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Articles by Gene Griffin
Gritty Guidry | Lone Star LO
Issue two of Lone Star LO dares to discover exactly who is getting help from Texan down payment assistance programs (DPA) and whether loan officers are doing a good job of becoming DPA liaisons for their clients. A profile on the tenacious Jennifer Guidry steals the show; who knew a top LO has cheated death multiple times and lived to tell the tale? We delve into how Guidry did just that, all while tackling a new career at age 47.
Trusting The Process
Originally hailing from upstate New York, Guidry relocated to Southern California during her early adulthood and landed a position as a receptionist at a mortgage company. From there, Guidry became a branch manager for Centex Corporation and Wells Fargo, respectfully, in her early twenties. She eventually held leadership positions at First Horizon National Corporation, PrimeLending, Benchmark Bank, First United Bank, and Guardian Mortgage, a division of Sunflower Bank.
The Accessibility Factor
In today's housing market, there are only two types of homebuyers, John Hudson says, the haves and the have-nots. The haves are those with healthy credit scores, a robust financial profile, generational wealth and perhaps previous homeownership experience. The have-nots lack most, if not all, of the aforementioned. And the only way many of those "have nots" can transcend their circumstances is by using down payment assistance programs (DPA).
Debunking Eligibility For DPA
According to a study conducted by Down Payment Resource and the Urban Institute, more than 30% of mortgage loan applications that are denied every year could have potentially been salvaged had the home buyer applied for down payment assistance. The same study revealed that a whopping 43.6% of single-family purchase loans are potentially eligible for down payment assistance. These aren’t numbers to ignore.
Texas Housing Insight: Beating The ‘Big Box’ Builders
The Top 10 Builders by volume in America in 2023 according to Builderonline.com are listed to the right, in order from 1 ascending to 10: Some of these have become household names (pun intended) and it’s no surprise considering this Top 10 list built a combined 276,941 closed units in 2022. Now just because these builders can slap some sticks together and throw some shingles in it doesn’t mean they are to be trusted or have quality craftsmanship.
Texas Appraisal Tussle
This issue of Lone Star LO explores appraisal bias in the Texas mortgage industry. Is it ongoing or a thing of the past? Also, we profile Texas Tomboy Stacey Maisano and delve into the newest trend to combat housing availability (and loneliness): community living and so much more.
Appraisal Showdown In The Lone Star State
A report from 2022 titled “Appraised: The Persistent Evaluation of White Neighborhoods as More Valuable Than Communities of Color,” leveraged data from the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) sourced from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The study, conducted by sociologists Junia Howell and Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, analyzed appraised home values to identify racial disparities in various neighborhoods across the United States.
It Takes A Village To Buy A House
Enter CoHousing Houston, a multimillion-dollar project of the exact nature that “will serve as an interactive livable space for neighbors in a sustainable environment.” It’s no affordable housing project by any means – the average cost of a unit is $550,000 – but households are acquiring more than just square footage. Per CoHousing Houston’s leader Lynn Morstead, households are investing in a sense of community and mutual support.
Business Is Personal For Texas Tomboy Stacey Maisano
Since 2018, Maisano has been the director of business development at Polunsky Beitel Green, Texas’ oldest law firm exclusively representing residential mortgage lenders. Working at the firm has reinforced her belief that business is personal, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be. “Every weekend I go out to Lake Livingston, and I get real tomboy” – another thing, Maisano confides, not many people know about her.
Racism is a mental health issue, especially for children
By Gene Griffin and Amanda M. Walsh Guest columnists Updated 8/11/2020 1:24 PM Racism is a mental health issue for all of us, especially children. Growing up, we learned not to touch a hot stove, not to take candy from strangers and not to cross a street without looking both ways. At some point, we also learned that humans came in different colors. That was a simple observation and as with most things in life, it became more complicated as we grew older.
Kyle Busch unveils patriotic Coca-Cola 600 paint scheme
, NASCAR and it’s drivers have taken time to honor fallen soldiers by placing a name of a fallen soldier on their cars for the Memorial Day weekend event. by Dona and Gene Griffin, the parents of fallen Army Sgt. Dale Griffin. Griffin lost his life in 2009 during Operation Enduring Freedom and he’ll be honored by having his name across Busch’s windshield as part of NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance program. “It means a lot,” Busch said.
Kyle Busch unveils patriotic Coca-Cola 600 paint scheme
For nearly a decade Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR and it’s drivers have taken time to honor fallen soldiers by placing a name of a fallen soldier on their cars for the Memorial Day weekend event. Kyle Busch kicked off the 2019 program by unveiling his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., where he was joined by Dona and Gene Griffin, the parents of fallen Army Sgt. Dale Griffin.
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