Terrible Experience
Was recommended to Steven J. Cooper through our real estate attorney and hired him to represent us in buying our home. He did great work, and worked weekends to help us with our closing. Was easily accessible, and either him or Debbie were quick to respond
and help us through the more confusing parts of the process.
However, one conversation ruined our entire experience. Our target closing date was set for August 31, 2020. Our mortgage rate expired at the end of the day on August 31st, which Steven was aware of. At that point, our rate lock would have been in effect for 60 days and there would be a fee to extend our mortgage rate beyond August 31st. We got our Closing Disclosure Package (approval to close) from our mortgage lender on August 24, and Steven responded saying that the closing would likely be after Labor Day due to scheduling issues.
Over the phone, I asked Steven for more details regarding the scheduling issues, and he told me that he had 20-21 closings scheduled in the next two weeks and that he would not be able to fit us in (amongst his other clients). We let Steven know that there would be a cost associated from our mortgage lender to extend our rate lock (over $1k) and asked him to cover it since we were being charged additional money due to his lack of availability. He let us know via email that the charge would be our responsibility.
When we called him to discuss this, the conversation escalated. He asked us if we had voted for Obama as a segue to get us to understand a law that kept the approval to close and the actual signing a couple days apart. I let him know the question was inappropriate. He then specifically used the term "cute" towards me in a sexist manner, saying that no matter how cutely I phrased things he wasn't going to cover the extension fee. When I told him it was not ok to speak to me using that language, he said that he didn't realize that the word was sexist and then asked for a list of words that he wasn't allowed to use during the conversation. When we pushed the matter further about how his lack of availability was causing us to have to pay over an additional $1k, he threatened to not represent us at our closing (which was theoretically only a week away).
At the end of the day, it all worked out - we got our closing date without having to pay the fee since Steven figured out a time that worked for him on his end. If Steven had just taken a minute to figure out his schedule (because there was a solution available since we ended up closing on time without incurring a fee from our mortgage company), there would have been a lot of stress saved on everyone's end.
Outside of the above conversation, Steven and his assistant Debbie were pleasant to work with.
