Meet the NAMB Board

CATHY LEE, VOLUNTEER DIRECTOR

Loan Officer, HHOC Mortgage cathy.lee@namb.org

Licensed in 2002 Honolulu, Hawaii

What’s your educational background? I graduated from high school & went straight to work at an S&L that provided free ABA classes to their employees. I took whatever they o ered! My mortgage education has been from NAMB & the CE classes that NAMB provides. I highly recommend all LOs & MLOC take the classes! You will be glad you did.

Why did you choose mortgage? I had the worst experience with home buying. My husband & I saw her twice – at application & signing. We never, ever had any conversations during the loan process. Being young & uneducated on the home-buying process made it di cult & expensive for us. To be honest, we weren’t mortgage ready.

“I never want to go through that painful process again,” I said to my husband after the loan closed. “We are staying in this house until we die.” I kept thinking, this must happen to a lot of first-time homebuyers. I didn't want anyone else to go through "hell & back" for a mortgage & I didnt want them to NOT have a friend to guide them. So when a friend contacted me looking for a loan processor, I jumped at the opportunity!

Today, as a loan officer, I’m lucky to have great people helping me – the sta in my o ce, my processor, our partners (escrow & lenders). I always tell my clients, “I am your advocate & my job is to help you achieve your homeownership dreams.”

Career highlight? I work for HHOC Mortgage, a non-profit organization. Our mission is to help clients whose AMI (area median income) is 120% or below. This means that my clients are low to moderate income earners.

Since working with HHOC, I’ve been able to help my clients achieve the dream of homeownership by providing them with credit counseling & first-time homebuyer education to get them “Mortgage Ready.”

I have come to believe that everyone needs to have a safe place to lay their heads down; to be able to rest, and have a good warm meal & clean water to drink. People fall on hard times - it can happen to anyone. My mission is to continue to help were I can within my community. NC