Mortgage - San Francisco, SoMa

I am so grateful for everything CJ, Justin and Phillip did for me. They were all so knowledgeable, patient and accommodating. I will always recommend them and will definitely use them again. Thank you again. You all helped me keep my dream home. I will forever be grateful.

I recently worked with Dean Rizzi and his team over at Guaranteed Rate. Working with their team was easy and seamless. Everything was handled via phone, on line and email which was convenient for my wife and I who have 3 young children. So our times to break away to have to meet if needed is limited. Being able to handle everything with Dean and his team without having to meet face to face was such a huge help for my wife and I. I would definitely recommend Dean and his team to anyone and I would use their services again in the future if needed.
-Tino E.

Dean Rizzi and his team are very professional, very knowledgeable, and made both my initial mortgage and my re-finance two years later a seamless and well informed experience. Their experience and guidance through the whole process and their attention to detail made me confident they had my best interest in mind. They answered every question and provided clearly defined steps of our progress in the whole loan application process. I highly recommend Dean and his team.

I can't say enough good things about my experience with Dean and the whole Guaranteed Rate team. He was all the things you'd expect (responsive, clear, accountable) as well as a number of things you'd only hope for (friendly, calm demeanor and incredibly knowledgable in the jumbo space in particular). It was our first home purchase and we had a couple unconventional things that he was able to navigate and communicate with the lender without any problem.

Basically, highest possible recommendation.

We were recommended to Dean Rizzi's team at GuaranteedRate by our real estate agent, who in her many years working with him has had nothing but positive experiences with him. This was our first mortgage loan; we were apprehensive about the process. I left a message with Dean. He responded very quickly, and within about 10 minutes we had hashed out the contours of what the loan would be (this turned out to be accurate).

The first step was to apply using the online system offered by GuaranteedRate. Online encryption is strong, so we felt comfortable submitting our financial information this way. It took no more than 2 hours to gather the necessary information as downloaded pdf's from various sources: bank statements, credit card statements, tax returns, etc. It was impressive.

Within I think 2 days of having applied, Dean contacted us with a pre-approval offer. In our next step, we went shopping for homes. The San Francisco bay area is reportedly a strong seller's market. Consistent with this, our preferred home - a fixer with no available inspections - gathered several other offers that were, remarkably, contingency-free. We were not in a strong enough financial position to take this kind of risk, and had to negotiate hard for our offer to be accepted - with contingencies. We made it into contract but were set on a short leash: get the inspections and financing done in a much shorter period of time.

Here, Dean's group shone. They quickly delivered our financing despite new regulatory requirements that our real estate agent has seen slow many other loans. It's difficult to overstate how responsive the team was during this process. We had exposed ourselves to some risk with a contract of this structure, and Dean smoothly got us over the finish line with what we consider to be good and fair loan terms. He even came in about $2000 under the original closing cost estimate. Just in time for Holidays.

So, as is probably obvious, I strongly recommend contacting Dean regarding a home loan.

We referred to Susie by our realtor and were lucky enough to work with her when buying our first home. Throughout the process Susie was always available, helpful and incredibly patient with us as we embarked on our first attempt at home ownership. If you are in the market for a new home or a refinance of an existing mortgage we highly recommend you reach out to her. You will not regret it!

Thank you Susie!

I have worked with Dean on my first, second and third home purchases since 1998. He has also refinanced my homes three or four times. I have been so happy with his work that I connected him with two of my sons for a purchase and refi's; they have been very happy with him too, so much so that my youngest son, who just got engaged two weeks ago, plans to buy another home once they're married (2016) and Dean will be the expert that they will work with on their family home purchase.
Dean, Chance and their team are the very best, their work is timely, accurate, and Dean seems to possess an intuitive sense of when to lock in to a rate and what to predict in terms of actions.
I referred him to one of my employees and he was honest and straightforward with them, advised them not to refi because their rate was better than what is on the market right now, no song and dance to make money on them. This is the type of character and businessman that I always want in my corner and that of my family and friends!
I will never work with anyone else except Dean!!!! I have worked with Dean on my first, second and third home purchases since 1998. He has also refinanced my homes three or four times. I have been so happy with his work that I connected him with two of my sons for a purchase and refi's; they have been very happy with him too, so much so that my youngest son, who just got engaged two weeks ago, plans to buy another home once they're married (2016) and Dean will be the expert that they will work with on their family home purchase.
Dean, Chance and their team are the very best, their work is timely, accurate, and Dean seems to possess an intuitive sense of when to lock in to a rate and what to predict in terms of actions.
I referred him to one of my employees and he was honest and straightforward with them, advised them not to refi because their rate was better than what is on the market right now, no song and dance to make money on them. This is the type of character and businessman that I always want in my corner and that of my family and friends!
I will never work with anyone else except Dean!!!!

We highly recommend Susie as a loan officer. Being first-time home buyers, we needed someone who would guide and support us through the home loan process with professional expertise. We appreciated her patience and detailed and clear explanations to our many queries. She obtained a great interest rate for us and provided a good recommendation for homeowner's insurance as well. Throughout the whole process, she was readily available, easy to work with, and very efficient. She stayed on top of the job, even through the holiday season, and pushed to get our loan approved and finalized on a tight schedule.

Susie was my loan officer for my first mortgage. Working with her throughout the process was an absolute pleasure. I initially had little idea about the process of buying a house or the details of the mortgage options available. She sent on a very clear breakdown of my options and spent a lot of time talking me through them. Unlike the banks I talked to which offer a "one size fits all" approach, the mortgage options which Susie presented were tailored to my specific financial situation. My successful offer on a house had a very short closing window (to sweeten the deal for the buyer in a tough market). Susie made sure that the loan was approved in time to close the deal. When things got stressful or we hit some road bumps her team sorted everything out. She always responded to my emails instantly (even if it was late at night or at the weekend). I will definitely want to work with Susie for any of my future house buying needs. I will also recommend her to anyone I know who is buying a house.

susie helped me w/ my first mortgage, ever, and her guidance, support & dedication helped to make an otherwise extremely stressful experience entirely bearable. she was referred to me by my real estate agent as someone who knows what she's doing, works hard & someone who her other clients have had really good experience with. susie is one of the those people who will go the extra-mile to make sure you have a good experience & get the best rate possible.

i was bidding out to her & another mortgage broker highly reco'ed to me by a co-worker, but susie really distinguished herself upfront when she realized that it was my first time buying a home, by spending an hour at our first call to just talk me thru what to expect and what i needed to think about. when ur doing these types of high cost & important things for the first time, it can be really nerve-wrecking since u just don't know what u don't know & so u might be making decisions that r sub-optimal and there are potentially serious costs to that. so by having susie guide me thru the process & telling me an overview & what was & wasn't as important or time-sensitive helped me be oriented & feel much more comfortable about the whole process.

in addition (& probably most importantly for many), she talked me thru options & found me the best rate for the type of loan i was looking for (30 yr fixed). also, when there were some complications w/ the lender w/ 2 days left to close (talk about stress!!), she ensured that her company ate the add'l points w/ the new lender we had to go w/ in order for me to get the rate i was promised all along.

i couldn't have been happier w/ susie's help & would whole-heartedly recommend her to anyone, & especially those who's buying their home for the first time.

I was referred to Susie by my Real Estate Agent when buying my first place and am glad to have had her expertise and guidance as my mortgage broker through the closing of my condo in Oakland this month. You have to do your due diligence when committing to something as significant as your first hefty home loan and Susie understands that and was always very responsive and personable through all my questions. You can tell she really cares for her clients and is willing to go the extra mile for them. When I wanted to explore other lender options she had no problem giving me a digital copy of the best loan she was able to get me to forward to the next company. The next company's rates ended up being about the same but that company couldn't match the flexibility of the 2nd lien option I wanted that Susie was able to offer to be able to put 10% down and not pay Mortgage Insurance. When I moved forward with the loan and the rate locked, she was actively monitoring the loan market and was able to re-lock my rate at a slightly reduced rate when the loan market took a little dip.

As a remote buyer from NY ready to make the move to SF it was always easy to reach her by email and phone and she was alway happy to take the time to explain something I was unfamiliar with, create and update charts and graphs to compare different mortgage types, and be the liaison between my Agent, escrow / title company, mobile notary, actual bank making the loan, and everyone in-between. Whenever we hit a snag with paperwork or miscommunication between the various closing team members she was right there to smooth things out.

In my experience most large mortgage lenders and banks have generally the same rates that keep up with the market. You want to go with a lender that has reasonable fees, a good rate against the market, and who will be there for you to walk you through questions and be there should problems arise. When you get a loan through Susie she really is your advocate through the process and I couldn't have asked for more.

PS. Being a modern company that can easily send and receive documents online with digital signing was also a huge plus.

My family is very happy with Jay's work. He did our refinancing twice. Each time he would wait for the lowest rate. Our current rate is 2.87% which is excellent. We will always be thankful to him for the work he had done for us. He is knowledgeable,meticulous and the best out there. He deserves an A+ rating.

Susie helped us with our second home purchase. What most impressed us about her was her efficiency. Being a veteran shopping for a home in northern california, we heard a ton of stories with a disappointing ending - how hard it was to get a VA loan approved. but from day one, when we met her at the open house for the home we wanted to buy, she made the process sound easy, and backed up her talk with action over the next 3 weeks. we were preapproved within 3 days, and within less than 3 weeks of our offer being accepted, we had an approved VA loan and we felt like we almost didn't do any work at all. she kept us on tract, probably did a lot of hustle/bustle behind the scenes so that we didn't have to, and we got our new home less than 4 weeks from when we made our offer.

she was always cheerful, optimistic, and incredibly efficient. she kept us on tract, was always honest and straightforward with her answers to any questions we had throughout the process, and very convincingly put our own best interest ahead of everything else.

we were very lucky to have found her, and now we look forward to being her neighbor!

Jude really went to bat for us getting us a loan for our first home purchase. In one of the most cutthroat and fast-paced San Francisco buying seasons in recent memory, we needed a broker who was nimble, responsive, creative, and pretty much available 24-7, and Jude exceeded all these expectations. Jude was able to work creatively with our unique financial conditions and could turn around loan scenarios quickly as we jumped on hot properties and made countless offers. She was also incredibly thorough in collecting and organizing the ridiculous amount of information that underwriters require in todays market, and this helped expedite our loan approval and quick closing when we finally had an offer accepted. Needless to say, she was professional, courteous, and patient with us as "newbies", and I would recommend Jude to anyone looking for a great broker.

WOW. What can I say, Jude really pulled out all the stops for me in my refinance from an FHA to traditional 30-year fixed - we started the process almost a year ago, and I was unable to complete the refinance for various reasons and was a little disheartened. Jude stuck with me and - this is the awesome part - CALLED me out of the blue six months later when she thought conditions were perfect for me to complete the re-fi, based on the financial goals I'd presented to her.

Well, she was 100% right. And she was super fast, and super efficient with my time, and gave me everything I needed to understand the package and make all the pieces hold together. And when the process was done, I ended up saving significant funds at closing and took a huge bite out of my monthly payment. All my goals met, and Jude made it happen!

I'll definitely be buying her a drink to celebrate, and of course singing her praises to anyone who is in the market for a home or re-fi - call Jude!

Jude was wonderful to work with. My fiance and were refinancing our home under some very special circumstances. We had no idea if it was even possible to do the refinance but Jude made it happen. It was our first time and were very new to this. Throughout the process, we encountered many speed bumps that would have caused us stress21` but she had the solution before we even had the chance to worry. We had so many questions and she had answers to all of them. She was very professional, courteous, punctual, and so very sweet. We definitely recommend her and will go back to her again when we need a mortgage specialist!

I have been through seven property financings using internet discount brokers and full-service brokers. Philip provided excellent service, was incredibly responsive, and found excellent loan pricing. He even dealt with unexpected issues, such as a credit issue, quite well by offering alternatives. I would recommend Phillip highly.

I highly recommend Phillip, he's just great. I called him when I was getting poor service from a separate mortgage broker. Phillip responded quickly even though he was very busy, and was able to get me information right away. He's professional, organized, and listens well.

Tom helped us stay on track and make sense out of an otherwise complex loan processes. I like the details and Tom was willing answer all of my "why" questions.

I have heard many nightmare stories when purchasing a home and going through the loan application. After working with Tom those nightmares became sweet dreams. It was a seamless and stress free experience. Tom was always available for any questions we had, and responsive at all times in a prompt manner. A true pleasure to work with.

We worked with Pete Elting and Tom Barnes to help buy our first home 11 years ago, and then recently again to sell and buy our next home. Pete and Tom are the best. They are both very responsive, easy to work with, and give great advice and guidance for a stressful transaction. They both operate with a high level of integrity and helped get us in the home we wanted. I would highly recommend both Tom and Pete and would not even think about working with someone else for your mortgage needs!

Tom has great work ethic, follow through and insights. He tends to your loan with a lot of diligence and care.

Tom Barnes followed up at each step of the mortgage application process in a friendly, helpful way. He made sure that I understood everything I needed to get together for the mortgage application and answered every question I had about the process. I highly recommend Tom and Guarantee Mortgage.

Easy to work with, responsive, and gets results!

Our loan application was not exactly the most straightforward, but he found a way to get it done, and done ahead of schedule! He carefully reviewed our situation and prepared documentation to support a strong application, and this level of attention to detail ensured that we had minimal hiccups along the way.

He made us feel like we were the most important clients and prioritized our loan to ensure success. Highly recommended!

Phillip was an absolute superstar. He was very professional and very fast. We had planned on getting pre-approved, then finding a house, but we fell in love with a place and ended up in a rush to push our paperwork through. Phillip let us know exactly what he needed from us in order to speed us through the approval process for our first home. He even referred us to an amazing real estate agent who was as professional as he was, and worked hard to get us our place. We were first time homebuyers and Phillip held our hand through the process. He didn't talk down to us even though we had no experience with mortgages, pre-approvals etc. Instead, he was very clear about what we needed to provide, and as soon as we sent him information, he was working hard to get it organized and submit it. I am so grateful to him and I know that we wouldn't have got our dream home without him.