Northwest Mortgage Group

This review is for FAITH WATKINS
Faith Watkins is one of the best mortgage loan officers in the area. How do I know this? Before I met with Faith, I read two books, one for first time homebuyers Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home and Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers. I looked at Unilocal and Zillow reviews. I interviewed two mortgage brokers and two loan officers, and I asked each of them a series of questions two pages long. Then I called their references. I interviewed Faith for 90 minutes and read every question. To say I am thorough is an understatement.
What specifically makes her the best? Most notably, her honesty and professionalism. She’s experienced and has high morals that lead her to the company she’s working for, she couldn’t stay with a dishonest company. She takes the time to understand your situation and goal, always a vital aspect of a loan officer (or broker). She secured the best rate for me and showed me ahead of time the rate sheet. She gave me the full Fee Worksheet, a booklet on navigating the home buying process, and sent me a video comparing that different rate and loans available to me. Basically she’s utterly straightforward and ensures that there is nothing to hide.
I had to switch loan officers/​companies, because she offers the first time homebuyers loan called the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC), but was not able to offer the Oregon Bond Loan (OBL). She was so honest and transparent that, despite being more than halfway through the loan, she gave me references for other loan officers that could help me. Not only that, even after I switched loan officers she asked how the process was going. Honest, transparent, professional, and caring. can you ask for more from a loan officer? I don’t think so. I only wish I could have had her as my loan officer through the end, especially Closing, things would have turned out better.
Conclusion:
My decision came down to how I felt after the interview and how I felt when I walked out of her office, 90 minutes later, and it was at the moment that I knew she was the right choice. This whole process, buying a home, is so overwhelming, I feel that if you have a good loan officer and a good realtor, you’ve got a lot going for you. After I completed my meeting with Faith, I had peace of mind and confidence, and that’s exactly how they should make you feel. Faith won’t just go the extra mile for you, she’ll run the whole marathon.

CAROL FLANAGAN is an exceptional person on top of being a fantastic mortgage broker. My husband and I went in just to see if we could even think about buying a home and 4 weeks later we closed on the perfect property. She not only got us the lowest interest rate possible, but also found programs and incentives that made our dream possible. Thank you Carol for being so wonderful!

Bill Dolan is the best.
My husband and I were lucky to meet Bill when we were buying our first condo in the Pearl District. From day one, he took great care of us, and up until the end he was volunteering to hand deliver time sensitive documents when we were tied up at work. During a late night epiphany he had on a Saturday, we were able to save over $ 600 off the closing costs. He just never stopped working for us when we were in the process of closing, and we really appreciated it.
What I liked best about working with Bill is the amount of detail and attention that he puts into each step, and his patience to explain every line item and every part of the process. He really took the time to educate us so we can make a smart decision about how to finance our mortgage. Bill was also very flexible when it came down to meetings. Since my husband and I work long hours, we could only meet in the evening. Bill was not only to accommodate this (our first meeting went up until 10pm) and he also came to our apartment multiple times.
It seems like he really enjoys his job, and enjoys helping people. We highly recommend him, and look forward to seeing him around the neighborhood, he is a great guy!

We worked with Leissa Gebert (503) 452‑0001 and located at 10 260 SW Greenburg Rd #900 Portland, OR 97 223. Leissa was absolutely fantastic! She created recorded videos of herself speaking so that we were always able to understand documents that were being emailed back and forth. The combination of email and videos made the process a breeze for us. I would highly recommend using Leissa for your mortgage needs!

We’re currently working on a refinance with Shawn. We financed our last house purchased through him and were very happy with everything. We’re even happier this time.
We started the refinance with Bank of America, because we were unaware that we were able to refinance with any other lender (given the value of our condo in the current market). When Bank of America showed their inability to function as a company, I contacted Shawn to see if there was anything he could do. Not only was there something he could do, he beat their offer by A LOT. We will save literally thousands a year. We’re now at exactly two weeks since we started the process with Northwest Mortgage Group and we are at the same point we were with Bank of America at 2 months and 8 days. I wasn’t worried about the speed, but I can’t help but be impressed.
I can’t imagine working directly with a lender or a different mortgage broker again. The level of professionalism and knowledge of the industry is astonishing, where Bank of America’s lack of those characteristics was equally astonishing. Even without the comparison, I know I’d still be impressed.

Shawn Baeschlin at Northwest Mortgage is great. We first refinanced and then recently while my wife and I were beginning the process of a divorce we financed another residence’s mortgage through Shawn. This was not a straightforward situation, had some emotional and financial twists and turns and we felt so lucky to have Shawn.
His communication is terrific — not just better than other mortgage brokers but really one of the best service professionals I’ve ever dealt with. He is proactive in communicating, he returns calls and emails immediately and always explains everything to a level that we needed to understand. He knows his stuff, is still able to get creative when the circumstances demand, and we always feel that we got great rates.
I’ve recommended Shawn to several friends and they are now customers too. I’m glad to be able to write this review and hope others find Shawn to help them too!

Please pardon the long review, but we had an excellent experience with Kelly Parkman and I really wanted to highlight his knowledge and skills.
Kelly Parkman at Northwest Mortgage group is GREAT at what he does and seems to truly enjoy helping people. He is practical, down to earth, knowledgeable, accessible, and on top of the game in the mortgage world. My husband and I came to Kelly two years ago as newlyweds to discuss our desire to become home owners and what we needed to do to get there. He took time to get to know us and to discuss in detail everything we needed to do to prepare ourselves, including small things we could do (that we weren’t even aware of) to improve our already good credit scores, exactly how much money we needed to save to be comfortable in the buying process, precisely what the monthly costs would be for the homes within our price range (~$ 200,000), and how we could get the best interest rate out there. When we left his office we both had the gut feeling you get when you know you are dealing with the right person for the job. Over the next two years, anytime I emailed Kelly with a question about home ownership, he responded promptly and enthusiastically. When we finally felt ready and confident, he was there. He prepared us for everything.
While we both felt very good about our finances and had excellent credit scores (thanks to Kelly), we presented all sorts of hurdles for being approved for a home loan due to the fact that we had been moving about over the last five years and did not show a steady trail of employment or income and also that my husband does not work in the winter months, i.e. when we were trying to buy said home. He approached these hurdles with zeal and had us pre-​approved within the week. By the end of the next week he had taken many extra precautionary steps to make 100% sure we would be able to close when it came time and even a very well educated guess about exactly how many days it would take. He contacted our realtors so everyone was on the same page, and we proceeded into a daunting process totally relaxed and feeling great about our prospects.
I would recommend Kelly with confidence to anyone. At the very least, make an appointment to visit with him and discuss your own personal situation. You will see for yourself.