USDA Rural Development & housing partners celebrate National Homeownership Month

USDA Rural Development, Nevada Housing Division and the Nevada Rural Housing Authority celebrated National Homeownership Month Tuesday with a Power Hour to brief real estate professionals about the changes to real estate law that resulted from the 2015 Nevada State Legislature and to honor their work to leverage homeownership across the state.

Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill provided the 2015 Nevada State Legislature briefing, Erin Schiller of Ticor Title talked about disclosures and time lines for implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new integrated mortgage disclosure forms and regulations that replace the Good Faith Estimate and early Truth in Lending Act. Heather Creveling, of Summit Lending and Kyle Rush, of Guild Mortgage, provided tips and best practices to use state and federal housing programs together to best leverage value for home buyers.

The celebration ended with an awards presentation to acknowledge the hard work of the mortgage lending professionals who have applied best practices to make the most of the programs available. Honorees include: Dereck Bowlen of Eagle Home Mortgage; Drew Yardley of Prospect Mortgage; Jennell Peck, Katie Pagni and Lisa Bertock of Primelending; Kyle Rush and Jennifer Fiore of Guild Mortgage; Joannie Houk of Movement Mortgage; Koreena Warkentin, Heather Creveling, Shari Walsh and Shaun Bittick of Summit Funding; Mary Lynn Atkins and Robert Castillo of Greater Nevada Mortgage; Pam Robinson of National Residential Mortgage; and Ricci Vineyard of Mason-McDuffie Mortgage.

“We know that the real estate profession is a tough one, and using multiple programs can add to the complexity and frustration,” said USDA RD State Director Sarah Adler. “But those who go the extra mile really are an asset to the home buyer. We thank them for their diligence.”

In addition, the Nevada Housing Division honored the Guild Mortgage lending team as the winner of its “Home is Possible for Heroes Award” to recognize the firm’s commitment to veterans. The Home is Possible for Heroes mortgage program provides a below-market mortgage rate combined with a grant equal to 1 percent of the loan amount to help cover the down payment and closing costs of veterans and active military members.

Information about the USDA’s rural housing programs are available at http://www.rd.usda.gov/nv; Nevada Housing Division is at http://housing.nv.gov and Nevada Rural Housing Authority is at http://www.nvrural.org.