Karen Bivans

Karen was fantastic! She exceeded my expectations in every way. She returned emails at night and on weekends. She was personable and knowledgeable. She answered all of my questions promptly and thoroughly. Karen even made unsolicited check-ins just to make sure everything was on track and that I didn't have questions. All of this on top of the fact that she was able to match the best rate I could find. I would definitely recommend Karen to anyone looking for a loan!

We had a mediocre experience with Guaranteed Rate. They initially offered us a solid rate which included a lender credit "premium" that would be used to offset some of their upfront lender fees. A week later when we were moving through the formal application process they removed the lender credit, meaning that we would no longer have the benefit of the reduction in fees even though our rate stayed the same. Their explanation was that rates had shifted higher that week and that the credit disappeared as the premium evaporated. This didn't sit well with us, obviously, as we had it written out explicitly in our pre-approval letter and small changes in rates should not have that type of impact in a week. Regardless, since we already had the pre-approval we moved ahead (they did give us a $300 credit for the inconvenience, but it was still well below the original amount stated on the pre-approval) and we moved ahead. The proceeding throughout the close process was OK. We had a fairly long close (approx. 50 days) which I don't think served any benefit as we were still being asked for documentation up until the final week. The deal got done, however, and the funding went without a hitch on closing.

Karen was great to work with, and was a huge help in guiding us through from application to closing!