Watermark Home Loans, Irvine CA

This was our 2nd experience with Watermark and we are consistently impressed with the people and their process. Douazang Lee and Laura Satalich were great partners and worked with us well to make sure we closed on time. After comparing to other lenders we found Watermark had the best rates and we had high confidence they would be able to deliver with high quality and on time.

Charles Newsome is a perfect Mortgage Banker anyone can ask for. His professionalism and communication is at his best. Always ready to assist and working to help you outside of normal office hours. From the first conversation about shopping a rate through closing, he and Dana Chupp - (Processing Team Lead) were always there to assist. Both were having passions, detail oriented and works for your success. We close within 25 days and that was the key highlights of an entire transaction. We will definitely recommend Watermark Home Loans and team. They make our entire first time home buyer process stress-free and convert it into forever friends.

After getting a couple of estimates from other lenders a friend of mine recommended that I reach out to Amanda Blankenship here at Watermark Home Loans. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made throughout the entire process! She not only gave me a good rate but she also took the time to explain the home buying process better than my realtor could! The way she explained everything and every number and step made me want to purchase another home before I was done buying my first home! 5 stars is an understatement and I would definitely recommend her to anyone I might know purchasing a home!

The mortgage experience was good and on time, but once the mortgage is provided their support is not what it should be.

They had my mortgage, and failed to provide a mortgage statement to me, even though I asked it many times and it is against the law not to provide the statement (12 C. F. R. § 1026.41).

They sold the mortgage to another company without requiring my approval and now I need to call another company to give me a mortgage statement (which they are not providing one either).

I needed the statement with urgency, but they failed.

My loan officer was Douazong Lee (DJ) who was absolutely awesome. She guided me step by step through this process. Even though we were miles apart, it didn't feel like it because she was always just a phone call or text away ready to answer any questions I had. The company Watermark is great. They have integrity and competitive rates. Closing is easy and quick. They arranged to have a closing attorney come to our home so no need to drive far out some where. The entire experience was great from start to finish and DJ made it go really smooth! I would definitely recommend this mortgage company and DJ!

Ron Trejo was honestly a phenomenal loan officer. This was my third purchase but never has my loan officer been so organized, prompt to respond, informative, and genuinely inclined to help. For once, getting the loan processed was the smoothest part of my purchase (when does that happen?) and it was all thanks to Ron and his team!
I've switched companies after every new purchase due to frustrations with loan officers but with Ron at Watermark I have finally found a lender I would be excited to work with again.

This company made us go in circles for over a month. We are FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS and this was honestly the worst experience any first time home buyer can possibly go through. When we first spoke to Gregory Crownover and his team they were very nice and attentive and helped us with any questions we had (we had many bc again FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS) but don’t let that fool you soon after my file was passed on to another person mid application/approval process and they kept asking questions we had already answered and to send documents we had sent since the beginning- they had no idea what papers were sent and what was done. Fast forward they kept coming up with excuses about our DTI and how we can’t get approved so we added a new co borrower and of course other issues with that and then we ordered an appraisal (when the loan was not even approved) we paid and took about 2 weeks and still no approval because they kept going back and forth and finding issues apparently. 1 week and a half before our closing date they still say we cannot get approved because blah blah etc. They say the only thing to do to close is to pay $34,000 at closing as FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS! Which is absurd. We went with a different lender 1 week before the original closing date which is a mess but they approved us in 2 days with no problems! But we had to pay double for the appraisal with them because watermark home loans can’t send a transfer letter which they had said they would be “happy to” and later to find out they can’t because they don’t want to be “liable” and we have to waste MORE MONEY FOR ANOTHER APPRAISAL AND WAIT MORE TIME! Do not go with them. Save your time and money.

We couldn’t be more satisfied with our experience at Watermark Loan. Charles Newsome and Laura Satalich made the process so easy, starting with helping us to choose the right loan for us and submitting the initial application right through to the funding of our loan. They were always quick to respond to our questions, whether by email or phone. Friendly and helpful. Real professionals! I recommend them without hesitation.

Brandon Emerine was absolutely amazing. I heard some mixed reviews earlier about Watermark, but Brandon proved them wrong. It wasn't easy with timezone differences, but Brandon was always a phone call away. He was very professional and stayed in close contact till the deal was done, and also put many things to our favor. I recommend him highly, and hopefully looking to work again with him in future.

We are trying to buy a home, were referred to Watermark by CreditKarma and Zillow. Went through the entire application process being told it would be a soft pull on our credit report until we signed the documents. Twenty minutes into filling out the online paperwork and uploads, a hard inquiry hits both our reports. Didn’t think anything of it at the time……

It’s been three weeks since we finished the application process, our lease is up in three weeks, and we have yet to hear from our mortgage team. I’ve sent emails with no response, and frankly wish I hadn’t submitted ALL of our documents and information.

COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND EFFORT

Watermark is a great lender, providing competitive rate and was super responsive throughout the entire process. I'd highly recommend you working with Jack Olson as your mortgage banker. He is a great partner, very knowledgeable and addressed all my questions timely via phone and email. Jack treated us, the client, with respect and I really appreciate his support and guidance throughout the entire loan process.

We’re very glad we chose Watermark for our first home buying experience. We were lucky enough to have Jack Olson as our Mortgage Banker and he was extremely gracious and helpful throughout the entire process and I had a million questions! He was very patient and helped us feel at ease the entire time. We couldn’t recommend them enough.

After using Watermark Home Loans for a previous loan I decided to use them again for a new home purchase. Upon calling in need an offer letter ASAP I had the pleasure to speak with Patrick Ingram. He was able to supply me with the letter in a very timely manner. Once my offer was accepted Patrick made the process seamless. He kept in communication with anything that was needed in order to rush the process along. The loan closed on time within 30 days. Patrick was very professional and efficient. I would highly recommend Watermark Home Loans and Patrick Ingram for anyone looking for mortgage products.

We used Watermark for our first home loan and had such smooth experience. They not only were easy to work with, they met our relatively quick closing, and had amazing rates. We got quotes from other lenders that were actually >1% higher. Their online portal for uploading documents made the process easy and trackable. We loved working with Charles Newsome and Janeen Cadwell.

Travis at Watermark put in a TON of extra effort to help us navigate our first mortgage. We had a private sale with no realtor involved, so we were pretty clueless about how the process works. Travis was patient and helped us understand what was happening each step of the way. I don't think a mortgage would ever be fun, but he definitely made our road to approval as painless as possible.

I'm giving them 1 star because it is not possible to give 0 stars.

Underwriting is ridiculous, slow, and incompetent. They delayed my closing (did not deliver documents by the date), then said I would have to pay $700 more to close the loan because I had several rental properties that caused them to do more paperwork. I had disclosed those properties in my application, and they sent me the document showing closing costs based on my application, so the request, akin to extortion since it was last minute before closing, is a violation of Federal lending laws, but I guess that's OK by them.

I then gave them a 1 star yelp review. They bribed me to take it down, saying they would waive the illegal $700 fee and said they were going to get the paperwork done and submitted by the rescheduled deadline, and I did delete the review, but at 5: 30 pm prior to that second deadline date, I received a call asking for a document I sent them several days before. They seemed confused that I had already sent it. They really have no idea what they are doing.

Although I am over-qualified for the loan, due to their ineptitude, I was left with 2 options: pay cash or lose my earnest money. I chose to pay cash.

If you need the loan to actually go through, or if you would be sad if your earnest money was forfeited, or if you generally prefer to deal with competent, honest people, then by all means, find a different lender.

My advice, RUN from this company!