First American Title Company

worst nightmare come true when dealing with Renee Lewis. She doesn’t give a damn about getting back to the client in a timely manner, better yet, she didn’t return any phone calls at all. Why the hell does anyone want to choose this freaking place with bad customer service especially from Renee?! Go somewhere where your business is appreciated.

This 5-​star review is for Alma Prince in the Burlingame branch of First American Title Company.
I am a top producing real estate agent and have been in the industry for over 10 years. For the last several years I have entrusted Alma and her team with my clients and my business. I consider Alma an extension of my real estate team. Alma is a true professional. Her vast knowledge of the title and escrow business has been very helpful in saving my clients time, money and headaches. Her experience and professionalism are much appreciated. She and her team are responsive and dedicated. I am grateful to Alma for the fantastic job she does. To top it off, Alma and her team are just really nice people who are fun to work with!

This is absolutely the worst group of people I have ever had the displeasure of working with. At first I thought maybe I got the wrong escrow officer (Alma Prince) but then it seems I got the wrong underwriter (Bill Prentice) as well. My chronological experience follows as detailed to them on ⁷⁄₆.
Bill and Alma,
The problems lie in that you all say you’ll do something and then don’t. And also are very unresponsive to communications. Here is a timeline of my experience. If either of you had simply shared the truth up front, and then responded in timely fashion to calls /​emails, we would not be here right now.
In December, when I first made contact with Alma I explained to her that I needed to do a property line adjustment which would require an escrow account and preliminary title reports. I told her that I was inexperienced in these matters and she said not in these exact words but very close to «You’ve called the right person, Roy. I do these all the time. I will be your point person and all contact will go through me so I need your neighbor’s information and the name of the surveyor.» As you can imagine, this really gained my trust. Then she said that she would let me know how much it would cost and that she’d be in touch the following week. I tried multiple times to get hold of her for the next month or so.
On January 14^th, she gave me a price of $ 1,500 and I sent a check on the 15^th. I notified her the check was going out and sent her an email giving her Jozef’s contact info. I also told her we wanted all this complete by late April. On the 31^st, I had still not heard form Alma and the check hadn’t yet cleared my bank so I emailed her again.
I tried reaching Alma multiple times over the next few weeks to see if she’d spoken with Jozef. Finally mid-​March, my check cleared. I still hadn’t heard anything back from Alma. On March 27^th, she sent me an email saying we should talk about your role in my lot line adjustment. She asked for my number and when to call. I responded within ten minutes and told her to call any time. She didn’t. On March 31^st, I told her she hadn’t called. She finally called me back and asked for the city’s requirements for a lot line adjustment and Jozef’s contact info which I had previously supplied. This was actually a busy day. She then sent me preliminary title reports dated 11/​22/​2013 which is very confusing as I hadn’t even contacted her yet in November. I then sent her the quit claim deeds and satisfaction of judgements I had in my possession. She said some of the forms probably weren’t correct for the State of CA but she could get me the correct ones.
I tried again multiple times to contact Alma with no response until April 4^th when she asked for a copy of the proposed lot line adjustment so the title dept. could outline the work needed and quote the cost associated. Within ten minutes, I sent her the drawing.
I tried reaching out to Alma multiple time in April with no response. On May 8^th, after prompting Jozef some more, he emailed me telling me he had not yet heard from you all either. This is when I finally got a call from Bill Prentice who seemed quite helpful and responsive in the beginning. Bill reaffirmed what Alma had told me that you guys do this sort of thing regularly and that helping with forms for reconveyances was no big deal. On May 12^th, I asked him if we could get that part of the process going and he said we should wait until we were close to finalization.
On June 5^th, Jozef finally mailed me the drawings. I informed Bill and he told me to email him what Joe sent and he would give me a todo list and what he could help me with. On the 6^th, I received the packet from Joe and emailed copies to Bill. I got no response. I sent it again on the 9^th and 13^th. On the 13^th, I got an email back saying he was on a conf. call and it’d be an hour. On the16th after still no response, I vented some of my frustrations with you all. I then followed up by calling Alma who actually answered her phone. She then proceeded to tell me that basically anything she had told me or inferred that you guys would do wasn’t what you do do. On the 17^th, I expressed a little more frustration. Alma actually responded again, with the names and contact info of 2 independent consultants. I contacted one and we agreed to him working on this for me. On June 19^th, Bill asked me to call him and I tried a few times. I informed him I was going to be working with the consultant and we needed current title reports. Bill emailed me telling me he had ordered up current reports. And told me it was about a 3 or 4 day process. Plenty of emails and calls with no response until July 1^st at which point Bill tells me he will send me the reports today and that you guys want to wash your hands of this and me.
Why would you guys treat someone in this manner? I have been polite and communicative throughout. I have listened to what you guys say and not asked you to do anything you haven’t said you would

Maria Gutierrez and the team at First American are top notch professionals!
I have been been an active real estate agent for a few years and have encountered a large number of escrow officers. I think Maria Gutierrez stands above them all.
Here is just some of the great service to expect:
–Regular and constant communication to keep everyone on the same page.
–High attention to detail
–Knowledgable about the complexities of escrows. Very well versed with title and connected to a very resourceful and helpful title officer.
–Friendly, funny and kind.

I’ve closed three transactions with Escrow Officer Maria Gutierrez and she is BEYOND fabulous! She’s professional, courteous, and extremely knowledgeable and you can guarantee a smooth and stress-​free transaction from start to close. I highly recommend both her and Branch Manager Carey Gorgolinski. I won’t go anywhere else if I can help it! Thank you First Am! You make my life so easy as a Realtor. :)

This review is for Escrow Officer Maria Gutierrez only:
My husband and I recently sold our home and were introduced to Maria during this process. Our experience and interactions with Maria could not be more positive.
She was super communicative, keeping us abreast of all upcoming events and dates, so we always knew where we were in the overall flow and we never had any last minute surprises. In fact, even before we really got to the closing stage, she virtually introduced herself and let us know she was going on vacation, so we were able to schedule our closing right after her return. This helped us know we would not be in a scramble to meet our contractual dates and get on her calendar. Also, when we discovered that our new home purchase was being handled by the same company but much farther away from our location, she proactively volunteered to contact that escrow agent and have our documents sent to her office for our signature. She did not have to do that, but we really appreciated her focus on making our lives easier and saving us driving time. Frankly, because we were concurrently buying a new home, we were naturally comparing service levels between the two escrow agents. Frankly, the contrast between agents was extremely stark with Maria excelling in every aspect. When she helped us on the purchase closing, she was super knowledgeable about how and when the loan would be handled and funded. Apparently, she was a loan underwriter for many years which gives her a major leg-​up on many other escrow agents. Our other agent did not seem nearly as organized nor was he a good communicator. Also during this closing, she again proactively volunteered to do more work! After the initial close, we needed to re-​title the property into two different trusts and she completed this process as well, while making it feel it was her pleasure to help us.
Overall, Maria is a consummate professional, with a focus on customer service who is also an excellent communicator and extremely organized. We would recommend her services to anyone and everyone and are very grateful that we were lucky enough to meet her and work with her!

Just closed escrow with agent Maria Gutierrez. I’ve been in the business for forty years and this was one of the smoothest, easiest transactions ever. Highly recommend.

We had a great experience working with Maria Gutierrez. She went well out of her way to ensure we closed on time. Multiple times she stayed past normal working hours to get our documents and accommodate our schedule. She was very friendly and made the entire experience thoroughly positive when we were thinking it would be really frustrating.
Thanks again Maria!

Maria Gutierrez! This Unilocal is for you!
Maria turned our crazy real estate transaction around! Her excellent follow-​through skills, honest and down-​to-​earth personality, and level of professionalism was exactly what we needed to get the job done. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :-)

Been dealing with Jackie for a long time. There is no one better!

Jackie Ronson, Senior Escrow Officer is a star!
You will not be disappointed.

We worked with Maria Gutierrez at First American and she was awesome. She really knew her stuff, was a complete professional and extremely nice. Our experience was wonderful and I would absolutely recommend her.

Don’t know what the other reviewers are talking about. My title officer, Jackie was great! Did escrow on my home refi and an investment property purchase. Everything went smooth and she was extremely helpful.

Sent my escrow reimbursement check to the sellers with the instructions to pass it on to me.
Uh.
WHAT?!

If I could choose no stars I would, especially for something as important as a title company. I had problems from start to finish with First American during a recent refinance. They had multiple excuses, including that my title officer was pregnant. Congrats to her, but that doesn’t mean I should get crappy service on something so important.