Lenka Duffy – Guaranteed Rate

My experience with Lenka has been amazing. I have just recently closed on my first home purchase and I am extremely fortunate to have worked with her.
In short: the best service AND the best rate.
Shortly after commencing my search for a property, I was informed of the necessity for mortgage preapproval so contacted 2 lenders based on recommendations from my agent and a trusted colleague. My colleague had worked with Lenka in the past.
From the very first conversation with Lenka, she was helpful about the entire process (not just her part of it!), friendly and easy to talk to, insightful and described things in ways that made sense to me as a first-​timer. She set me at ease about the entire process.
After talking over the phone, she informed me that I could apply for preapproval online to obtain $ 150 off the application costs — although she could have easily just taken down the details over the phone and charged the full amount and I would have not been any the wiser.
Lenka introduced herself excellently, she introduced her background and why she was working for Guaranteed Rate, and with her experience why she believed in the company — this set me at ease and her trust and genuine vote of confidence in the company was a huge factor in going forward.
She let me know about options that could reduce my risk and therefore improve my rate, paying taxes and insurance through escrow. Things that cost me nothing, but get me a better rate.
Preapproval was fast and easy. Lenka had described all of the documentation and information I’d need ahead of time in our conversation, so filling out the form online was quick and easy. She knew that I was talking to multiple lenders, and she totally understood that as a buyer this was what I needed to do, and even let me know how the credit checks received in the same time window wouldn’t negatively impact my credit score. No surprises.
Through the preapproval process, she identified that I had a security freeze on my credit file, something that the other lender didn’t look into further (at the surface, it showed up on both as «insufficient history» for just one agency). Lenka investigated and gave me more detailed information about why this was, and this meant I could actually FIX it! (I found out that since I had signed up for a credit monitoring product with Equifax: even though I had disabled the credit freeze option, this means *to freeze* the file.) I am so glad that Lenka dug further as this could have resulted in stress and problems if only identified later down the track! She re-​ran the check and confirmed that all was good through all credit agencies.
She explained all of the items in the preapproval really well, and explained the process going forward. Again, Lenka set me at ease about it all.
And the best part was that despite being told by other lending agents that «all lenders will get you the same rate, and fees will be about the same, it’s just the service that differs», this was wrong! Lower closing cost fees, amazing service, and a lower rate as well!
When I decided to make an offer, Lenka again was very helpful in letting me know what was needed in the stages to come, what to expect from the whole process. Certain things went over my head, for sure, but as had proved true in my preapproval experience — things I wasn’t aware of yet clicked later through the process, and I knew that Lenka was on my side and I could always call or email to get her advice.
I compared rates at this point to another provider and again was pleasantly surprised: the rate again came in lower than the competition.
Once we had mutual agreement, Lenka was great through the final approval process, too. She brought in her team members to help out, and they were helpful though these next steps were much more straightforward, but Lenka was still my central point of contact, which was great.
Finally, closing went smoothly and even though Lenka was away on vacation on the day (she is human after all, and I think she deserves it!) everything was easy, she did all the hard work behind the scenes to make sure her team at Guaranteed Rate were informed and that little was required from my end.
Again, I am so fortunate to have gone through this process with Lenka. I recommend her highly.