The Rodriguez-Hazard Team – Amerifirst Financial

I have had the opportunity to work with team for several years and they are fantastic. Highly communicative with clients, no hidden fees, and no surprises right before closing. They guide their clients thru the process of buying or refinancing like true professionals. They always answer their phones and emails promptly. Their processors are amazing and communicate every step of the way! I’ve referred my personal friends and family to theses guys and they have done an excellent job. By far the best group of lenders that I know here in Orange County. They do not over promise and under deliver. I would highly recommend the Rodriguez Hazard Team at AmeriFirst Financial!

My husband and I were introduced to Reed Hazard about a year ago as he was highly recommended as the preferred lender of Marshall Reddick Real Estate. We were interested in buying out-​of-​state rental property and Reed quickly impressed us. He quickly reached out to us and helped us get pre-​approved to buy rental property. In addition, he helped us analyze our lending power, all for free! Reed is extremely responsive, diligent, trustworthy and knowledgeable. We recently utilized his services to refinance our primary residence and intend to use him again to purchase additional investment properties. Reed’s teammate Janna has also be great to work with. We look forward to working with Reed and Janna for many years to come!

I have been working with Reed Hazard and Brett Gilliland now, going on three years and when it comes to mortgage lending, these guys are the best in the Business. These guys work very hard, have excellent communication and top notch customer service. Whenever I work with a new client of mine who is looking to purchase real estate, Reed and Brett are my «GO TO» guys. I would recommend them to anyone I know and I will continue to use these guys and recommend them in my daily business.

As a real estate professional, I evaluate lenders on a couple of different points:
1: Do they have great rates?
2: Do they treat my clients with care and respect?
3: Do they do what they say they will do?
4: Do they communicate clearly?
5: Do they close the loans on time with minimum drama?
On all these points, Al and Reed get 5 stars. They know what they are doing. They tell the truth. They keep up with all the twists and turns of the lending market. They have great rates.
The loan process can be frustrating and time-​consuming. Federal regulations have made it that way, not the lenders. If you are new to the lending process, deal with real people with real reputations. It will cost you less, and you will actually close your loan.

I have personally worked with Reed Hazard on mortgages for rental property I own and have worked with both Reed and Brett Gilliland professionally at Marshall Reddick Real Estate for our clients when they are purchasing primary residence and rental property.
Mortgages today are a lot more complicated to obtain than they use to and because of that you need to work with top producers that you know will get the job done in a timely manner for a fair price. Reed and Brett close 10+ loans a month currently with our clients and we love the quality of customer service and responsiveness they provide.

We were able to get a loan through Amerifirst Financial, but it was an exhausting process because our mortgage lender was disinterested and his secretary was disorganized.
Home buying is never easy, but it will be easier if you take your business elsewhere.

These mortgage brokers presented themselves as a more responsive and professional alternative to the larger, big name mortgage lenders.
After weeks of a very frustrating process of providing the same requested documentation multiple times, I finally closed in June and took possession of my residential property.
Prior to even my first mortgage payment, I received a letter from Amerifirst that the company had sold my mortgage to Wells Fargo. At no time did this office attempt to contact me prior to receipt of this letter to make me aware that my mortgage might be sold to another bank.
When I e-​mailed Amerifirst for information regarding my mortgage, the complete response was as follows: «The information you have is correct. Wells Fargo is your service provider. Please let me know if you need anything else.»
While obviously this particular mortgage broker can sell its mortgages to other companies if they choose, I am dismayed and disappointed by AmeriFirst’s lack of a «responsive» and «professional» approach throughout my lending process and cannot possibly recommend them.

Closed in 20 days! I highly recommend working with Reed and his dream team on every home purchase. Not only do they offer great rates and lender credit, but they are on top of their game!
Here is how I like to compare choosing a lender – you can either go with a lender that I call the «Walmarts» or you can go with a «Neiman Marcus». With the Walmarts, you get cheap, discount products but with service that leaves a lot to be desired. Or you can go with a Neiman Marcus that has high quality products and exceptional service. I prefer Neiman Marcus when it comes to choosing a lender, especially since it was an absolute MUST that we close in under 21 days. After speaking to 3 other lenders, we chose to work with Reed because with his track record and expert knowledge. I knew that we would get the house closed within the very limited timeframe. And we were right!
His pre-​qualification is a fully underwritten pre-​qualification, unlike some lenders that only provide pre-​approvals masking as a «pre-​qualification». This is very important when submitting offers because the seller’s agent will weigh those with underwritten pre-​qualifications much higher than those that don’t.
Once our offer was accepted, Reed and his team got started on the loan process within the hour. Talk about speed and efficiency! Shout out to Janna for being the queen of organization and keeping us informed and updated throughout the process. We worked directly with Reed and Janna, and they (and probably the rest of their team behind the scenes) worked day and night to get our loan approved within our timeframe! No joke, I remember speaking to Reed over the phone at 8pm in the evening at times and sending emails back and forth with Janna late into the evening. They are very responsive.
In addition, Reed kept us notified with what’s happening in the market and how this could affect our rates. It must be said that Reed is incredible knowledgeable about the financial markets, economy and current events… this is exactly what you need in a lender. He advised us on the best day to lock-​in our rates and floated our rates to get us the best rates possible. Appraisal was scheduled without any delays after the inspection and then it went to the underwriters who finished in a few short days. Loan docs were signed in the evening of day 19 and we closed on day 20!
All in all, Reed and his dream team made the process easy and smooth sailing. As long as you do your part to provide all necessary documents in a timely manner, Reed and his team will work miracles to get your in your new home quickly! By the way, Reed is very experienced in closing non-​owner occupied mortgages as well… which is something we’ll be using him for in the near future.