Gene Agustin & Bernie Tomei

I was referred to Gene & Bernie by, of all people, my boss. I’m purchasing the home I’ve rented for the past 12 years, and I needed to make getting the loan as low-​stress as possible. I was introduced by email in the late afternoon, spoke with both Gene and Bernie that night, and had options to discuss the very next morning. Bernie took the time to explain everything about the loan to me and was much more willing to spend time answering questions than anybody else I asked for help with getting a loan on.
Unfortunately, one of the giant world economy crashing banks came in with a monthly payment that was a couple of hundred dollars lower, but if I ever need to refi or buy another home, I’ll definitely be calling them again!

Phew! To say I wasn’t looking forward to the purchase of our first home is an understatement. It’s overwhelming, my husband and I didn’t know what we could afford (OK, maybe he did but I didn’t) what the whole process would REALLY cost, and let’s be honest — talking about money and credit and getting into a huge amount of debt for a house can be intimidating. Enter Gene and Bernie. Problem SOLVED. I can’t tell you how easy the process was. We closed escrow extremely fast, with updates as to the progress along the way. Once we provided all of our information to Gene and Bernie, they put together a few scenarios for us to decide on as far as what worked best for us and, BOOM. Homeownership — Hello! Yes. It was *that* easy.
In business, it is often a hard balance to strike between being professional and friendly — too friendly and you are unsure how professional a company is — too professional and they can seem cold or uncaring. Gene and Bernie possess just the right amount of friendly while still proving they know their stuff. We got a great interest rate, got educated about home-​buying in the process, and I can say without a doubt I would refer anyone I love and care about to these guys. We closed with complete understanding of our decision and excitement to have our first home.
When I worked at Nordstrom in college, we were told, «When someone does a good job, they like to be told.» Gene and Bernie did a GREAT job, and I am telling them (and you) now. I am going home to OUR HOME tonight, and it’s thanks to Gene and Bernie. I highly recommend them, especially to first time homeowners and anyone looking for a «long term» relationship (we will be requesting their assistance with any future refi or other purchase needs). Excellent service — thanks guys!

My husband and I have been thinking about buying a home and our biggest reservation has been dealing with a finance company to help us get a loan. I was a little hesitant thinking where do I begin, and most importantly, who can I trust to help me make these important decisions? I hate to admit it but we’ve done this a couple of times and buying a house is stressful and what I’ve learned is that if you don’t know what your doing and you don’t have a good finance company on your side, you WILL GET SCREWED and lose your house, which is what happened to us in the past. I called Gene and Bernie and right away you get the feeling something is different about them and then you figure out that they actually care about their customers. I called around to some other places and they wanted me to fill out an application, run my credit, etc. Gene agreed to meet with me the same day (since that was the only day my husband and I would both be available) and do a consultation. He was totally open to just answering our questions and talking to us. He gave us really great advice about how we need to start thinking and what we should be doing to get prepared to purchase in 6 months. And he never once pressured us to do business with them, run our credit or any of that. Now I feel like I have options and I have a good idea of where we stand. Best of all now I can say «Let me call MY guy and see what he thinks of this!» Finally a financial team that is on our side!

Gene and Bernie are awesome! Very detail oriented and straightforward. Whenever we need advice on refinancing or loans, they provide simplified explanations, and truly care about us.
Very experienced Mortgage Brokers!

Quickest guns in town. They can close quicker, for less, and save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, what more could you ask for! They smoke anyone’s rates and do it all with a smile! For all of you in the biz, with the new TRID and issues with closings coming down the pipe, if you’re not using a lender who closes on time every time, you’re going to be hurting. Call Gene and Bernie today!!!

Gene and Bernie are top notch. Extremely professional and hard working. They financed two very difficult transactions simultaneously to make a 1031 exchange work against all odds. I really don’t know how they did it but they did and they even made it easy on us. Bernie’s attention to detail is astounding. I HIGHLY recommend this team!
Sandy And Robert DeSelle

Easiest refi experience ever. From start to finish the team kept me informed of every step along the way and got it done way faster than I ever thought possible. My wife and I are extremely happy and will only use Gene and Bernie for any future need. Highly recommend them.

Gene and Bernie are great. Our real estate agent — Alice referred us to them and we got the best experience so far with mortgage brokers.
And it is not the first time we are buying/​refinancing, so can say that this has been the best transaction for us.
It was pretty complicated as well. We had to work very closely and had an amazing communication — real time.
Both Gene/​Bernie answered all questions, addressed all our concerns in timely manner.
We would definitely recommend them to anybody that is looking to buy/​refinance.

I’ve been doing business with Gene & Bernie for almost 10 years. They are very on top of what is going on in the market. I trust them to find me the best rates and the best loans for me. they are very detailed oriented, very thorough. Overall, they are great people, fantastic partners and I highly recommend them.

Gene and Bernie helped us buy our home last year, and just recently they helped us lock in a better rate and get rid of our PMI with a refinance of our loan. With a team as knowledgable, professional, and personable as they are, you can’t go wrong.
Initially, my wife and I were very hesitant to buy our first home, having no clue of what it entailed, what our financial situation was, and anything about buying a home in general. Our friends recently sold their condo and bought a new home with Gene and Bernie’s help, and they persuaded us to just have a quick chat with Gene, and so we did. We were immediately put at ease and felt very comfortable talking with him. He was (and is always) willing to meet in person just to go over things and gauge our situation. He was extremely patient with us, going over anything and everything that we didn’t understand — which was a lot. My wife and I had zero knowledge… we didn’t even know what escrow was. After just 30 minutes of chatting, we realized that buying a home was indeed possible, even in this crazy Bay Area market.
My wife and I were very excited but still a little overwhelmed. We provided Gene and Bernie the necessary info and paperwork, and Gene met with us again. Keep in mind that he was willing to travel almost 2 hours just to meet us at our place for our convenience. He gave us a breakdown of our options based on our credit and income, and yes, it was still a bit overwhelming and confusing, but he quickly put us at ease and patiently broke things down for us. Once we knew where we stood, we wanted to move forward, and he gave us a few realtor referrals that they had great experiences successfully closing homes with. We made our choice with Rod and Karen Hibner (who are also super-​awesome), and we started shopping. We found a home we loved during an open house on June 15, 2014, and we closed escrow on July 11^th. How awesome is that?!
Today we are living happily in our first home, and we just wrapped up a sweet refinance, all thanks to a super team spearheaded by Gene and Bernie. We are so grateful to have them watching our backs, and we can’t recommend them enough. They always make themselves available, and if we have any questions whatsoever, they are just a quick phone call away.
If you have any fears or preconceptions about buying a home, give Gene a call, and he will quickly put you at ease. The biggest step is finding out where you stand, and they will help you take that first step and make you feel at home even before you buy one.

Really happy working with Gene and Bernie. I worked with them on a home purchase and everything went really smoothly. It was the best experience I’ve had so far with any purchase or refi (I’ve done 3 of these). Importantly, the loan rate was competitive — I didn’t feel like I was giving anything up to work with this great team. Gene was very careful to explain all the fees, charges, rates, etc and very easy to talk with when I had questions. He was also very active in staying in communication with my agent and the selling agent. I truly feel that it was that relationship which helped my offer to be accepted. At the end of closing, everything came in very close to estimate and Gene was even able to find an employer discount for me! I would not hesitate to use them again and look forward to working with them on a refi (if rates can actually go lower).

Gene and Bernie are the best to work with! We just recently closed on our first house and they made it so incredibly easy! We never felt alone in the long process and calls are always answered back! I will definitely refer them to everyone I know! They are a great team!!!

Gene and Bernie are amazing and I highly recommend them as a first time home buyer.
We loved the clear communication which Gene provided. He was very clear to not only us, but to the other parties as well. This is something that is extremely important to any buyer and I appreciate all the effort from his side.
They make things work the first time because they are pro-​active and ask for early underwriting review and take any steps necessary to make it happen on time.
Having Gene and Bernie to support you is much better than working with a bank in my opinion. They are able to split the loan into conforming and 2^nd loans to get you the best rate possible. In addition, they track the market to determine if your payments will get reduced if re-​financed at no cost.
I look forward to working with them again.

Gene and Bernie are great. We got our original mortgage with Gene and refinanced with him last year. He got us a net-​no-​cost package and also found out ways we could open accounts with US Bank to get credits on our mortgage. He is completely 100% honest, gets you the best rate and at the lowest cost (if not 0 net cost possible.) In fact our last refinance, we got a net credit on our mortgage.
He goes the extra mile to get your home a fair, realistic appraisal for the refinance: by putting together the comparables, advising you on documentation on improvements to submit, etc.
Very honest, timely and incredibly customer oriented.

I went with Gene based on referral, and he me with financing my home.
Since interest rated have gone down in the past couple of years, he has also contacted me twice when interest rates have gone down, each time by appr. 1% point which have been «no-​cost» each time.
Gene works diligently, and is responsive with my questions, and is as detailed as he can get with the answers to make sure that I understand everything well. He also has a great team that works with him, and is equally responsive if Gene is unable to get to my email first.
I trust him, and he endenders that, so building a relationship with him works to your advantage.

I just completed yet another refi with RELR at a great 30 yr fixed rate. I have used RELR since 2001, initially to finance my home and since then for multiple refinances over the years. All of my refi’s have been true no-​cost refi’s, and I completely trust Gene and his team to provide good advice, explain all options and honor their commitments. No double talking or hidden fees here. In addition, they make things super convenient for me, including arranging all of the document signings (and sometimes document pick ups) at my home/​or work. I haven’t seen the inside of their office or the title company in years! They also keep you in the loop without inundating you, will always take time to answer any questions, and make sure that things happen on time. Bottom line, they are really good people, doing really good work. I couldn’t recommend them more strongly.

I have used Gene for a few refinances in the last couple of years He has great attention to detail and great follow up. i highly recommend the RELR team
AndyB

Rates are low and the time was right! Thanks Gene and all of your team for making my No-​Cost refinance so easy. Gene and his team were helpful and respectful. He took the time to answer all of my questions no matter how small. He was quick with call backs, and he was very accommodating and even came to our home with a notary to file closing documents. The whole process was simple and painless. I highly recommend using Gene and the RELR Team if you need a refinance.

Just completed a No-​Cost Refinance with Gene in record time. We have refinanced several times over the years using various brokers and this was the first time anyone took the time to sit down with us and go over the details. This occurred not once, but twice, with Gene coming to my office both times so that I would not be inconvenienced. I was very impressed with Gene and the entire process.