Today we’ll check out “Blue Sky Financial,” whose goal is to save you time and money so you can get outside and enjoy those beautiful blue skies a little bit more.

The young company (formed in 2020) refers to itself as a discount mortgage brokerage, meaning they work with third-party lenders to find your loan a home.

Apparently they also offer low mortgage rates, which they say are possible thanks to “digital efficiencies” aka the latest technology and less overhead.

Let’s find out more about them.

Blue Sky Financial Fast Facts

• An independent discount mortgage brokerage
• Offers home purchase financing and mortgage refinances
• Founded in 2020, headquartered in Boise, Idaho
• Has three physical locations: Boise, Sun Valley, and West Palm Beach
• Employ about two dozen loan officers nationwide
• Currently licensed to do business in eight states

As mentioned, Blue Sky Financial is a mortgage brokerage, meaning they link up borrowers with a wholesale mortgage lender, which actually provides the financing.

While that means they need to turn to another company to get your loan to the finish line, it gives them the advantage of offering more loan programs because they’ve got multiple lending partners.

Like other mortgage lenders, they offer home purchase financing, along with mortgage refinances.

They have three physical offices, including locations in Boise and Sun Valley, Idaho, along with a branch in West Palm Beach, Florida.

At the moment, they’re only licensed in eight states nationwide, including California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington.

It’s unclear if they plan to expand to additional states soon, or focus on those specific states for the time being.

How to Apply for a Home Loan with Blue Sky Financial

• They refer to their loan process as the “10 Minute Application”
• It is a digital mortgage platform powered by Ellie Mae
• You can apply online, upload income and asset documents, and eSign disclosures
• Their online borrower portal allows you to keep track of loan progress and receive updates along the way

Blue Sky Financial is big on making it easy to apply for a home loan, and they’ve partnered with fintech company Ellie Mae (ICE) to make that possible.

They say they offer a better mortgage experience via their “10 Minute Application,” which sounds fast enough, even if Rocket Mortgage claims you can do it in just eight minutes.

Anyway, to get started you simply visit their website, then click on “Blue Skies Start Here.”

That will take you to the digital application page where you begin filling out personal and financial information online.

When prompted, you can link financial accounts and/or upload things like pay stubs and bank statements to verify your information.

You can also eSign important disclosures with the click of a button to breeze through what is often a painstaking process.

Once submitted, a loan officer and processor will discuss pricing and prep your file to submit to the underwriting department.

Those who are looking to get pre-qualified for a mortgage can follow the same instructions listed above.

If you want to work with someone specific, you can click on the loan officer bios on their website as well, then get in touch before you apply.

It may make more sense to get loan pricing with an actual loan officer first, then proceed to the application if you’re happy with what you hear.

All in all, it appears to be pretty easy to get started with Blue Sky Financial, and you can price a loan on your own via their website as well if you don’t want to speak to anyone.

Loan Programs Offered by Blue Sky Financial

• Home purchase loans
• Refinance loans: rate and term and cash out
• Conforming loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• FHA loans
• VA loans
• Jumbo loans
• Fixed-rate mortgages: 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, etc.
• Adjustable-rate mortgages: 5/1 ARM, 7/1 ARM

While they don’t list individual loan programs on their website, my guess is they offer the full suite of offerings you’d expect to find with any big lender.

Because they’re a mortgage broker, they can send your loan to one of a variety of their partners depending on its attributes.

For example, they may have a certain partner that accepts jumbo loans, and another that’s a good fit for FHA loans or VA loans.

You can take out a home purchase loan or a refinance loan, including a rate and term refinance or a cash out refinance.

They lend on all common property types, including single-family homes, condos/townhomes, 1-4-unit investment properties, and more.

It’s unclear if they offer USDA loans or any specialty options like interest-only loans.

It would be nice if they provided more information on their website regarding available loan programs so we don’t have to guess.

Blue Sky Financial Mortgage Rates

One benefit to using Blue Sky Financial is the “Loan Pricer” found on their website.

It allows you to plug in your loan details to see today’s mortgage rates, without having to sign up or log in.

It will show you both an interest rate and price, which is the associated lender credit or points required for said rate.

You can play around to see different rates and prices across different scenarios if you’re simply shopping around, then get in touch with a loan officer to confirm pricing.

It’s a nice touch of transparency as not many lenders actually publicize their mortgage rates online.

Additionally, you may come across Blue Sky Financial’s mortgage rates on popular home loan comparison websites like Bankrate or Zillow.

So they do seem to lead with their pricing, which is a great sign if you’re shopping for the lowest rates out there.

That being said, they don’t mention anything about lender fees, so it’s not clear if they charge an application fee, loan origination fee, and so on.

Be sure to inquire about those fees as well when comparing different lenders.

Blue Sky Financial Reviews

On Zillow, Blue Sky Financial has a very respectable 4.83-star rating out of 5 from about 60 customer reviews.

Similarly, they’ve got a 4.8-star review at Bankrate from about 30 reviews, with most perfect 5-star reviews.

They’ve also got a 5.0-rating on Google from 21 reviews at last glance. While the sample sizes aren’t huge, they appear to be making customers happy thus far across all ratings sites.

Blue Sky Financial isn’t an accredited company with the Better Business Bureau, nor does it have a rating, perhaps because they’re pretty new.

In summary, while relatively young, they’re a well-liked company and seem to employ the latest technology while offering attractive mortgage rates.

That means they could be a good fit for existing homeowners looking to refinance, or even a prospective home buyer looking to make their first purchase.

Blue Sky Financial Pros and Cons

The Good

• You can apply for a mortgage quickly and easily from any device
• Their digital mortgage application is powered by Ellie Mae (ICE)
• They let you see today’s mortgage rates via their loan pricer
• Excellent customer reviews from past customers
• Free mortgage calculators on site

The Perhaps Not

• Not licensed in all states
• No BBB rating
• Unclear what lender fees they charge

(photo: Blake Matheny)