It also spurred her to explore some of the root causes of that problem – and led to the foundation of Keystone Mortgage Academy, a course curriculum aimed at improving diversity and representation within the mortgage industry as a means of helping build better prospects for underrepresented buyers.
“After doing a lot of research, I found that the numbers show that there is a higher success rate when people from our communities work with people that look like them. The approval rate is higher,” Kempfer told Mortgage Professional America. “The success rate as far as on-time payments is higher. That default rate is lower.
“There’s all kinds of positive numbers that show the benefit of working with someone who is from the community you’re from that understands your history, understands the mindset and is willing to help you through all the challenges and tough barriers that our communities have to go through and get them across the line to become homeowners.”
The racial gap in the percentage of renters who can afford a mortgage has shrunk, but disparities in access to credit and lower homeownership rates remain, according to a new Zillow report.https://t.co/17bsJg5SoY#mortgageindustry #industrytrends #homeownership #racialgap
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) February 27, 2024
The program is an in-person, three-and-a-half-month course centered on three pillars – Engage, Educate, and Employ – to provide minority communities with a path to a career in the mortgage industry. Specifically, it caters to high school graduates who aren’t on a four-year college degree path, as well as college graduates interested in finance or the mortgage industry, and career changers.
“A lot of our communities don’t even think about mortgage as a career path,” Kempfer said, “so the first step is to go out and engage the community – let people know that this is a viable and lucrative career.
Source: mpamag.com