home. This home purchase was accelerated cause we were trying to make a very aggressive and appealing offer to a home where we KNEW we would have competition during the initial height of home buying season. I just can't say enough about Will. It also didn't hurt that Will knows my real estate agent Kris Nelson and has a good working relationship with him. Just such a solid solid team. Oh... did I mention that NOT JUST the closing costs were down, but my monthly mortgage payment went down as well! Now, this isn't gonna happen with every transaction - so don't go in there expecting it. But, I will say that if there's anyone who can make it happen, it's Will and his team over there. Early on in the process another mortgage company called me and tried to get me to switch over to use them for the mortgage. They must have gotten my info when my credit was pulled. I went back to Will and basically presented their offer to see if Will could beat it. Will pointed out A NUMBER of incorrect items on their offer and basically explained to me that it would actually end up being more in the end cause they under estimated on a few items and I basically would get "Zacked" again. And honestly, it's because of Will's firsthand and deep knowledge of real estate transactions in this area. So... I know this goes without saying by now... but I'll put it here in writing. If you're looking for a well trained wizard of mortgage lending, winner of the tri-wizard lending tournament, professor of magic mortgage history, and leader of the ministry of mortgage... just go with Will. Trust... I won't ever make the mistake of NOT going with Will again.

I'd rented in DC for a number of years before finally getting on the market in earnest to buy a…read moreplace starting last year. Carter K. at First Savings patiently worked with me all through last summer-fall, and then again through this spring's market, until we found the perfect place earlier this month. Not only was he diligent and communicative with getting quotes to me, he also proffered valuable input about where he thought rates were, specific instruments (like the wonderful HomeReady program) that I wouldn't have even known about, and just tactical guidance so that we could navigate the process as efficiently as possible. When the time came to close, it's no surprise that Carter (and his amazing team) pulled off the deal in 20 days, satisfying the sellers who wanted the transaction done by the end of the month, which we achieved by closing on the last day of May. He had the appraiser's report in within five days of ratifying the contract. What's so thoughtful and wonderful about First Savings is how they take care of so much of the hard work for the borrower, like setting up insurance policies and escrow accounts. I would work with Carter and co. in a heartbeat if I ever refinanced or bought another place.