Desarae Aina

I was first introduced to Desarae (Des) when I received an invitation to join her “First Time Home Buyers Houston” Facebook group. At the time, I was not in the area and was not looking for a house just yet. However, her page was very helpful with preparing me for the home buying process. She provided useful information on the process and always had a positive vibe which made me keep her in mind for the current home I bought. After I moved to the Houston area, I was renting an apartment at a price that I could have been paying for a home. Once my lease was nearing its end, and I was notified that the rent was to increase, I decided that I was not wasting any more money on rent. Plus, my coins was on point, so I felt like I was ready to take that leap into homeownership. Later that month, Des had a virtual homeowners event that I attended. The event opened my eyes to the steps of the homebuying process, some steps were kind of scary but when I got Des on my team, I was good to go. I contacted her on Facebook, and I sent her my number. We spoke on the phone, and I quickly felt comfortable because of her personality which made me even more motivated to go through the process.
So let me tell you why you should pick Des:
After being preapproved by a lender, and that lender lacking communication, Des suggested that we try new construction because we can get something that fits what I am looking for and the builders can cover some of the closing costs if we used they preferred lender– which will help me reduce out of pocket costs tremendously. She told me that we could start working as soon as that weekend, which was great for my work schedule. After we did some research online, we quickly set our eyes on a couple of areas. After looking at one house, we weighed our options and looked at a second house. Boom, the second house won me completely over, and we signed a contract that day with the builder covering $5,000 in closing costs (it be the check for me). So here comes the scary part of the process, making it to the closing date. I received a call from the builder’s lender, and I told them my main option- no out of pocket expenses, therefore, I wanted USDA. Unfortunately, due to Covid, the USDA application process would have taken 45 days, and my DTI was a tad bit high to qualify. Realizing that this would not work for my move-out schedule, Des contacted the builder and was able to convince the builder (who was reluctant at first) to find a new lender which would allow us to still receive the $5,000 in closing cost. The new lender worked with the Home Sweet Texas Home Loan Program, which allowed me to cover the DPA amount that the USDA would have covered- which was perfect!!! (Great job Des) Throughout the process, Des was very knowledgeable about the home buying process and very timely with her responses and “worked for me”. Once we got to the final steps of the closing process – literally the day before closing- the lender contacted me notifying me that she had made a mistake in the calculation of the closing costs which would require me to pay an extra $1,000 out of pocket. I emailed the lender back asking them for a different route to rectify the problem, however, the lender was not budging, even though it was their mistake. I contacted Des right after, and she was right on it. When I tell you she came with the receipts and got the lender to provide a $1,000 credit. So, all those scary parts were somehow not scary anymore because Des was there to guide me and have my back throughout… Getting these lenders together. Her communication was top notch! Rather it was answering my questions or just sending friendly reminders, she was on it. Any issues that resulted during the process, rather it was with the lenders or builder, she was there to quickly provide a helping hand, which lead to the process continuing as planned. Without her help, I do not believe I would have been able to close on a home (period) in a timely manner and get out my apartment soon enough. Right now, the home I am in feels like a forever home, but if I ever change my mind, i.e. my family gets a little bigger, and I decide to look for a new one, I hope to have Des by my side.