Cohen Financial

Mark is a professional through and through.
I think he closes more deals than many other brokers but is still available to discuss the details of each case upon request. That is very refreshing. His assistance and other colleagues are also very responsive. I have asked them to draft numerous pre approval letters given that the house buying process is so convoluted and it’s difficult to close a deal. I have never had any negative experience despite my numerous requests.
I worked with Mark and his team on several transactions now and he has been more than responsive to each and every one of my requests. Now obviously given how many files he has at one time, it’s apparent that his time is limited by default but he is very effective and efficient in the way he deals with the questions that are brought to his attention. Mark and his team makes sure to fully address the concerns of their clients.

I can not recommend Cohen Financial and I will advise potential client to stay away from applying for their services. Their customer service is horrible, I started with my refinance efforts in March of 2015 and provide them with all the necessary documents and forms for the refinance I even was asked to pay $ 880 for my house appraisal which I did! and as of November 2015 I am still waiting to hear from Mark Cohen or his staff. I placed many phone calls with them to check for the status of my application, hardly got any reply or indication from Mark Cohen. Sent many emails as well with no reply from mark Cohen. I can summarize my experience I had with Mark Cohen and his staff as a very frustrating one. For your peace of mind I would suggest you stay away from working with this awful service.

I cant say enough about Mark and his team. Winstar Mortgage, Wells Fargo and others couldn’t get done what Mark did. When they all just inputted data to a loan terminal and out cap a big «rejected», Mark worked with people at the Bank of California and personalized our application and we got the loan and home of our dreams. NOBODY else did it but Mark did! I will forever be grateful. He said he would get it done and he did.

I should have known when it took several days for my phone call to be returned about a refi that this was not going to be a good experience. Mark Cohen took so long to process my loan that he lost my lock rate and actually yelled at me when I refused to sign a loan for a higher rate. I had to actually tell him three times, «It is inappropriate to yell at a client.» I did my refi with another mortgage broker and my loan went through with no problem and no abuse.

Mark Cohen and his team are outstanding. They get you the best loan, get you through the process, give you good advice, and work tirelessly on your behalf to close the loan and help you buy the house you want. I had a great experience with Mark and highly recommend him and his team.

Hmmm…
I’ve been keeping Cohen Financial in the back of my mind for the past 3 years, after seeing their ads in LA Times touting that they cater to self-​employed and small business owners, and specialize in loans based on bank statements.
After a long delay, I’m finally ready to purchase. E-​mailed Mr. Cohen an introduction letter giving a little background on myself and my situation, asking what’s the next step (application, I know). No reply. Wait another week. Nada. Nothing.
So I thought, well, OK, maybe Mr. Cohen is busy. I’ll e-​mail one of the originators at Cohen. Again — nothing. Not even a robot reply ‘we have received your email and will get back to you ASAP as we are SUPER busy over here in BH’. No reply saying F off, you’re too small a fish for us (loan was relatively small, big down payment). Nada. Nothing.
Wait another week. Try the submission form via the site. And guess what — SURPRISE! Also no reply. Now I know, yes I could call them, or even stop in over there on Wilshire. But if they’re this unprofessional responding to e-​mails, how will other aspects of the loan process be?
I see looking on their site that they had many $ 2m loans closed recently (or so it’s claimed), so I guess my little mortgage is too piddly to bother with a reply.
After reading the mainly positive reviews here (real clients? friends?) mixed with the few negatives, I wonder what is really going on over there. Maybe they do offer great service, if you’re shopping in the $ 2m mortgage region.
Shalom, dear Cohen brothers, I will be seeking a different mortgage broker.
UPDATE: 2 months later — Just applied at two other mortgage companies, both were nice and professional (as it should be), and got pre-​approved for well OVER what I am even planning to spend!
Eat it, Cohen! :)

If Mr. Cohen says he’s going to do it, he does it. A team of wonderful people. Very client-​oriented.

Great service! Fast, reliable, and helpful! I worked with Mark and Seth. Thanks for making the buying process a little easier. Highly recommended.

Cohen Financial is one of the best, best, best companies in Southern California. Mark Cohen, Seth & the entire team are professionals that have helped many Angelinos to realize their dream of home ownership whether as a 1^st time home buyers or existing homeowners that are trying to refinance and get a lower rate or are simply investors. Professional individuals appreciate all the hard work that Mark and his company do to get them the best terms available. People who are less educated may come to Unilocal and blame the sun and the moon for their shortcoming. Simply put you cannot get better service anywhere else. Mark has been one of the most hardworking individuals that I have ever met in my life. All the negative comments that I have read on this site are from individuals that probably do not understand the 1^st thing about the financial industry or a financial transaction and they need to blame someone other than themselves for their shortcomings. Having worked myself in the financial industry for over 30 years, I strongly recommend Mark Cohen & Cohen Financial to any body who is looking for the best to take care of their mortgage transaction needs.

I just got my deal funded with Mark and his son Seth. I know sometimes reviews are hard to trust especially on Unilocal.I’m a man of my word, I never write a review that I don’t stand by. These guys are the best. Thank you for helping me with my first home, can’t recommend you enough.

As a first time home buyer, had a great experience working with Mark Cohen to get the right loan for me. They worked fast and also easy to work with, being attentive to my questions and concerns. The loan actually was funded in 29 days, exceeding expectations and below industry standard.
I look forward to recommending my friends and working with them on all future loans.

HORRIBLE experience! i would never use cohen financial again!

I recently worked with Seth Cohen to obtain a loan for the purchase of a house (my first house). It was a very scary and intimidating process, but Seth was there to answer my MANY questions along the way. Though purchasing a new home, I think will always be a scary process, Seth and his company definitely made the process as smooth as possible.

I was a first time home buyer who needed a lot of help securing a loan. Seth Cohen was personable, encouraging, gave me immediate responses to any of my calls or emails, and most importantly, did what he said he would do – he got me my loan, and at a great interest rate to boot. I’ve recommended him to friends and colleagues and can’t praise him enough. Please don’t go by the words of a disgruntled and obviously short-​tempered reviewer. give Seth a chance. You won’t regret it.

Unlike the other reviews, I had a very positive experience with Cohen Financial. They helped us refinance our mortgage when no one else would, and we got a great deal. Seth Cohen was a pleasure to work with and our refinance went very smoothly. I have recommended them to friends.

I had a great loan experience thru Cohen Financial. I had to find a new loan because the first lender that me and my wife were working with delayed our loan for more than a month and then unfairly denied us a loan due to a cash gift we got from my mother in law.
We fired our original loan officer and when we found Seth Cohen, we were at the risk of having the seller cancel our purchase. Seth promised that he could get us a new loan in 2 weeks and I worked with our agent to get more time with the seller.
Although I was hopeful, I was also realistic and I thought that in only 2 weeks it would not be possible.
To my surprise escrow got the papers and the loan got funded exactly 2 weeks after we started the process. I think you can expect great service and a knowledgeable team.
You should give them a try if you are looking for a honest, reliable and hard-​working professional to handle your loan. Good luck!

ZERO, ZERO, ZERO STARS
Unilocal really needs to allow people to give ZERO stars for places like this.
Unprofessional, disorganized, and no accountability.
I worked with Seth at Cohen Financial on my home loan, and it really seemed like the guy was totally in shambles. Kept asking for documentation I’ve sent him 2 or 3 times already. Am I paying him to be his secretary or organize his files? I don’t think so.
Not only does he not keep his things together, when he has them, he doesn’t even read them carefully. Telling me, I don’t have proper documentation of the numbers, making ME point out where it is on a file that I had resent him 3 times. These were tax returns from H&R Block, not the deadsea scrolls. Shouldn’t be that hard to find the info you need, especially for a «professional».
Then, literally on the day we were suppose to close, he’s emails me about a bunch of basic documents that he still needs. And again, some of the stuff he was asking for; he already has. And the others he’s asking for them for the first time.
Seriously? We’ve started to work on the loan approval over 30 days ago and they wait until LAST MINUTE. Causing me to take unpaid leave day from work to scramble for the thing he wanted.
A month after escrow, I did not receive any envelops any payment stubs to pay my mortgage. So when I dropped off the first month’s check, I asked Seth to look into it and he said he would.
Two weeks later, nothing…
So I contact them again, but this time they told me that they sold the loan, which is normal, but that I needed to figure out the payment stub problem with the new owners of the loan myself.
So here’s my question, what in the world did I pay them for? Push around papers (sloppily) and offer no customer service??? I guess I should be thankful that they gave me the number to call instead of making me google it myself.
They obviously don’t understand or care that they’re not running an arcade or a bowling alley here. This is a mortgage where peoples financial lives and future are on the line.
Their website touts that they were voted in Los Angeles magazine in «The Best of LA — Hall of Fame» in 2005. Well I got news for them. That was 8 years ago and now things definitely ain’t the same as they were.
And if your realtor recommends these guys to you, I would probably take a second hard look at your realtor, TOO!

These people are smart and sneaky so beware. They seem nice and helpful, but they take advantage of you being a first time buyer and not knowing the ins and outs of the mortgage industry. We worked with Damon on our first time home purchase. They tried to take extra commission and when we called them out they got mad and only partially corrected it because they were forced to by the developer. We almost didn’t catch it because they are smart and tricky about the paperwork. These types of businesses and people are the scariest because they are nice to your face but are dishonest. They probably do this all the time so they know how to cover their a#@ by making the paper trail look right (by getting you to sign things and «misplacing» other pieces of information). Just be very careful if you have the misfortune of working with them. I’ve giving them 2 stars instead of one because they did do some work to process our loan. However, that is what they get paid thousands of dollars to do.