Owning, Orange CA

I’ve worked with multiple lenders in the past and this one was absolutely the worst experience.

I recently had the displeasure of working with Clint Richard, a mortgage lender at Owning, who proved to be utterly incapable of fulfilling his professional responsibilities. This review serves as a cautionary tale for anyone considering engaging the services of this individual, who has demonstrated a shocking lack of competence, communication skills, and professionalism throughout the entire mortgage process. Our closing date was delayed by a week and the whole process was just pure torturing.

Critical documents were consistently overlooked or forgotten, leading to missed deadlines and unnecessary delays. This level of carelessness is simply unacceptable when dealing with such an important and life-changing financial transaction.

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful professional relationship. Unfortunately, Clint and his team seemed to be utterly inept in this regard. It was virtually impossible to reach him by phone, and when he did answer, his responses were vague and lacked the necessary clarity. This lack of responsiveness and transparency only served to compound the frustration and anxiety that inevitably arises when dealing with such a significant financial decision.

Furthermore, the team’s arrogant attitude only exacerbated an already difficult situation. Instead of acknowledging his mistakes and taking responsibility, he adopted a defensive and dismissive stance. This arrogant behavior demonstrated a lack of accountability and a disregard for the impact his actions were having on his clients' lives.

Overall, I cannot stress enough how disappointing and frustrating my experience with Owning has been. His incompetence, poor communication skills, missed deadlines, forgotten documents, and arrogance have created an unnecessarily stressful and inefficient process. I strongly advise anyone considering working with this individual to reconsider and seek out a more competent and professional mortgage lender who understands the importance of their role and takes it seriously.

It is my hope that this review will serve as a warning to others and prompt Clint to reflect on his shortcomings and make the necessary improvements to better serve his clients in the future.

Started great and finished horribly. Low refi rate (if your loan falls within the very narrow range of the fine print) and no non-recurring closing costs are the great part. After sending the loan officer a check for thousands with the assurance the loan was funding that afternoon, two weeks later I got a late payment letter and found out that the old loan had not been paid off. I called, texted, and left voicemail to the loan agent and loan officer and got no response after waiting for 2 days. Then I called their 866 number and got a recording that the number was no longer in service. I went back to their website and opened a chat with an agent and asked if she could get a message to my loan officer to call me. She said she would, but I got no call back, waiting another day, also still calling my loan agent and loan officer and going straight to voicemail and no call back. Finally called the local office general number and my loan agent picked up, surprised that I had reached him! I asked my loan status and he said the loan was funded. I asked what "funded" means when my old loan had not been paid off 2 weeks ago. He hung up! Weeks later the loan closed. Worst refi experience in 30 years.

UPDATE … summer 2021
Owning did offer to make it right and complete our loan. But, by then, we had moved on to a different lender. I revise my rating to 4 stars because they did make an attempt to get our loan done. Luckily, rates were moving in our favor at the time which is what enabled us to find another lender. I do hope they continue to provide good service.

UPDATE Feb. 23,2021:
I contacted John Martinez (the manager who had contacted me) last week and I was handed off to another loan officer. They have been unable to give me pricing. I left another voicemail for Mr. Martinez today. I have been told by other lenders that rates went up last week. I could have been locked in before that happened if my case was being given the attention they assured me it would be given. So, I'm adjusting my rating back to 1 star as I'm losing hope that they'll be able to right the wrongs in my situation. Very disappointing!

UPDATE Jan 26,2021:
I was called by 2 supervisors from Owning today and one has assured me they can make sure my loan is handled well when we’re eligible to refinance and the other is looking into how my original loan was handled. I am hopeful that my situation can be turned around. Adjusted to 3 stars as I await resolution.

Original Review Jan 26,2021:
We were referred to Owning from a retired mortgage broker. We completed the process for a VA refinance (IRRRL) and explained that we had just got the original loan in June 2020. We have excellent credit, w-2 income and assets sufficient to qualify. We told the loan officer (Leonard Sanchez) that we couldn’t fund before meeting the VA requirements. Rather than telling us Owning’s requirements or the VA requirements, the loan officer passed our loan on to an administrator who pushed it through the process. In the final stage, we were denied because we haven’t had our loan for a year. I don’t know of any loan that has a 1 year requirement. The VA has guidelines, but not a year. After we were denied, no one at Owning would return our call. We still don’t know what the 1 year waiting period for a refinance is all about as we have never heard of that. It was a terrible customer service experience.

AMAZING COMPANY! My husband and I have been searching to buy a home for months. In this market, it's hard to even put in an offer. It's become such a buyer's war. We were fortunate enough to have found a house after looking for so long. We were in a process of working with a lender and 3 weeks into it, the lender said they didn't know how to calculate my income. WOW! I was in such a panic state and had to search for another lender quick. I remember Annie Lac and Derek Martin from my previous refinance with Owning. I rang them up right away and told them the scenario and they reassured me I was in good hands. They are a dream team! I can't thank them enough how well they pulled it all together for us at the last minute. They closed my purchase loan in 14 days! Thank you for putting us in our beautiful home!

DO NOT USE THEM. Guaranteed Rate bought them out and it is now a nightmare to refi thru. Owning used to be great, upfront and honest. This company has now become the exact opposite. RUN!

Everything for my loan was handled quite well, the economics of the loan were fantastic also and people were very nice. The only problem was the time it took, the lady helping me originally either left the company or was fired (but that's life) the problem was how long it took to get the loan back on track again.

Refinancing through Owning was a great experience. We had a bad experience trying to re-finance with our current mortgage holder (a large bank and at their invitation). I had given up on trying to re-finance after that then a friend told me about Owning. Annie Lac, our loan processor at Owning was fabulous and kept us fully in the loop. The loan consultant at Owning with whom I first communicated, Michael Roberts, was also great! No hard sell, explained everything to me. It was actually the best refinancing transaction we ever had!:)

The people we worked with were incredibly helpful with getting us to closing in light of our challenging circumstances. Thank you so much!

I was very eager to get the low-interest loan that was advertised in San Diego paper, but I learned that the rate applied to specific types of loans. I think a list of rates vs qualifications would be nice to prospective borrowers.

I had a great experience doing my recent refi with Owning. Annie L.and Bradley I.were both excellent! I mainly communicated with Annie and she was highly professional, friendly, easy to work with and very responsive. The process was quick, easy and very convenient. My loan was completed in a month, with the exact terms I wanted. So, I am very satisfied with my experience with Owning and would definitely recommend them!

We recently did a home refi with OWNING. It was an easy and smooth transaction thanks to Thinh Pham and Carina Caceres. They were very knowledgeable and willing to help in every aspect of the process. The loan closed within three weeks. Thank you for a very pleasant and positive home refinance experience! Would Definitely Recommend OWNING!

The Owning company provided an exceptional service during the refinancing of our home. It took only 30 days from the start until the closing date. Special thanks to mortgage specialist Mei and loan processor Suzanne. Highly recommend!

Terrible, deceitful, strung-along - these are all 3 words I would use to describe this company. Every piece of information was provided to Owning as requested, however, as soon as interest rates increased, it became obvious that they had little interest in actually approving the mortgage. Despite at least 10 emails, multiple phone calls, and a chat on their website, I have yet to hear from anyone. In addition, my "mortgage professional" is no longer employed by the company, but no one has taken their place. I've attempted to call their customer service on 3 different occasions, but after 25 minutes on hold, no one answers.

If you want to waste your time, lose out on other opportunities, be lied to and remember why you think of mortgage companies as completely sleaze bags - call owning, otherwise, find a real mortgage company.

Well, I was told that I would get $9000.back from my former lender, when i actually got $200. I mentioned that my wife is to be on the deed of trust, that didn't happen either. Still cost me about $13 to 14 thousand. I should of went with the other guys. O well, cant go back now. Live and learn. Buy the way, they sold me to another company within the 1st week. Lol.business IS DIRTY. I recommend going somewhere else.

Owning is a great company! I was referred to you guys by someone and do not regret going with Owning for refinancing. The team was efficient and very patient with my questions. The whole process was easy. I would recommend to anyone. Thank you Owning! And specifically a thank you to Steven Hoang, Aaron Vo, and Ana Nguyen!

Mel and Anthony From Owning were a pleasure to work with.

Mel was on top of all questions and provided great customer service. He worked late hours and was always available

Anthony provided updates constantly and processed our paperwork in exceptional time

Working with the Owning team members was great. We have had many home loans over the years, but I must say this was the easiest process and fastest a loan has ever been closed

We are thankful that we chose Owning and would do it all over again.

Great service from start to end. Frequent updates from the team, and they offered lots of flexibility with my needs. I will definitely use them again.

Overall had a good experience. They are very responsive before they have your business. After that they disappear. I've reached out to get another loan in another state several times. Since it doesn't benefit them financially I cant get a response. I feel if they are as nice and helpful as they act before they should do a little better after they landed your business.