Perl Mortgage

Never ever again. Jim does not return phone calls and pawned us off on a loan assistant in Colorado. I have bought 3 homes refinanced 3 times. Like I said never again. Extremely unprofessional. So happy when it was over.

Our offer to purchase a short sale was accepted on May 7, 2015. As most know, short sales are a nightmare. To add complication to the deal, the home required significant renovation so my wife and I decided to pursue a 203k loan. After working with another lender for 2 months without much progress, my wife and I made the decision to give Perl Mortgage a try.
We were connected to Jose Valdavinos and his team member Leslie De Leon. On our first call, Jose assured me that he would get us to the finish line and kept his word. Each morning I would send an email to Jose and Leslie to gauge the progress of our file. As annoying as it may have been, they were always pleasant and kept us up to date on the file even if the update was simply, «no update yet». Several times throughout the process the short sale lender threatened to pull the deal. I would call frantically and both Jose and Leslie were voices of reason. By the time we were nearing the finish line, we could tell that they both wanted us to have the home as much as we wanted it and we were confident they were doing everything in their power to close the deal.
I would describe Jose and Leslie as knowledgeable, responsive, calm during tense situations (we had many tense situations throughout the deal so their calmness helped relieve stress).
I give Perl Mortage a 4/​5, however Jose and Leslie get a ⁵⁄₅. The only snag in the process was the underwriting portion, however I understand the added scrutiny that comes with the 203k loan.
I would recommend Perl Mortgage and would recommend Jose and Leslie for 203k transactions in the future.

I am writing this review after 3 months of closing on our house. I did not want to forget to write a review for these guys. I worked with Ken and Ben and they were extremely easy to work with. Everything was transparent from the beginning and it stayed that way till the end. Both of them replied to my emails within minutes. Since I was a first time homeowner, I had plenty of questions for them but they were patient with me and were always courteous. A friend had recommended them but I was a bit skeptical. But these guys really are very good at what they do. Highly recommended.

Stay away from these over promising, under delivering clowns. All talk, no action. Zero stars would be more appropriate. Clearly they pay Unilocal to remove the bad reviews!

If you get a mortgage through Perl it will be immediately sold to a different lender. My lender has changed 4 times in 11 months. It is a pain in the ass having to create a new auto payment so often. It also makes it very hard to keep accurate records when the lender keeps changing. I would not trust Perl with another mortgage because you cannot know or trust whoever they may sell the loan to.

Hi Ken, I’ll be calling your office tomorrow. My middle name starts with an M, that’s why you can’t find me in your client list.
Thanks for reading replying to my review. I did want to note that during my purchase chaos I did try reaching out to the Belmont office to escalate my concerns. My call was never returned :(

My offer for a condo in the Gold Coast was accepted on June 3d. I closed on July 2^nd all thanks to the extraordinary team of Dan Larkin and Terri Salerno at Perl. The communication, professionalism and efficiency through the entire process was exceptional. Because of the tenacity and focus of Dan and Terri, I am now proud homeowner of a new condo and was able to transition my prior residence into an investment property.
My lending profile is probably not as straight forward as most traditional home buyers. I consistently found Dan to be knowledgeable, helpful and always refreshing to keep me on point with his affable personality. I can not praise his professionalism, integrity and industry expertise enough. Bonus that he was always quick to respond to any questions/​concerns I had and never hesitated to pick up the phone and call me when necessary — even over the weekend.
Finally, working with Terri was a dream come true! She kept the process moving forward diligently and made all the difference with her optimistic outlook. At times I thought, «Why am I signing up for this torturous lending process??». She definitely has a way of keeping not only the project on point and organized, but also keeping her clients happy and engaged in seeing the finish line.
Every document and cost was outlined for clarification and Dan and Terri were consistently patient with answering any questions or concerns.
At my closing, my lawyer commented with a «WOW!!» noting the short turn around time to close and complimented the accuracy and organization of the documents.
Dan came recommended to me years ago by a real estate investor. At the time I was looking for a property but couldn’t find one. I didn’t even think twice about calling upon him for this purchase as he is someone who is relationship driven and not just seeking the transaction.
THANK YOU for cultivating an A+ team Dan and Terri. You will find recommendations coming your way!

We’ve just completed our second transaction with Perl Mortgage (purchase and a re-​fi to a 15 yr mortgage). Mary Markis was fantastic. The communication back and forth was easy and the closing took place at our house after hours (so no time off work which was a bonus) We got a great rate with zero closing costs. A very positive experience.

I just closed on my 3^rd transaction with Pam Harambasic at Perl and she is always really pleasurable to work with. She is very quick to respond, friendly, and interested in making sure her clients have a good understanding of the details of their transaction.
This most recent transaction, Pam reached out to me to see if I was interested in a refi considering the super low rates. She provided a few different options and laid out all of the differences very clearly. As it turned out, I had been thinking of refinancing and her help and guidance made it possible and easy.
I highly recommend Pam for your next mortgage transaction if you’re looking for a really kind and conscientious person to work with.

This review is a bit delayed, but we worked with Amir and his team on financing for our condo purchase this past spring. Amir’s team was courteous, friendly and prompt in their responses and, most importantly, they helped get the deal done on time. Being a deal lawyer by trade, I was impressed by how smoothly this operation ran. Amir even took the time to stop by our closing with a gift and to check in to ensure everything was in order, which was not necessary but much appreciated. We were quite happy with our experience with Amir, and would certainly look to him and the PERL team for financing again in the future.

Just completed my 2^nd purchase mortgage with Perl Mortgage. I worked with Ken Perlmutter and Ben Glazer, and had a 2^nd phenomenal experience. Their customer service is truly top notch, from responding to emails and calls immediately, carefully explaining the process with status updates along the way, as well as providing extremely competitive rates and fees with no hidden costs. Also, throughout my search, Perl responded immediately with writing pre approval letters for offers that were not ultimately accepted, and when I communicated that there would not be sale, their response was «No problem at all, we are here for you when you need us!» All of my experiences have proven that customer service is their first priority. Perl’s tagline is «Your Lender for Life» which is absolutely true for me as a repeat customer, and will ring true for any first time customer that experiences their service and brand.

Just finished my 4^th purchase/​refi with Ken Perlmutter and Ben Glazer at Perl Mortgage. Ken runs a tight ship, gets the customer the best financing available, and makes the entire process as painless and smooth as possible for the customer. If there was a 6^th star they’d get it. I’ll keep going back to Perl for all of my mortgage needs in the future.

This review is for loan officer Dan Chookaisian and his team: Jim Wrzala and Ralph Perez.
Dan worked with my buyers on the sale of my town home in a mixed income leasehold community. This community had replaced Cabrini-​Green in Chicago’s Old Town community. It is one of the most legally complex communities in which to obtain financing. Dan and his team worked through every hoop, hurdle, and pot hole in the road to my buyer getting financing, even giving up his mortgage to Chase without having sold them loan. That is an honorable service-​above-​self quality that demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the buyer.
On my purchase I had taken tax advantages that lowered my income to the point where I almost could qualify for a small mortgage. Dan came up with a creative solution where I paid off my car loan to get the loan product I wanted. Dan was laser focused on my objective of paying off my debts, having a 15 year mortgage, and a house that I could afford on only half of my salary. I moved from a decrepit community of degenerates into a beautiful well appointed suburban home that has brought me peace space and freedom from a retched condominium association.
It would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the knowledge professionalism and dedication of Dan and his team.

We needed a refi on our house and so the search for a mortgage broker began. After making several enquiries, we settle on Perl Mortgage. The staff are professional and accommodating. They explain all the details to you without any rush. Even as first timers they were patient and made sure we understood what we were getting into.
It took under 30 days to close out on our refi and we were able to get a 15 year loan down from a 30 year loan at lowers interest. Dealing with them was a great experience with constant and timely communication-​within the hour.
A point to not is that their interest rates are generally on the lower side. When you think of the efficiency in document processing, you need not look any further. Barry and his team are the best. I will be recommending Perl Mortgage to friends and colleagues everywhere.

Mike Nugent at Perl mortgage was fantastic. We went from mortgage application to close in roughly 3 weeks and at a great rate! Unbelievable! Mike was confident it would happen the whole time and very calming despite some difficulties with underwriting. He answered all of my calls and emails promptly, and I called often. One area for improvement would be the managing of documents. Perl Mortgage just switched over to a paperless system which was an inconvenience due to the the lack of familiarity with the system in house. This required me to send duplicate copies of some paperwork. Ultimately, we made the tight deadline, as Mike promised. If you’re looking for a quick close, definitely go with Perl.

Having followed Unilocal to Perl, I want to provide some caution because my experience was by no means super-​smooth — I drafted the contract on the house to accommodate Perl’s timeframe, and we still needed to get consent from the seller to extend the financing contingency period because Matt Cochran at Perl couldn’t manage to get my materials to the underwriter on time. Matt said we could have had everything done in a month; I gave him six weeks and he took. .. every. .. last. .. day.
You should pick a mortgage broker based on diligence and attention to detail. Based on the reviews on this website, Perl would be a good choice. Alas, my experience with Perl does not line up with the experience of other folks who used them.
As for diligence, I got every document Perl requested to it in a day at most. At some period after I’d provided documents to Matt’s assistance, communication from Perl basically stopped other than occasional «everything’s okay» responses to my queries. By two business days before the closing was set to occur — and after the financing period was extended — «everything’s okay» kind of rang hollow when it became apparent things hadn’t been sent to the underwriter. Mine should have been a simple case, but I’m not sure it’s fair to assume that there was nothing in my file for which the underwriter could potentially have requested more information.
Maybe it worried be because I had money at stake and Perl didn’t. That’s not how a professional service provider should make a client feel.
Perl wasn’t great on details either. The financing issue was caught by my lawyer with no tip-​off from Perl. Matt’s email to me contained the incorrect payee for the money I needed to bring to the closing. There was a period of time when I’d only submitted an application where Perl didn’t return my calls because they thought I was someone else. He also gave me the impression in phone calls that «everything was okay» when he hadn’t reviewed the file, which I know because he later requested additional information.
Look: My transaction closed on time. I’m happy with the rate. But Perl was by no means flawless in my experience. I would neither use them again nor recommend them.

We just closed on our refi and I couldn’t be more satisfied by the work that Shelley Malkin did to get us to closing in just 35 days from the date that I first called Perl. I just want to affirm all the other great reviews about Perl. Shelley expertly guided us through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and took us from a 30 year to a 15 year loan with a considerable interest rate reduction. Throughout the whole process she kept us well informed and was never too busy to answer our questions. I would definately recommend Perl and specifically Shelley!

Stop comparing. Stop shopping around. Stop the confusing mortgage hunting nightmare. Call Barry at Perl and everything will be so much easier. Best rates, best customer service. Easy to work with — speaks in actual human words — not alien banking/​dothraki unintelligible mortgage language.
Would recommend to anyone!

This review is from a technically 3^rd party perspective since I did not directly purchase a mortgage through Perl, but was in the middle of dealing with them since I was helping a friend during the whole process.
I have re-​financed my house a couple of times and I have worked with a couple of different companies. Due to my experiences, I definitely felt that I should write a review regarding Barry and his team.
I made the first call out to Barry and he was definitely an easy going person to talk over the phone. Right of the bat, he was very clear about the process and the fees. FYI if you are over a certain amount, the re-​fi is free. (I feel that I should not put the exact number down, just in case it changes over time !!) He talked about the way Chicago handles taxes and assured me that we can have this done in 30 days.
I was skeptical at first just cause it has always taken me 2 ish months to finish refinance but ok. His team (especially Jennifer) went into action and it was a constant stream of documents as expected but very timely and done in a thorough manner.
The refi took just over a month but mostly because of delay’s from my friend’s condo association. At closing, there was a difference of $ 175 which was not accounted for and one email to him took care of the issue right away.
He was prompt, courteous, detailed and hey if there is no cost to me, that’s just was too good of a deal to pass up.
It was a pleasure doing business with Barry and I don’t think I will hesitate using him personally or for my friends in the future.

I’ve been on a bit of hiatus with reviews, but my experience with Perl mortgage, has made me want spread the good word.
Just recently did a refi through Perl, and I’d like to echo all the great things everyone has mentioned about Barry. Barry and his team made the whole process extremely quick (under 30 days) and easy. From my experience, everyone at Perl was extremely quick to respond to emails, return phone calls and clarify any questions/​issues. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? :)
If you’re shopping around for a mortgage I recommend contacting Barry.