I would not recommend working with Opes Advisors. They made the first time home buying experience…read moreunpleasant and more stressful. I worked with Zoe Sanchez. As a teacher I get paid monthly and my employer incorrectly gave Opes my income divided by a 10-month income payment schedule instead of a 12-month income payment schedule on my verification of employment earnings paperwork so my income looked higher than it was, which was not their fault, but Opes was unable to correctly verify my income despite having W2's, paystubs, tax statements, etc., which proved my income in plain sight, and they qualified me for a loan that was above my debt to income ration. I did not find this out until the final week of closing escrow. In the final week before closing they called me and said I either needed to pay all of the mortgage insurance upfront which was 7K+ dollars, or come up with a 20% of the total cost down payment to qualify for the loan and get to the appropriate debt to income ratio. At this point I had already released my contingencies so the previous owner was legally able to keep my deposit I had already placed of $40K if I did not come up with these additional funds. After 3 days I was able to secure enough funds for the 20% down payment from family, but Zoe said it was too late to apply the funds to the down payment and I would have to pay the mortgage insurance, which was a bad deal for me because that money would not go to my principal and interest. She was adamant that it was too late and this could not be changed. Then 2 days later she miraculously said I could and and gave no reason as to why the change was permissible all of a sudden. I increased my down payment to 20% and then I get a call from her saying that they have to increase my interest rate from 4.1% to ether 4.375% or 4.5% with a lender credit because I no longer qualified for my locked in original interest rate due to the increased down payment, and again they could not provide legitimate reasons as to why they had to increase my rate and were rude and unsympathetic, and seemed annoyed in explaining the process. I also took a $75 home ownership course which Opes required for my original interest rate program which was now no longer needed for the higher interest rate. Due to all of those instances I had to extend my close of escrow twice and pay the seller $100 per day of extra closing time after the second extension. To top it off, when I went to sign the final disclosure paperwork at Old Republic Title Company Opes had incorrectly filed my paperwork with the wrong date and we had to come back 3 days later the following Monday to sign the paperwork again, an hour drive from my house each way. I found them to be disingenuous, incompetent, lacking in customer service, and would not recommend them, nor would my real estate agent who was shocked and disappointed by their service as well.

We worked with Christine Meserve to purchase our last few homes and she is an absolute delight to…read morework with! She helps you through the process and makes it easy for you. She's delightful and calm in a storm! With all the new lending rules it can be difficult, but she makes it a fun experience.

really bad experience, agent has no experience and has a very rude way to answer the phone, i…read morerecommend going else where, and get your moneys worth,thanks

Brian Wong has been our financial advisor for the last 20 years or so. We have done well with him…read more We started with him before he was at Wadell & Reed and he recently moved to Red Tower Advisors / LPL Financial in San Mateo. We have talked with Brian twice this week as thanks to stupid Donald Trump we see the market sliding downhill. This is one of our retirement nest eggs and he is helping us protect it.

David Espinal showed very poor professionalism when our refinance didnt go through. He knew of our…read moresituation and continued to push the refinance through trying to make us cover up a few things. Not sure how ethical his practices are, but we ended paying for an appraisal that we didnt need( which is another story). His final response was very snappy and had a lot of attitude behind it. Which was very unprofessional and immature. When we first requested an appraisal, we didnt want the appraiser to come inside the house and he told me it was mandatory to come inside the house. When we were decided to scrap the appraisal, david decided to devalue our home so he could waive the appraisal. Thinking we had cancelled the appraisal, they went ahead and did a drive by appraisal. Im not sure what changes between the time it was mandatory, to when David devaluing our home to waive the appraisal, to them actually doing the appraisal without going inside. Everything seemed fishy. ALSO I NEVER RECEIVED A RECEIPT FOR MY APPRAISAL. His actions and responses in our refinance process has made our experience with this company an unpleasant one.

I would like to highly recommend Bayview Residential Brokerage, they helped my wife and I with a…read morere-finance on one of her family's properties. Over the years, her family has used their services to help finance our real estate purchases and refinances and they consistently provide excellent rates, terms and loan programs and great service and I thought it was about time that somebody give them a little credit for all the good work. At Bayview's website (www.bayviewresidential.com) they say that they can work with over 70 lenders and they have a lot more options than the big banks. The loan agents we have worked with at Bayview are incredibly knowledgeable and accessible, evenings and weekends and sometimes even at dinner. These folks really know their stuff and make the the whole process smooth and easy to understand. You can reach them at (408) 298-2591 or at the website (above)

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Been having taxes done here for years! Highly recommend! Quite…read moreknowledgeable about taxes and all the changes to the codes. Friendl, efficient service.

My wife and I sent all information to Lalitha Manohari (http://www.taxchampion.com/ourteam.php) in…read more2016. However, she never responded to us. Unprofessional!!

I had one of the worst experiences here working with a lender. I will not name her due to respect,…read morebut she was not very good in communicating or double checking every one works. The underwriter is horrible as well they made me write statements for the wrong amount about me paying my taxes. First of if you do not know what the closing cost will be then just telling me, I had other lender give me a list of what the fees will cost and this lady just said it could be 40k in closing cost. Now this is during the first conversation I had with them. My heart dropped already because 40k is a lot and that will cut into my home renovations. She kept emailing me about getting these files in right away or this will delay the process within barely the first 10 minutes. I had uploaded all docs within a few hours. At this point buying a new home is already stressful having her push me and talking about delays is putting more stress. She kept asking for more docs over and over. I would have hoped she had given me the list in the first place instead of asking me for the extra docs almost everyday. When I wired the money to my escrow she emails me back with why are you wiring money from an account we have not validated, this bank she was talking about was the bank of the escrow company not mine. Again not reading and putting more pressure on me. After a long 30 day process everything was completed and I get a call from her boss asking me about my experience which was horrible. She told me shes part time and she had over 11 loans to work on, this is not an excuse for bad service if she is over loaded then tell me and I would went with someone else. Fast forward to today. I now get another email from her about a document that I had already provided I'm sure shes lost from the 100s of documents she made me send and it would be easier for her to make me resend it then to look through everything. TIP: Make sure to get someone experienced, Ask them about the process. luckily my closing escrow was 30 days. If this was 17 days I would have been F'd.

Had terms agreed in writing with Lee Chieng. Uploaded all personal financial data within 24 hours…read more A ton of them, including W2 and tax returns. Lee Chieng emailed back: "sorry, we cannot offer you the deal we agreed. But you have choices! a) pay off $70K more of your loan, b) give us $1000 more for closing cost and a 0.125% higher interest." If you were me, which choice do you make? The third one: walk away and never trust them. I told Lee that I have multiple properties and I disclosed the exact number. And when I questioned why they walked away from their offer after I uploaded all financial data, her response was: "we have a pricing engine. We go by what the computer says". Then what do you do besides the computer, Lee?? My guess is that the market rate has changed in just a couple of days and they are walking away from the deal. This experience really leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Stay away from Adeline and the team. No apologies, no concession, nothing!

When I decided to start investing in real estate, a friend suggested I talk to Dani from Simply Do…read moreIt. Our conversation provided us with the information we needed, making us comfortable investing and working with Dani. Finding the right property took time, but Simply Do It was always patient and ensured we made the right decision. The buying process, about three years ago, went smoothly with a few typical hiccups. Since then, the house has had three tenants. Whenever issues arose, Simply Do It was there to help with advice and detailed support, ensuring positive outcomes. Even after three years, Dani has been available to guide us through complex tenant situations. Simply Do It promised long-term support, and they have delivered. Whenever I needed help, Dani was there. Plus, the house we purchased has appreciated nicely.

Like other folks said, Simply-Do-It/Dani are the real pro who you can trust. We have bought the…read morefirst rental with them 4 years ago and we kept coming back for more - we have bought eight properties with them so far. Here are some performance numbers from the last 4 years (I'm a software engineer so I'm data driven): - Avg. annual cashflow: 4.3% (after mortgage, all expenses, vacancies) - Annual principal pay down: 24k - Avg. Annual appreciation: 14.4% (57% with leverage) - Total profit so far: Just over $1M - Total investment: $436k - #Trips to view the properties: 0 Those are insane numbers and beat the stock market by about 3x. Granted that we got lucky with the timing a bit but the SDI's model really works and they make a lot of stuff easier/more efficient. Suffice to say, we couldn't be happier and will definitely keep buying more.

I hired Ruth Benjamin's company for trust and financial planning services after being presented…read morewith a strategy that was described as a way to significantly reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes over time. The agreed contract amount was $32,500, but I ultimately paid $32,925. Throughout the engagement, Ruth Benjamin was my primary point of contact and coordinated the involvement of Barry Bruce (TopTaxStrategies, Financial Tax Strategies, and DeferTheGainsTax) and attorney Ryan Woods as part of the overall strategy. I did not independently retain these individuals; they were introduced as part of the services being provided. Unfortunately, my experience did not match the expectations created during the engagement. I became concerned that the services and outcomes did not align with what had been represented, and I also experienced difficulty obtaining clear answers and follow-up regarding my concerns. After repeated attempts to resolve the matter, I was informed that Ruth Benjamin intended to file for bankruptcy and was offered only a partial repayment despite the amount I had paid. Because of my experience, I filed complaints with the appropriate California regulatory agencies so the matter can be reviewed. I encourage anyone considering similar services to carefully review all agreements, verify the qualifications and licensing of everyone involved, and ask detailed questions before proceeding. This review reflects my personal experience.

I can't say enough GOOD things about the work they're doing fixing/improving my (BAD) credit score…read more Financial Education Services is the BEST! Honestly my credit was terrible I thought it impossible to turn it around unless I won the Lottery and I don't play so, that's not going to happen. I thought my situation hopeless, doomed to live with the mistakes I'd made with my credit. My daughter told me about FES, how they helped her get her credit repaired. I made the decision to call them about my credit: so happy I did. I'm very excited about the work FES has done and still doing with my credit, I'm seeing results they're GOOD! FES is the way to go! Many THANKS to Ruth VanDerostein and all at Financial Education Services!

Colton Daines seems like a nice guy, but my mortgage refinancing experience with him was a…read moredisaster. I was trying to do a cash out refinancing on a property I own free and clear. The other advisor I talked to said that her lenders had a very low limit on how much cash you can take out, but Colton gave me a written "good faith estimate" showing no such limit, so I went with him. He gave me a credit check authorization form which asked for my credit card information and explicitly said it was just for a $21.50 credit check. When I started getting paperwork back from Colton, I found that he is actually an employee of Opes Advisors and Sage is some sort of personal front company or something. I'll note that Opes Advisors currently has a one star rating on Yelp. Moving on, I went through months of process and paperwork just to have Colton finally tell me that they couldn't do the planned refinance because the lender had the same cash out limitation that the other mortgage advisor had told me about up front. Given that his whole job is placing people with mortgages, I feel that Colton should have known and told me about this (or at least the risk of it) up front. Then things got worse. I got my credit card statement and found that Colton had ordered a $500 appraisal and given them my credit card to use for billing. He had obtained that credit card number from my authorization form for a $21 credit check! When I confronted him about it by email, Colton wrote that he always uses the card "on file". Just because I pay for a credit check with a credit card shouldn't mean that I'm placing it "on file" for him to charge whatever he pleases on it! I asked Colton to get the charge refunded, but he never did. So I had to file a fraud report with my credit card issuer and deal with a reissued card, new number, and all of that hassle. Needless to say, I found a new mortgage advisor.

My neighbors recommended Sage Financial Services and apparently they have been quite happy with…read morethem and have refinanced a few times with them. I contacted Ted Rossi at Sage and started the process with him. I paid for Sage to run the credit check and submitted my paperwork but I was a little nervous that the disclosure that they sent to me didn't clearly state that they were going to cover the costs for the refinance as we had discussed and had not authorized the appraisal. I did drag my feet a bit and then I went to my current lender to see what they could do and what they thought of this offer, they said it looked ok -- you can't be too careful. I guess I waited longer than they wanted or maybe they were unhappy that I was shopping around. Once I finally got all the paperwork to Sage they sent me a cancellation notice. Weirdest thing I have ever experienced.... Furthermore, it said that the cancellation was per my request which wasn't true. I sent an email to them stating that I had not requested the cancellation and got the strangest insulting email back that they later told me that it wasn't intended for me. .. Long story short, I got the same if not better deal from my current bank/lender so it was a happy ending for me but a very bizarre experience with Sage. P.S. Gordon L. was right, all the paperwork that I received was from Opes Advisors