Joyce Williams

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Since interest rates had gone down, I wanted to refinance my home. I contacted Glenn Kavanagh at Atlantic Bay Mortgage about the possibilities of refinancing my house and the different options available to me. Glenn got back to me quickly with several options. I talked them over with him and decided on the option that was right for me. The process was smooth and easy. I was kept updated on every step and closed on the loan in a timely fashion. I would recommend Glenn to anyone looking for a skilled mortgage professional for purchase loans or home refinances. He is responsive, knowledge, and a very nice guy.

Glenn did a great job keeping the process moving and keeping us informed.

The broker (my initial contact, the and quot;Loan Officerand quot;) was very busy. I rapidly learned if I needed a direct and process-oriented question answered to go directly to his Assistant (Loan Officer Liaison), Roxanna Miller. Fortunately, they allowed me to do this.
Shopping for mortgages is tedious at best. Since this is the fourth house I've owned, I've learned by now what shopping around means. I was very clear as to what was and was not acceptable. When I had too many problems with the Loan Officer (a nice but not detail-oriented gentleman), I circumvented him. If New American Mortgage had not let me do this, I would not have used them and I made that clear pretty quickly after some issues occurred. This all boils down to knowing who to go to for the answers needed. I know Ms. Miller did need to contact the loan officer on occasion and this was rare. I was also careful when it happened.

I cannot imagine anyone asking more questions and questioning the papers than I did. But I lived to see another day. I found Ms. Miller brilliantly on top of all issues (and they kept coming up because while the loan officer wasn't always concerned about them, Ms. Miller knew it would or could affect the closing). Based on this, my primary focus was Ms. Miller. I liked the loan officer but he seemed to not always be a detailed and this would've caused problems. There was a thoroughness and complete levelheadedness about Ms. Miller that kept me going back to her.

Ms. Miller and I became mind-readers (we connected) of each other and that helped a lot, too.
By staying on top of the loan officer, however, we got the best rate (bank note APR) around for a 30 year fixed. If you're looking for the best rate, I recommend whoever you choose, you follow the process closely, preempt any potential problems and make sure the papers are filled out in accordance to your agreement. (TAKE NOTES IF DONE VERBALLY. Ensure they're met when you start reading the mortgage documentation.) In addition, while your credit score may change when the broker pulls it (it's just the way it goes), run a credit report on yourself first. Your check is known as a soft-pull and does not affect your score. Doing this should give you an inkling of how good/bad your rate is.
Don't be fooled by the two APRs. The first is the actual and quot;bank noteand quot; price and in many situations is not the one on which you'll focus and in my case prior to this refi, it was the more important one. BUT in this case, it was the one I needed to meet since we were paying case at closing and I made that clear from the beginning. If you are rolling finance charges into your refi, you will pay the second APR and that APR is what you would use to compare rates with other brokers. It's the closest to compare apples to apples.
Want a fabulously fair and low mortgage and are willing to work your xxxx off to get it? Use New American and stay in touch with the assistant loan officer OR whoever you feel comfortable. It is a lot of work and you cannot depend on one person to get this for you.

Ms. Miller did not pay me for this review and she deserves a raise for her thoroughness and tolerance of me. The loan officee deserves similar respect. I read and filled out forms without his presence. After I reached about the 20th page with yellow post-its I put on questions, I packed up and left. I needed clarification because information was incorrect and he didn't tell me it would be or why. I was wasting my time and, if I continued, I'd get it another day. With the loan officer's advice, I managed (I think) to get a slight break on title insurance since we used the same lawyers we had for closing / buying our house. I had no clue this could be done.

I will add one more piece of information. Our last broker when we bought our house about 1.5 years ago (seems soon but we know what we're doing) was through Silverton and C.A. was the ostensibly inexperienced broker. They aren't here in Asheville anymore (that speaks volumes). I watched cover-up after cover-up and error after error. I was infuriated with her work and coverups. I worked most of my career doing software testing. It's detail-oriented work. So when I saw a problem, I may have spent a day untangling the web C.A. created (by calling the bank we were going to use as well as other brokers). Ultimately my problem - I wanted the loan. While I could prove her mistakes and coverups, I had to let it go through to get this lovely neighborhood and time was short. I worked in information technology for 30 years and money was tight. C.A. made the mistake(s) of thinking she could pull a snow job on me. WRONG.

There will be no mistakes in this loan. Ms. Miller is on top of things. I told her details I brought up to the broker who thought they were insignificant and could be dealt with later in the process. WRONG. It all effected the mortgage amount and needed to be correct at the beginning. I tend to trust process people and that's why I was drawn to Ms. Miller and rapidly learned where to go for what.

If you want a great deal but care the mortgage process isn't a cakewalk, do something else with your time. It takes a team to create a safe mortgage and it take a trusting team to ensure you get the bet mortgage you can buy. By the end, I was worn out. I trusted one person and the day of closing, everything almost ended. I pulled Ms. Miller in early and understood it would either go through or not. She took care of the last critical item.

I'd use them again (and we can't get a better rate than this and it will be our last house). In general, this is simply all bewares to use with any mortgage company. Spend the extra time and work. Get it right and don't give in (with some flexibility built in. So, one more warning - if your only contact is with the loan officer and lawyer (who also could not be totally depended on), you may have issues. If you are allowed to use a detail and process-oriented person to complete the loan process with Ms. Miller, you'll be totally safe.

Go Roxanne!!!!! And humble thanks.