To secure a mortgage for first-generation first-time homebuyers is not always easy. For somebody that's new to the home buying process, it's absolutely critical to have good teammates in your corner, good partners, and good advocates on your behalf, on both the lending and real estate side of things. That becomes doubly important if you are also a first-generation home buyer. Shonn Herring was both of those, and completely inexperienced when it came to securing his first mortgage.
But, thanks to the teamwork and dedication that Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
provided, Fairway helped Shonn accomplish his goal of homeownership, as a first-time homebuyer.
Shonn always heard mortgage success stories of people who actually own a home, and how good it makes them feel. It was something he wanted to experience himself, and as a single father, he wanted to show his daughter that he could own a home as well.
Shonn was a good candidate for ownership - he had good credit, a long and consistent work history, and he had saved a bit of money. But he unfortunately also had misguided information about the mortgage process, and didn’t think he qualified to buy a home, especially as a first-generation first-time homebuyer.
“No one in my family had ever owned a home,” Shonn said. “They never knew the process, honestly, never even really knew credit, and never told me how to save money. So the whole process, I went into it. I went into it not knowing anything.”
Securing the Mortgage for First-Generation First-Time Homebuyer
The mortgage process can seem daunting especially for borrowers that have never done this before. The right people on your team -- from the real estate agent and the mortgage lender -- can help first-time homebuyers navigate through the process to get borrowers to their goal.
For Shonn, that team was Fairway Branch Manager Colin Tommerson and his Realtor, Randy Young.
“I think people may have this misconception that you have to have a ton of money to put towards a down payment,” Colin said. “And, you know, you have to have a lot of excess or disposable income and 800 hundred credit scores, and none of that is necessarily true.”
Teaming up with Fairway helped Shonn discover mortgage loan options he didn’t realize existed. In his case, he positioned himself to where he was able to take advantage of a North Carolina housing down payment assistance option to accompany the funds that he'd already saved on his behalf. This allowed Shonn to get the mortgage required to buy his first home, and still have some money left to furnish the house. And now, with the help of Fairway, Shonn is the first person in his family to be able to call himself a homeowner. Securing a mortgage for first-generation first-time homebuyers is possible.
“It's important to have a good realtor and mortgage person that you deal with because. For them they can get down to your personal needs, what you want in a home and where you want to go in the future,” Shonn said.
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