Garden State Home Loans Mortgage Review 2025

Garden State Home Loans overview

Garden State Home Loans, an offshoot of OceanFirst Bank, has funded $5.6 billion in loans since its founding in 2011. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the lender offers preapprovals online, typically in 24 hours or less, and its purchase loans close in an average of 30 days.

Pros and cons of Garden State Home Loans

How Bankrate scored Garden State Home Loans

Affordability: 5/5

Despite the lack of current rate information on its website, a mortgage from Garden State Home Loans came with an attractive rate when requested by Bankrate. The lender scores 5 out of 5 stars for affordability.

• Interest rates: Garden State Home Loans doesn’t showcase mortgage interest rates on its website — you’ll need to provide contact information to learn what you might qualify for. However, a Bankrate staffer was able to obtain a competitive quote from this lender at the time of this review.
• Down payment: Garden State offers the standard slate of low- and no-down payment mortgages, with the lowest option being a 3 percent conventional loan.
• Closing costs: This lender does charge fees, but you won’t receive all-in cost details specific to your situation until you connect with a loan officer.

Availability: 5/5

Garden State Home Loans doesn’t have as extensive a reach as a national lender, but it does offer many different mortgage types for a variety of needs. We scored it 5 out of 5 stars for availability.

• Home loans offered: Garden State Home Loans offers conventional and government-backed loans (FHA, VA and USDA.) In addition, it offers some specialty products for investors like debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans and other non-qualified (non-QM) loans. 
• Footprint: Garden State Home Loans is licensed to lend mortgages in California, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee. The lender also has one branch location in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
• Where to find: You can apply for a mortgage with Garden State Home Loans online or by phone.

Borrower experience: 4.6/5

Garden State Home Loans often receives excellent feedback from borrowers, but the lack of upfront transparency when comparing rates brings its score to 4.6 out of 5 stars for borrower experience.

• Preapproval and application process: You can apply for a preapproval (and your loan) online through the Garden State Home Loans website. You can also track your loan's progress through the lender’s online portal, and ask questions via chat. 
• Transparency: This lender doesn’t disclose interest rates nor closing costs upfront on its website.
• Customer service: You can reach Garden State’s customer service team at 877-830-0943, seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET.

Garden State Home Loans reputation

As of this review, Garden State Home Loans has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), though there's just a handful of customer reviews on the BBB website. On Bankrate, the lender has a near-universal five-star rating from more than 500 borrowers.

Refinancing with Garden State Home Loans

Garden State Home Loans offers both rate-and-term and cash-out refinancing options for a variety of loan types.

How to apply for a mortgage with Garden State Home Loans

You can apply for a mortgage with Garden State Home Loans online or by phone at 877-830-0943.

• Methodology

  To determine a mortgage lender’s Bankrate Score, Bankrate rates lenders on a scale of one (1) to five (5) stars — with five (5) the highest rating — based on a variety of factors relating to the lender’s products and services. To assign our ratings, we assessed each mortgage lender across three core areas:

  • Affordability: Annual percentage rate (APR) - 80%; assistance for first-time homebuyers - 10%; down payment - 10%
  • Availability: Loan products - 50%; licensing - 40%; credit score - 10%
  • Borrower experience: Rate transparency - 35%; customer service - 35%; convenience - 20%; rate locks - 10%; reputation (if applicable)

  Learn more about our methodology.