TL'DR: Dean is patient, informative, friendly, tenacious and hands on, and he is THE reason I was…read moreable to find the perfect home for my family and I in one of the most difficult home purchasing markets our generation has seen. It's taken way too long for me to post this review. Partially because I was swept up into the excitement of moving into my new home, which Dean was invaluable in helping me secure, but also because I'm still processing the end of the long, emotional and sometimes complicated home purchasing journey we just completed. I decided to start looking for a home to purchase for myself and my disabled mother in early 2023, and knew that I was entering a market that was complex and competitive, a search made even more complex by my accessibility needs for mom. What I didn't know was that the first step of finding a realtor would be the first hurdle to overcome. It took me months of being ghosted by realtors, being told my under $1 million budget wasn't high enough, or not liking the presented strategy (which was basically for me to find my own house and call them and pay their fee when it was time to put in an offer), before a chance encounter introduced my brother to Dean, and after one meeting I decided to work with him. From the day we began working together, Dean was patient, informative, friendly, tenacious and hands on, immediately sending me listings to begin to gauge my likes and dislikes. I won't say I'm difficult, but I am very particular, and as a first time homebuyer I also started with unrealistic expectations. This kicked off a year and a half of home searching, with Dean dedicating most of his weekends to taking us on house viewings, never getting impatient with the process or my newbie questions. I did put in several offers, but lost them all to higher or all cash bids. The market was just a nightmare, with one house I loved so much I offered $100k over asking on it, going to another bidder who when to $150k over. And this was amongst 20 bidders. Needless to say, it was an emotional and sometimes painful process. I went into it thinking I was a well qualified purchaser who would find a home as quickly and easily as they do on House Hunters, but I quickly found that despite my healthy salary, my downpayment as a first time home buyer was losing to people who had much more cash from selling their previous homes. At one point I even got discouraged and gave up, pausing the search for a few months, but when I called Dean ready to jump back into the fray at the beginning of this year, he didn't hesitate to continue helping me, and I ended up finding an amazing home that met all of my personal needs as well as all of my family's needs, including ada accessibility for my mother. Dean was instrumental in this deal closing, going above and beyond to find me a lender that would pre-write my loan so that I was competitive against cash offers, as well as my entire top notch closing team, from inspector to lawyer -- and yes I know most realtors have these connections that they push for a kickback, but I researched everyone Dean recommended and they were all best in class in their area. It is still surreal that I am officially a home owner after this long journey, and I have Dean to thank for carrying me through. I'd 100% recommend working with him.

Dean is the man! He was a great help for my fiancee and I while searching for our first home in a…read morecrazy market. Dean is very knowledgeable, professional, and diligent. If we were to do it all over again, we would pick Dean -- highly recommend him.

I had the pleasure of working with Jim Barry and Zach Gaudioso. Like many others, I shopped around…read moreand tried to get the best deal possible. I am a first time buyer and wanted to choose the right mortgage company! You hear a lot of the same stuff, as far as why you should pick this mortgage company over the other. We shopped around for months on choosing the right one and ended up going with Mortgage company X, I trusted X over the other mortgage companies. My main decision with X was because I didn't want any issues with my mortgage loan and I wanted everything to go over smoothly. X promised me a certain amount of credit and to execute the loan without any hassle. Needless to say, X proved to be the total opposite. They reduced the amount of credit to barely nothing and told me I had to pay my car off because of my college loans. This was all because something mistakenly showed up on my credit report and lowered my score. I fixed the issue and my score went back up immediately. X would not listen to me and seemed to think I didn't know what I was talking about and would revert the credit they promised me. We were about to loose the home of our dreams because Mortgage X fell through on their promise and wouldn't revisit my credit score and told me either way, I would have to pay off my car loan. We were in distressed and figured the only avenue I had was to find a different mortgage company to get the job DONE! I reached out to Artisan Mortgage and spoke with Zach Gaudioso. Among the four mortgage companies I spoke with, including mortgage company X, I could tell while speaking with them, this would be the best decision I made. I was urged to stay with Mortgage X by my attorney and real estate agent in fear that I would not be able to get my loan by the date I was contractually obligated to make. Zach Gaudioso and Jim Barry went above and beyond to get me the best deal. I didn't even have to pay my car off! They were amazing. The biggest thing I loved about working with Artisan mortgage is they listened to me and helped me every step of the way. Artisan mortgage truly does care about their clients best interest and will give you the best deal! They told me exactly what I had to do and were prompt in dealing with my attorney and bank. Every time I had a question they were one phone call away and would help me to understand any question I had about the overall process. They made sure all avenues were covered as far as having the right information and paperwork so I would not have any issues with getting the loan from the bank. I have to say once I transferred everything over from Mortgage X, everything was smooth. They dealt with all the transfer from Mortgage X to them and were prompt about everything. I closed my house within 3 weeks of switching with them. I can proudly say I am officially a home owner. I would highly recommend this mortgage company over any other. Artisan mortgage is best out there and I assure you, if you pick them, you will not be dissatisfied with their service. Thank you Zack Gaudioso, Jim Barry and the Artisan mortgage team for giving me the best deal possible and help us get the house of my dreams!

Jim Barry helped my wife and I to buy an owner-occupied duplex in Tonawanda, NY this week, and we…read morehighly recommend him as a lender. He always responded to us quickly whether by email or phone and was professional and helpful throughout the entire process. We're first-time homebuyers, and Jim answered all of our questions and guided us through the process in a friendly and patient manner. Our agent was impressed with how quickly Jim was able to prepare us to close. Jim is clearly a seasoned pro, and we would definitely work with him again. Thanks, Jim!

If you are thinking about selling/renting your home using this realty and care about your…read moreneighbors, don't. Besides mowing the grass they don't maintain the property. Since 2022 I have been contacting this realty estate company about concerning trees and ivy growth. I have contacted this company numerous times about ivy growth coming through and killing my fence. With that complaint I have also made them aware of ivy growth on the trees along our property line. The trees are engulfed in ivy that you can even see the trees. The ivy is killing limbs that are dropping in my yard. The major concern is a massive tree that leans more and more every year. In the direction it's leaning it will take out my entire fence, thousands of dollars worth of arborvitae's, my gazebo and outdoor entertainment area with an outdoor kitchen. I have spent my own money to have the limbs cut at the fenceline but even with that I still get dead limbs and leaves dropping in my yard. Real estate company, I sent you photos again on July 10th with no response

Stay clear of this real estate!!! Very unprofessional from the beginning. Not only did they insist…read moreon cash to do the real estate transaction, Jaime lied to the property manager and said i moved in on time. When I called to ask the property manager about the 3 day credit and a cleaning credit since the apartment was never cleaned. It was 3 days later to a dirty apartment and previous tenant and friend walking in, which im assuming were the two grown men who walked in using the keys to the apartment. To say my daughter and I were freaked out is an understatement. They were rush rush in the beginning then when it was time to move in, texts were ignored, family problems, on the boat etc. Never got the mailbox key from the previous tenant or the downstairs outside keys. once they got their money they were unavailable or brushed it all off to get from the property manager.

I do not usually leave reviews, but when somebody is this good at their job, it is worth letting…read moreyou know! Jodi helped my wife and I purchase our first home. Jodi was extremely helpful in a what became a drawn out process due to some issues with our sellers. The anxiety and anticipation that you have during the closing process cannot be understated. My wife and I were unsure whether we needed a real estate agent or not. We considered trying to by a home on our own. By a strike of luck, my wife met Jodi at an open house and we could not be more thankful for this chance meeting. Jodi asked us questions about our family, lifestyle, and our jobs to best understand the type of home that would be suitable for us. Jodi worked hard to ensure the lines of communication between us and the sellers was constant, despite their lack of responsiveness. Jodi was constantly available to us for any questions and concerns we had during the process. This included taking some time during her vacation to make sure the seller's were doing everything they promised. (There were some C/O issues and some repairs that the seller's had promised that complicated the closing). Jodi helped what became a drawn out final walkthough (4 hour due to no oil in the burner and the Central Air Unit would not turn on) . We went to bed the night before closing unsure if we would close, but due to Jodi's hard work and communication we were able to see the house again 2 hours before closing with everything working. Jodi made herself available to help with the second final walkthough! My wife and I cannot thank Jodi enough for putting us in our first home. You would be foolish to use another agent.

highly recommended for all your real estate needs super knowledgeable and honest. if you're looking…read morefor a expert in the Real Estate field, Jodi is the one you need.

Danny was really wonderful throughout the entire process of us purchasing our first home. Since the…read moremarket is so difficult in this area, we had gotten serious about a few homes over the course of about six months that Danny priced out for us, always willing to discuss the details and nuances of any particular property, and various mortgage options. It took us a little while but Danny and his team were responsive the entire time. At the end of all of it, Danny's original estimates were right about 2.5% off from the final monthly payment, the majority of which is accounted for by a misunderstanding of reported taxes, and the closing cost estimates were right on target. Closing had no issues, and Danny ensured his end of the communications between our agent and attorney were prompt. With all of that time on the phone, you start to get to know someone a little bit too. I got that feeling that Danny is an honest business partner and someone that I would return to for any future needs he may be able to help us with.

My family has been using evolution for all of our mortgage needs. Finally it was my time to use…read morethem these past few months with the assistance in the purchase of our first home. Danny of Evolution educated and explained the process to us and put up with my constant questions-thanks Danny! From the first mortgage appointment to the closing of our home. It took only 13 weeks! Thanks SO much to evolution for making this process go as smooth as possible. Thanks to Anthony for the assistance during crunch time of this process! I will continue to recommend Evolution for any mortgage, refinancing, accounting needs!

I was so lucky to have been working with John Trama and Cross Country Mortgage! He was so helpful…read morewith every question I had, mortgage related or not! He is experienced and knows the business and got me a very good interest rate. He made buying my first home so much easier! He has great connections with people in the real estate business and the acquaintances assured for a smooth transaction. I would recommend John to anyone.

Judy patiently showed us houses in Westport that fit our budget and needs. Over time, we realized…read moreour budget wasn't large enough for everything we needed, effectively making 6 months of looking totally irrelevant. Judy's reaction was perfect. Within a week, she showed us a completely different set of houses. None of them felt right and Judy simply advised us to be patient and when the right house became available, we would know it. She was right. We bought a phenomenal house and are thrilled with our new home. We have also sold two Westport houses due to a corporate relocation and retirement events. Judy did a great job in getting us a great price in two tough markets in a timely fashion. Whether you're buying or selling, I have no reservations about recommending Judy.

Judy made the whole process so easy. She knows the market, she's quick to respond, and she never…read moremade us feel rushed or pressured. She was always honest with us and that meant a lot. Honestly, the best real estate agent we've worked with. I highly recommend Judy! Erika Yarmoff

Incredible experience from start to finish. The entire Mainstay team is fantastic. Knowledgeable,…read moreprofessional, responsive, and friendly. I would recommend without reservation.

Mainstay Mortgage is excellent! They gave us the best customer service, best rates available and…read moremost importantly, got us to the closing table! This company will work harder than the larger, bigger banks and get you a better deal on your new home! Buying a home can be stressful, but if you work with Mainstay, the end results will be worth it! Thank you Mainstay! Highly recommend!