Pat Montgomery, one of HomeSight’s three HUD-certified counselors, has been working at HomeSight for 30 years, and became a full member of the mortgage lending counseling team around 17 years ago.

When Pat stepped into the housing counselor role, she found she was helping her own neighbors. “I lived in the community where I worked,” said Pat. “Back then, more families, and lower-income families, could afford houses. It’s gotten harder for people, and we’ve got more and more people really wanting to buy.”​

Pat said the HUD certification training was rigorous and the test was daunting. “There are six steps, and hardly anybody passes the first time,” she said. But the certification is worth it, she said, because “it benefits our clients so much, and helps us help them better.”​

Pat and her colleagues “help people become great homeowners. I know the people we serve are going to be more aware. They’re not going to be silly and charge everything, they’re going to keep their debt low, and they’re going to have good savings. That’s a big deal when you’re buying a house in our area.” ​

Pat said she wishes she “had a HomeSight” before she bought her house. She enjoys helping people “overcome barriers, like a low credit score or high credit card debt,” and helping people create and achieve a plan that gets them to homeownership. ​ ​

“Start to finish, we’ve got them covered and ready to send off to lending,” said Pat. It’s a great thing to see. HomeSight has done so much for the community.”​