Carol Williams and Ralph Gorgoglione are co-hosting the ActiveRain August Challenge, and they are asking us to "to dig deep and share the most heartfelt real estate transaction(s) you’ve ever been a part of." I have had a number of what I consider very special and heartfelt mortgage loan transaction, BUT none more special and heartfelt then the one I am sharing today.
This mortgage loan was probably the most difficult loan transaction I did in my 19+ years as a Mortgage Loan Originator. I try to give each and every one of my Loans 100% of my attention, but every once in a while a Borrower comes along whose situation is such that I need to go beyond the 100%. This usually happens when it is a Borrower that is of a lower income, and desperately trying to create a better living environment for their family. I tend to get emotionally attached to these situations. because that was the case when my mother and father purchased their first house. I grew up in a neighborhood where fights, and robberies were a normal occurrence. A police officer even got shot in front of the house we rented one evening. My parents saved every penny they could in order to be able to purchase a house in a better neighborhood to take us out of environment we were in, and into a safer one.
Such was the case with this Borrower, but her situation was perhaps even worse. She was a single mom, and lived in a very ruff section of Hartford, Connecticut, where she and her five kids had to deal with frequent shootings. To top it off her youngest child was beaten up regularly at school, and would miss school because of it.
Her loan was a challenge from day one, because of income. She did not make much at her present job, and child support payments were hard to document. She also did not have a lot of money in the bank, and I wanted her to be able to hang onto most of it in case an emergency arose after the loan Closed. That meant that we had to try to do a Connectricut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) Loan with Downpayment and Closing Costs assistance. This meant that we had to document the heck out of her file to be able to use, and justify every penny of her income. The Debt-To-Income Ratios on CHFA Loans are lower than other loan programs, making this loan even more difficult. This was not going to be easy, but she wanted her family out of the environment that they were in, and was willing to run around and get us whatever we need to be able to document enough income to make this work.
The loan went into process, and it was not long before I was not the only one who was emotionally invested in this loan. My Processor, and Underwriter became emotionally invested in it as well after talking to her on the phone, and becoming aware of her families situation. I had seen them work hard on a loan before, but not like on this one. They were actually giving me a hard time, if they thought I was not getting them everything that they needed quickly enough (it is usually the other way around). They put a lot of time and energy documenting this file, so that the strongest possible case could be made for approving the loan, and in the end we got approval from CHFA, and were able to approve the loan.
The smile on the Borrower’s face was from ear to ear, as was the smile on her children’s face when they heard the news. The Closing was a pleasure to be at, and very gratifying to see her get the keys to her first house. My closing words to her once she had the keys to the house in her hands was, “a lot of people went to bat for you to make this happen for you and your family, don’t let them down. Show them that all the work they put into this was worth every second of their time”.
The story does not end there. Two years later on the 1st day of the month, my office phone rang. It was the receptionist, and she said a lady in the lobby wanted to speak to me. I went right out, and there she stood with as big a smile as the day I told her the loan had been approved. She had asked to see me, because it was the two year anniversary of her loan, and she had not only not missed a payment during that time, she made everyone of them on the first of the month.
She looked at me in the eye and said "thank you for believing in me when no one else would". I don't choke up easily, some may even say if they cut my chest open they would not find a heart. This is a tough business, and there are times we have to deliver tough news. But when I heard those words, it took me a little while to reply.
My parting words to her were, "you have kept your word, and should be very proud of that. You have made me proud of what you have been able to do for you and your children". Some times we do have special successes, this one is right there at the top of the list.
This Loan was not about the loan size or commission, the sales price was less than $100,000. But it was more satisfying than if had been a $1,000,000 loan.
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