F4 . SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 2017 . THE SIGNAL
SCV Community Pride ★ FINANCE
Finance
American Family Funding Makes Personal Connection with Customers, Community
Dan Watson/The Signal
From left, C.J. Burto, Nicole Gardner, Tami Gearhart, Danielle Griffin, Araceli DeAnda, David Cantrell, and Fred Arnold during a client experience meeting at American Family Funding in Santa Clarita. By Kateri Wozny
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merican Family Funding (AFF) has a strong belief system that has been the heart of their success for the past 23 years. “Whether you use us or not, we want to be a resource for the biggest purchase of your life,” said Fred Arnold, mortgage advisor and Santa Clarita branch manager. AFF, a division of American Pacific Mortgage, has been operational since 1994. With a dedicated staff of 20 originator and processors, the company offers a variety of mortgage solutions, including Federal Housing Administration, Jumbo, United States Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Conventional loans. “We are a purchase focus company where we enjoy working with perspective buyers or those looking to buy their first homes,” said Jake Young, AFF mortgage advisor. “We also help with refinancing current mortgages and reverse mortgages.” AFF currently funds $7.5 billion in residential mortgages each year alone. “When you own a business, these days everyone wants a quick buck or instant success, but we built a company one loan at a time, one relationship at a time and one pre-approval at a time,” said Fred Arnold, AFF mortgage advisor and branch manager. “It’s allowed us to build a foundation where we built an anchor with the homeowners and the community.” When applying for a home loan, the application process can take between 30 to 45 days, according to Young. “We also have a program called “Keys on Time” where we can get a customer pre-approved before they even write an offer on a house,” Young said. “Once a customer gets a pre-approved letter, they can close in 15 to 18 days.” Tami Gearhart, AFF office manager of 16 years, says that AFF has a unique processing team that helps the homebuyer get a loan approved quicker. “We have a team of five processors and an opener who opens the files, gets the discloser out to the client and when the files come back, we run the reports and get the file to the submitter and an underwriter,” she said. “Once it’s approved, we work on the conditions. It’s a much smoother process.” AFF also offers special programs such as the Star program, where fees are cut to help police officers, teachers, firefighters and first responders with their down payments and closing costs. The AFF Veterans Affairs program helps veterans purchase a home with zero money down. “A lot of times veterans don’t know what they have, so we try and be a knowledge source so we get out into the community with the realtors and let the veterans know that there are resources [available for them],” said David Cantrell, AFF operations manager. Arnold says that the housing outlook for this year
is currently a buyer’s market and that sales are at risk. He also noted that prices have gone up 1 percent since the election and that the economy will eventually become more active and more consumer and business focused. “We need to be on top of our game so that [the loan] is pre-approved and when [a potential homebuyer] makes the offer that it’s more accepted because the seller that’s making the offer can know that it will close on time,” Arnold said. Arnold also says that he sees an even mix of singles and families that are millennials, first time buyers and baby boomers buying homes in today’s market. “We’re seeing more millennials purchasing after they secure a good job and the traditional first time buyers starting families that are seeing interest rate rise,” Arnold said. “We’re seeing both dynamics that I never saw in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
We’re also seeing baby boomers that are contemplating moving into a new location with offered lifestyles or down scaling by a 1,000-square-feet.” AFF is also a strong supporter of giving back to the community, such as donating and sponsoring for local high school sports teams and fundraisers for the Valley Industry Association Education Foundation and the Child and Family Center. “We encourage all of our team members to be involved [in the community],” Arnold said. “If you want a company that’s built to last, you have to be involved.” At the end of the day, Young says AFF is all about the interaction with the customer and satisfaction. “We have a lot of repeat and referral customers and we all take pride on building personal relationships with them,” he said.
“We encourage all of our team members to be involved in the community.”
Dan Watson/The Signal
American Family funding Loan Processor Tami Gearhart, left, and Certified Mortgage Consultant Fred Arnold at American Family Funding in Santa Clarita.