Spotlight Sponsor of the Month: Lisa Wright

A few weeks ago I conducted this interview with Lisa Wright of Fairway Independent Mortgage, in Winston Salem.  It was absolutely wonderful having the ability to talk to her and hear her story as to why she is a part of the New Century IDA program, and her experiences.  She has been working with the New Century IDA for the past eight years.  Others at Fairway who work with the New Century IDA are Ruth Hudspeth and Denise Maroldy.  -Andriana Bicanin

Lisa Wright is a senior loan officer with Fairway Independent Mortgage in Winston Salem.  At Fairway they hold a strong commitment to first time homebuyers, the community, and this program; combined, Lisa, branch manager Ruth Hudspeth, and senior loan officer Denise Maroldy hold over 20 years experience working with first time homeowners.

Lisa especially enjoys working with New Century IDA participants because of the education they receive.  The IDA clients are always ready, prepared, and energetic when they come into her office.  “We think the education that they get is fantastic.  Especially what they learn about budgeting, and managing their money, and preparing for homeownership.”

Lisa sees this is a “two-fold” program. It is something they strongly believe in, it benefits the community, and it is also a great way to bring in business.  Participation in this program allows them to develop relationships with clients, other realtors, and builders.

Her most memorable experience comes from a woman she met in the spring of 2009.  She met this woman at an IDA hosted event for realtors and lenders to meet potential clients.  At this event Lisa met a single, working mother, who was on Section 8.  She turned out to be an extreme saver, and through the course of the IDA classes was able to not only save $2000 in her IDA, she also saved a couple extra thousand in her regular checking account.  The more Lisa was able to talk to this woman and get to know her, the more she learned of her commitment to her daughter and how everything she did was for her daughter.  This woman ran into bumps along her path to homeownership, such as needing to pay for braces for her daughter, but unwavering she got the braces for her daughter and continued to save for her home.

Experiences like these, and meeting clients who are success driven and ready to repair their credit and turn their lives around, drives her to work on this program.  This type of job is getting harder, there are more hours, and these are the types of loans that give the greatest gratification.  They get to see how hard these clients work for it, and because they are educated on the process the low foreclosure rate is “amazing.”

As Lisa said, “Just because someone is low income, doesn’t mean they’re not a good qualified borrower.  Or just because someone has credit problems in the past, doesn’t mean that they can’t be cleaned up, fixed, established new credit, and demonstrate they can manage good credit.  People can get past anything and become a homeowner.”

Contact:

Lisa Wright: lisaw@fairwaymc.com

Ruth Hudspeth: ruthh@fairwaymc.com

Denise Maroldy: denisem@fairwaymc.com