Name

Donne Knudsen

Company

Cobalt Financial Corp.

E-mail

Contact Donne Knudsen (Cobalt Financial Corp.)

Office Phone

(805) 527-8554

Fax

(805) 527-8811

Description

Cobalt is a HUD-approved lender providing affordable financing options for the low-medium income resident. As a HUD lender, we offer an array of federally-funded homeownership assistance programs.

About Me:

As a Loan Consultant for Cobalt Financial, I am true believer in the American dream of home ownership and believe that everyone who wants to own a home should have all the information they need in order to make the right decisions in trying to make that dream come true.  My ideal client is someone who understands and appreciates the value of personal service.  I have dedicated my time, energy and experience to assisting low-medium income first-time residents and it is my goal to focus on a client's needs; offering them options and providing them with world-class service.

I am an ambitious and hard-working professional who enjoys what I do very much.  I derive a considerable amount of pleasure and excitement in helping my clients in their pursuit of buying their first home.  Furthermore, I actually like my clients too!  Quite often, at the end of the process, I find that not only do I have a client for life but I've also made a good friend too.  When I'm not working on my business, I enjoy giving back to others less fortunate than myself as well as to my community.

As a long-time resident of Ventura County in SoCA, I am actively involved in my local community.  As my passion has grown for assisting low-medium income residents who dream of buying a home, so has my desire to help those who just dream of living in decent and affordable housing.  Since 2005, I have been a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County (HfHVC).  HfHVC seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.  To date, HfHVC has built more than 40 homes and repaired more than 500 more, which will ultimately break the cycle of poverty for our HfHVC families.

Challenges:

Keeping my clients motivated to their home search and informed of an ever-changing lending environment is a constant challenge today.  My clients are mostly low-medium income borrowers who, more times than not, are spending nearly everything they have to get into their first home.  Almost all of them are in the low end of the market for this area (200k-400k) and around here, there is a considerable amount of competition in that price range.  Many of them are competing with all or mostly cash investors for these totally "as-is" fixer uppers.  Unfortunately, my little clients don't have the funds to play the game.  I laugh every time some REO rep comes back with "we need their best and highest offer"; YOU GOT IT, THAT'S IT, THAT WAS THEIR BEST & HIGHEST!

This has been just as much a learning experience for me as it has been for them.  I've gained strength and joy from my "Troopers" the ones who lose an offer and just go "Oh well, better luck next time" and they're right back out the next day looking at more properties.  I've also gained patience and graciousness from those who aren't Troopers and who become devastated and discouraged every time they lose an offer to the point where it takes weeks of coaxing to get them back out again.

Every day is different and I love it.  I want to continue doing what I'm doing for as long as I can.

Evidence of Success:

Oct 09

Ever since Vince graduated from college last year, he had been staying with his parents until he could afford to get a place of his own.  As much as he loved his parents, living with them again after four years of being on his own at college, Vince was feeling more than a little cramped living back at home.  Now that he was finally starting to make enough money to support himself, it was time to move out and get his own place. 

However, Vince had some concerns about purchasing a home; he hadn't been on his job very long (less than a year) and with his school loans kicking in, he didn't have much money to put down.  Luckily for Vince, Mom and Dad were happy to help him out with the down payment, which they gifted him.

Vince's Realtor was able to find him a nice condo that was literally walking distance to work and his Realtor was able to get the seller to credit some of Vince's closing costs. 

I was able to get Vince qualified for some down payment assistance that helped him qualify for enough to purchase the home and keep the payment low enough for him to afford.  Vince is now settled into his new home and the best part, he has his own space to come and go as he pleases.