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For too many of us, buying a home seems out of reach. The prices sound astronomical, and then there are down payments, closing costs, property taxes and insurance coverage requirements, which could include additional costs for private mortgage insurance (PMI) and flood insurance. It can feel like if you don’t have a pile of cash on hand you are simply not able or qualified to buy a home.

But in reality, there’s a long list of programs and institutions that can help bridge that gap. Tiffany Bergsma-Evans, AVP Senior Mortgage Loan Officer at First Fed, has spent years leveraging these programs to help people buy homes.

A Passion for Helping Homebuyers

Bergsma-Evans was born in Bellingham, where her mother worked as a Realtor®. She started her own career in real estate as a property manager in 1991 and then moved into banking in 2005. She quickly found her place in community banking, she says, because she values an employer that not only gives back to the communities in which they serve but also empowers their employees to step up and volunteer their time to support various local non-profits.

She has also discovered a passion for educating the public about buying a home, which often starts with the myth that buyers need to have a 20% down payment. Because our current local median house price is in the $700,000 range, buyers would need around $150,000 just to cover a 20% downpayment and closing costs — a number that puts home ownership out of reach for many area residents.

That’s where Bergsma-Evans steps in.

First Fed
Tiffany Bergsma-Evans, Mortgage Loan Officer at First Fed. Photo courtesy: First Fed

Navigating the Landscape

“If you’re a first-time home buyer, there are programs out there that only require a 3% down payment. If you’re not a first-time home buyer, you can purchase a home with as little as 5% down,” she says. “Let’s say you don’t have that 3% or 5% — that’s where Downpayment Assistance (DPAs) comes in. The Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC), or possibly the Federal Home Loan Bank, offers several options for DPAs, which contribute to your down payment and closing costs.”

Bergsma-Evans can show you that buying a home isn’t just fantasy and that First Fed can match homebuyers to local, state and federal programs that help in some surprising ways.

“For example, there are some cool definitions of what a first-time homebuyer is,” says Bergsma-Evans. “You can qualify if you haven’t owned a home in the last three years or if you co-owned a house with your spouse, but now you’re divorced with children.”

Redefining What ‘Covenant’ Means to Home Buyers

Unfortunately, Washington State has a history of racial discrimination in housing, especially through CC&Rs (covenants, conditions, and restrictions). When developers planned neighborhoods, interested parties gathered to decide exactly what kind of homes could and could not be built there — and who could or could not buy those homes.

“Title companies are actually able to show that there were areas in Bellingham that were, for lack of a better way of putting it, ‘white only,’” Bergsma-Evans says. Today, home ownership rates still show the echoes of those policies, so she’s dedicated to spreading the word about our state’s new Covenant Homeownership Program.

To help fight the disparity in homeownership for certain minorities due to past housing discrimination, Downpayment Assistance, through the Washington Covenant Homeownership Program offered by the WHFSC, is available to buyers who meet specific criteria. First, you or your direct family members (parents, grandparents, etc.) had to live in Washington before April of 1968, when Federal Fair Housing Laws were enacted. Next, the qualifying income must be at or below 100% of the county’s median income where the home being purchased is located. Third, you must qualify, in one way or another, as a first-time homebuyer.

The program aims to increase the percentage of homeownership in our state for those borrowers of certain races who have been discriminated against in the past and still show low percentage levels of homeownership today. The final qualification is that the borrower must be able to document that they are of one of the following races:  Black/African American, Hispanic, Native American, Alaska Native, Korean, Asian Indian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. Borrowers who can document all of these requirements to WSHFC satisfaction are able to qualify for the Covenant program.

When a borrower meets all the requirements, they can qualify for a Downpayment Assistance loan of up to 20% of the purchase price (maximum of $150,000) and finance a mortgage for 80% of the home’s value. The DPA is a second mortgage for 20% and does not accrue interest or require any repayment until such time as the homeowner sells or refinances their property.

Hopefully, a long history of being locked out of the housing market can start to look more like an open door.

More Than Mortgages

The opportunities don’t stop there. On the website for the WSHFC, homebuyers can look at interest rates, find programs that benefit them, and find classes that help navigate the huge number of resources available. In fact, there is enough information out there that it’s helpful for a homebuyer to have an expert in their corner.

Tiffany Bergsma-Evans is happy to connect with homebuyers to help them find the best mortgage programs to realize their dream of homeownership. In addition to knowing how to navigate the system, it’s clear that Bergsma-Evans has found her place within it.

“Part of the joy I get from this job is helping people into their first home,” she says. “There’s an overwhelming feeling of, ‘I can’t believe that just happened!’ when people achieve their dreams. It is just so satisfying.”

First Fed is a member FDIC and equal housing lender.

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