Daniel Walsh – Cornerstone Home Lending, Inc

I cannot sing Dan’s praises high enough. We literally would not have our home if it weren’t for him. After losing four multiple offer bids Dan went waaaaay above and beyond the call of duty with our financing to help us construct a very aggressive offer for a house in Wallingford that had many other offers. Over the course of ten months Dan spent A LOT of time on conference calls with us, walking us through various scenarios. He returned calls of mine on a Sunday (within ten minutes) on numerous occasions. This guy is really a mensch and great at his job. We shopped around several banks and found that his fees were the tiniest bit higher (maybe $ 100 or so – pennies when you’re talking about the cost of a home), but his service was so far superior to anyone else. This is a case of getting what you pay for. He was all over every detail of our offer/​purchase: he was ready to fight a low appraisal, he went to the mat on getting us a better rate after we were locked in and interest rates dropped, he answers your call personally in two rings, greeting you by name because you are in his caller id. It is very rare these days for me to see this kind of professionalism and attention to detail. I will work with Dan again and will refer everyone I know.

I’ve been through 2 loan transactions with Dan, he helped me purchase my first home and recently re-​finance another home. In both cases Dan was extremely helpful. I was scared to death when I purchased my first home, Dan was able to explain things in layman’s terms to put me at ease. He’s always been very attentive and follows up regularly. I’m pretty sure there’s another side to the other reviewer’s story. I would recommend Dan to others and now is a great time to buy or refinance! He’s no longer with Bank of America, he’s now at Cornerstone Home Lending.

First, let me say that I am not a loan expert. This was my 3^rd loan transaction, which by no means qualifies me as experienced.
I’m fine with not being an expert in home loans. I’m an expert in my own professional field. Yesterday, I payed Dan Walsh and Bank of America over $ 3,000 to be experts in theirs. At this price, I expect polite, prompt service and patient explanation of technical terms.
Secondly, I’m going to try to keep this review as brief as possible, but it won’t be short. I don’t want to waste another minute of my time on this, but must warn you.
1. Loan searching process: I came to Dan knowing exactly the product I wanted for my refinance. After pulling up my current loan info (the loan was with his bank), all he had to do was provide new quotes. For about two months, I would call Dan Walsh periodically and ask for that day’s interest rates. The problem here was they would usually get back to me about 4:30, giving me very little time to «lock in» that day’s rate if I liked what I saw.
2. Fast forward to the day I locked in: Again, the quote was sent late in the day. That left us locking in after 8:00 pm on a weekday night. Not really a big deal… Until Dan bitched at me about this on closing day… see below.
3. Signing: First, Dan Walsh told me I had until the 1^st or the 2^nd of December to sign for closure. The next day, First American Title called saying I «had to» close that day in order for Dan to make «quota». It was 1:00 pm when they called me. Still, I managed to stop my workday and make it to the bank to get a $ 1,000 cashier’s check for closing.
The title company sent a notary to my office. We sat down to sign the documents. Dan Walsh had promised to send the final estimated HUD statements the day before, but had not. I called the title company popped the document over.
We got to the page with my new monthly payment amount and realized what had been represented on quotes was not being represented on the signing docs. I called Dan and asked him about the monthly payment — saying «Dan, its probably me, but what I am seeing here is different than what I thought». This is where things went south.
I had him on speaker phone, there were other people in the room, and we were all just looking at each other in shock and laughing a little.
Dan was basically panicking — he begin to raise his voice, and talk over me, talking for about 15 minutes straight, explaining what Freddie and Fannie Mac were, their relationship with the federal government, etc. I stopped him a couple times and let him know that I just wanted to know why there was a difference in the amount I thought I would pay.
When he finally stopped running his tangent and explained the reason, I told him I understood and was ready to get off the phone. But Dan Walsh wasn’t done with me. He proceeded to:
1. Ask me how it was possible, that in all the conversations we’d had, I could have had the question I did
2. Tell me that since I didn’t understand anything, I probably shouldn’t sign.
3. Tell me that I was wasting the notary’s time
4. Insult my intelligence in multiple ways «I’m sorry if this is difficult for YOU to GRASP, Laura.»
5. Insult my question (it was about a $ 300 + dollar difference in my monthly payment amount) by telling me that saving $ 20 dollars per month was less important than saving one point in interest. Right. Its not brain surgery, Dan.
6. Repeating, over and over again, how he couldn’t fathom how I could have conjured up such a question.
7. Attempt to recall items about my loan documents and the emails he’d sent me, and rattle off incorrect information about my current loan and the refinance product.
When he finally pulled up my files and was able to see where my question was coming from, he begin to sound slightly apologetic.
But, not backing down at all, he began on ANOTHER string of rants, this time justifying his behavior from a moment ago.
Four separate times, I had to ask him to please stop yelling, please calm down. I started by saying, «Um, Dan? It sounds like you are getting upset.»
In the middle of his final huge rant and near tears, I said «Dan, I am not sure why we are still on the phone. I am sitting here with the notary, signing docs with you on speaker phone, but I am not sure what you are trying to explain.»
We got off the phone and the notary and my coworkers in the room were blown away. Some said, «Don’t sign, don’t give your money to that guy.»
But it was a good loan product that took me months to find. Interest rates are up, I was locked in at a low rate and I needed to refinance. I signed, and it is over.
After this experience with Dan Walsh, I have recommitted to my previous consumer policy: Only use service providers who you’ve been referred to by someone you know personally. No strangers.
Something tells me if he knew I’d be sharing this scene with 1,000 + other people on Unilocal,he may have held back the animosity a little bit.