All of Us at Military Housing Assistance Fund would LOVE to hear your story!
…and so would many other military families who hope to own a home. Scroll down to read about some of our many success stories. Click here to share your story!
You can write in the box below to leave a written testimonial. You can even attach an image of you in front of your home.
Please include your full name(s) [note: it’s okay to just use your last name initial or leave out your last name(s) entirely for privacy reasons], your rank and branch of service, as well the city and state where MHAF assisted you in achieving home ownership.
Thank you for your assistance in getting the word out about Military Housing Assistance Fund, and most of all, Thank You for Your Service!
Errol,
Thanks for all your help with getting our new house and the gifts that was given to us by the Military Housing Assistance Fund. This military program was instrumental in getting us in our first house and on time. We originally were going through USAA but they failed us with financing options and sufficient realtors. The MHAF helped us with our financing, talked to the Veterans Affairs for our VA loan for us, and gave us the best realtors in town, Ann and Stacy from California Prudential Reality. The MHAF set us with John from Supreme Lending who really pushed our loan paperwork since we were on a timeline in getting a house. The MHAF saved us and I was so impressed I’ve already referred the program to three other military members. I would certainly use Ann and Stacy as much as you can because they were hard-chargers, that’s what us military members grow up on and it made me and my wife Denise very happy. You even sent us that gift check to help us supplement our new carpet that we put in the house, my kids appreciate that new carpet, as well as I do.
Please let us know if anyone would like to talk to us about our experience because we would be more than willing. We look forward to using you guys again in the future to buying even a better house!!!
Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Chris, Denise, Tristan, and Dylan
The Lehmann Family
The home buying experience was much easier than we ever though it would be. We can never thank MHAF enough for everything that they did. We would definitely recommend this team to anyone that is looking to buy a home.
Scott, Stephanie, and Hannah McDermott
MHAF Editor note: Scott is a technician (E-3) in the Navy stationed at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado. He and his wife Stephanie have a 2 year old daughter. Originally from central New York State, the three of them moved to Colorado in January when Scott was assigned to Buckley. After a few months of renting they decided it was time to get something that would be their own. With the help of MHAF, their dreams of home ownership came true.
Hi, we are the Bartlett family. We came across this website. At first, it sounded too good to be true. A gift? Only for the military? We were curious. So we called. Everything still sounded too good for it to be true, but sure enough it was real.
Errol at MHAF set us up with a wonderful Realtor, Dan Copeland, and with seeing a lot of homes, we found the one we wanted. And with that, we got a great lending company in Supreme Lending and a great loan officer, John Parker and with a short amount of time, we closed on our house in Chesapeake, VA. So for us and with the help of MHAAF, we didn’t have to worry about a lot of out of pocket money. Thanks to MHAF, we are now part of the 27% of the military families who own their own home.
The Bartlett Family
Working with MHAF for the purchase of my new home was a wonderful experience. I lived in a different state than where I was purchasing my home. My real estate agent was very understanding of my situation. He was always professional, knowledgeable, and helpful. By gifting a portion of my closing costs, MHAF saved me a lot of money. I even received a refund on the day of closing of my earnest money deposit. I am thankful to MHAF for making my home buying experience and transition to a new state a pleasure.
Thank you,
Latrishia Bianani
Our family used the Military Housing Assistance Fund to purchase our home. We thought we might have some problems since we lived in a different state than where we were buying a house. But it was so simple and hassle-free! We were set up with an experienced mortgage company and a real estate agent who worked diligently to find us the perfect house. Once we found our dream home, the MHAF helped us to close on the property. We paid NO closing costs! We have recommended this program to every military member we know. We can’t thank Errol and all the people at MHAF enough. We were able to buy a home for virtually no money up front. Thank you!
Best Regards,
The Lahiff family
(Mike, Natalie, Hannah, and Taylor)
After 10 years of Jason being in the military, we finally decided it was time to buy a home when we PCSed to Louisiana. We were tired of not having our own place and trying to find apartments that would allow 3 dogs. MHAF helped set us up with a wonderful realtor and mortgage broker. The realtor went above and beyond for us when we were searching for a house and closing on it. We flew down for a week before me PCSed. The realtor worked with us to find us a house, put in an offer, and do the home inspection all in the week we were visiting. With the help of MHAF and our realtor, we had very little out of pocket expense for the closing. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that we now have our own home!
Jason & Paula Prescott
Barksdale AFB, LA
All,
Below is a true testimonial, I want to personal thank each and everyone of you guys. You all did a great job and I will always remember what each of you did to accomplish my family dream. Again thanks.
Thanks for a job well done. The how new home is absolutely awesome. We were very pleased with Mr Tom Armstrong and the outstanding job work he got done. He bend over backwards to make my family dream become reality. Everything was better than my wife and I expected. Something which greatly impressed my wife and I was if we had any questions, issues or concerns during the purchase, a MHAF representative (Mr Errol Anderson), Mr Armstrong (Emery Federal) and Ms Heather Selvitelle (Kahala Associates) was there with an answer. We certainly would not hesitate to recommend your organizations and inform all service members looking to purchase a home to contact your organizations first. Again thanks for a “JOB WELL DONE”.
Sincerely
CW2 Marlon and Georgia Collins
Jesse and Lori Jones
Back in the summer of 2012 I was introduced to MHAF through a co-worker who had used the site to purchase his home. I emailed Mr. Errol Anderson and supplied the necessary documents and we were off to the races. Errol lined me up with Michael DeMarato with Prime Lending in Washington and Mrs Edith Anaya with Keller-Williams Realty in Westlake Village California. Due to the nature of the real estate market, especially here in southern California it was a uphill battle to find the perfect place for me to call home. All the while Michael was working my loan thru the process while Edith and I looked at properties. Finally in March 2013 we FINALLY had an offer accepted ona beautiful two bedroom, two story condominium located in Port Hueneme next door to Naval Base Ventura County where I work. The beauty of this condo is it is a three minute walk to the ocean! I can hear the waves through my bedroom windows at night..Perfect! As an added bonus, I recieved a generous grant from MHAF which I used to do small upgrades to my new home. Overall I have the highest respect for MHAF and for what they do for us military members, past and present. They indeed stand behind their word to help us and I am forever indebted to them for helping me achieve my own American Dream! Thanks Errol, Michael and Edith!
Deanna, Errol, Michael and Nicole,
I want to take time to thank you. When Scott said he wanted to buy a house I
had no faith we would actually be able to do such a thing. We are still
amazed that a single Google search and random phone call on a house led to
this moment.
I do not know how to thank youwhile I am a columnist and talk show host I
am at a loss for words but let me try. First, Errol – thank you for your
heart for military families; to see us enjoy the American Dream of
homeownership and making it possible for not only us but so many. Thank you
for walking through the process with us and putting up with my questions.
Michael, thank you for your patience with me especially and my many newbie¹
questions. Thank you for your expertise in helping us qualify and I do not
know how you did it – but thank you so much for the miraculous speed with
which you got us funded! Scott and I are so grateful for your knowledge of
VA options for our situation and your dedication to helping us realize a
dream we thought was out of our grasp.
Nicole, thank you for the many hours you put into our loan package, your
professionalism and expertise.
Deanna I cannot believe that a simple call on a possible house led to a
new home for us and a new relationship with MHAF. Deanna, your patience with
my questions and worries over the right house, your expertise in helping
us prioritize and your constant faith that God had his hand on our home
process well, I cannot thank you enough!
MHAF was the miracle we needed. Truly, without the support of your total
package, expert realtor partners, expert financial partners and the grant
toward closing costs we would not be taking possession of our home tomorrow.
How do we say thank you for a home to call our own?
I will be contacting you in the next week to schedule interviews for MHAF
with two shows Enlisted Spouse Radio and On Guard in Oklahoma. I am also
telling my fellow broadcasters and mil-spouse bloggers all about you.
Finally, Scott and I want to help MHAF in any way we can. Please let us know
how we can help make home-ownership a reality for our fellow service
members.
Warmly,
Scott & Beth Wiruth
My husband and I along with our two sons are extremely thankful that we found such a great organization as Military Housing Assistance Fund (MHAF). Thanks to them they made our dreams of owning a home that would help with my husbands PTSD issues stemming from 2 tours of duty in Iraq.
I owned a townhome that was HOA managed when my husband and I married. Unfortunately I soon came to realize that being so close to neighbors did not work very well with my husband’s PTSD symptoms. Our dream was to sell my home and purchase a single hom on about a 1/3 of an acre where our dogs could have a fenced yard and something that would give my family more space to allow my husband’s symptoms to be more manageable.
We found a home we loved, picked a realtor, and started applying for a VA loan through Wells Fargo. 3 months in to this process we were exhausted and stressed out. The realtor didn’t seem to know what they were doing along with Wells Fargo who seemed to not have alot of experience VA Loans.
I then found MHAF, in order to work with them I had to work with their team, so I took my home off the market and went with MHAF. Errol Anderson, Michael Demorato (Prime Lending) and Denise Fennell (Coldwell Banker) was assigned as our “team”.
What a team they were. Denise Fennell got our home back on the market and sold within 2 weeks.
Michael Demorato started working on the VA Mortgage and it was so stress free working with him and his team. My husband and I almost questioned if something was wrong at time because it was so different than our previous experience with Wells Fargo.
Once my home was sold, Denise Fennell, managed to get us under contract for the home we initially fell in love with and with no closing costs our our of pocket. We closed on my current house and and purchased our new home all in one day.
This has been a dream come true for us. We also got another surprise when two weeks after closing on our new home we received a nice gift from MHAF helping us get started in our new home.
My family and I cannot thank MHAF enough. I never would have thought that this process could be so simple. Errol Anderson and his team are “experts” and get the job done with as little stress on the Veteran and his family as possible.
Thank you, thank you,
The Trofe Family
Pennsylvania
I’m an Army Infantry Veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once I got out of the army, I started school so I could pursue my dream of becoming a physical therapist. Along the way, I met my wife, and we got married 4 months ago.
We used to talk about owning a home of our own someday, but the goal seemed out of sight as I still have 3 years of school left. Whenever we would look at houses, we quickly became overwhelmed by how much we’d have to spend on closing costs alone.
One day, my wife decided to look online to see if there is any help for veterans who are purchasing homes, and she came across the Military Housing Assistance Foundation. We decided it couldn’t hurt to find out more, and we were soon put in touch with an MHAF agent.
They helped us connect with our lender, Michael, and our realtor, Lexi. We started looking at homes in December, and on Valentine’s Day we signed the closing documents for our very first home. Nearly all of our closing costs were covered, saving us thousands of dollars that we can now use towards appliances for our home.
My wife and I are very thankful to the MHAF staff, Michael, Nicole, and Lexi for all of their help; we still cannot believe that we are home owners! We will be sure to tell our military friends and family about this wonderful foundation, and are excited to give back to MHAF to help other military families.
Thanks again, without MHAF, none of this would have been possible!
Larry and Amy Ortega
To All At MHAF And All The Organizations And Companies that Work With MHAF,
Thank you all for your time and hard work! About six months ago when I was online looking for programs for veterans to buy homes I found MHAF. It almost sounded to good to be true. MHAF really does take care of everything.
They have great banks and realtors that go above and beyond. It was nice to know that at any time I could call someone if I had a question and get an answer. I will definitely contact MHAF for my next home!
Thank You all again!
Austin Naehrig
US Army
I am just so astonished by these testimonies of military members past and present recieving these MHAF service that helped each person obtain their goal as well as some reaching their dreams in finally owning a place of their own. I hope that from my military service and currently working hard towards owning a home I can also be in the same playing field. Good reads from all.
Thank you MHAF for helping us purchase our first home and multifamily property. We are really grateful for your help and the great service your agents provided us. I do want to apoligize to Erol since I had my initial doubts about the program since it sounded too good to be true. In the end everything went well. To all other soldiers who are sceptical about this program I can assure you that they are real and great people who just want to help us attain the American Dream!
Hello, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone at MHAF for making me a first time home owner! I’ve tried to buy a home in the past, through a supposedly experienced ‘VA lender’ and got burned by their lack of communication, empathy, and experience. A few years later, I discovered MHAF and thought it was too good to be true. I approached MHAF and Errol with caution and had very low expectations. All I have to say is wow, they know their stuff and I can’t thank them enough! They hooked me up with Josh Lamp, a realtor who is very friendly and knows his stuff. Most importantly he didn’t pressure me into buying any home which was a welcomed relief. His backup, Cathy Hannes was also very helpful. I also want to thank the Prime Lending branch manager Michael Demorato and his assistant Nicole Calloway for their help. As I’ve told them before, they are the masters of their craft. Through their wizardry they were able to set me up with a home loan that I knew I could afford, yet other banks would tell me that I wouldn’t be able to. I would recommend these guys/gals even to non-veterans. Josh and Errol were able to get the seller to pay a part of the closing cost and covered the rest. I put a down payment in anyway. A week or so later, I got a check in the mail from MHAF, which was extremely kind of them. It helped alot to pay for the carpet replacement. I am forever grateful to MHAF.
We have been fortunate enough to have come across such a giving program. The organizers and program participants were great help and on the ball when it came to answering any questions that arose through out the process.
My wife and I were very apprehensive to buy a house. We had never attempted it before and didn’t have a whole lot of money to put down. Errol and our real estate agent made the process exceedingly easy and talked us through each and every step. The grant at closing also helped immensely, freeing up funds for some immediate home improvements.
My wife and I have been wanting to buy our own place called “home”. But with the amount of closing cost we needed, it was holding us back, that’s when I saw MHAF while surfing the net. I thought to myself, “this is too good to be true”, but I went ahead and immediately filled out the paperwork (why not? what do I have to lose, right?) and was contacted by Errol. He explained the program, filled out additional paperwork, referred to Mortgage Solutions (Michael DeMorato), then to a real estate agent Kamesha. The rest was history!
We are now new homeowners and thanks to Errol from MHAF, Michael from Mortgage Solutions and to our real estate agent Kamesha.
Good people and highly recommended!
My husband, a veteran, and I recently used this program to help us purchase our home. It is a very easy process, and we received a grant to off-set our closing costs. I was a little apprehensive about using an approved lender and realtor, but the lender and realtor were top notch. They were on the ball and made the process super easy. You really have nothing to lose! Thanks, MHAF!
In February 2013, my family and I moved into a great property, in an awesome community with excellent schools. Unfortunately, we were renting, and each year the rent increased. Suddenly, property owner became unreachable. We unsuccessfully phoned, faxed, emailed, and texted him. Even after a hurricane left damage to the property, he did not return our calls. Even worse, our lease ended in January 2015. We carried on making payments each month at the current rate with the fear of uncertainty looming over our heads. So, We looked into purchasing a home. To my surprise, there are hundreds of companies in S. Florida claiming they assist Veterans seeking VA home loans. However, S. Florida is the fraud capital of the world.
The agency I contacted gave me a referral to a very reputable, well-known bank and realtor. They both seemed very professional and efficient as we received a preapproval letter within a week. The realtor had a list of homes for us to view based on our needs. We found several homes we liked, but no one would accept our offers. After stating my concern to the realtor, she stated that there’s a problem with the letter. She said, “The seller’s agents are saying the pre-approval letter is bogus. The bank is saying they have no record of you applying.” So, I call the bank’s main number and speak to the manager. He not only confirmed the letter was garbage, but also that the loan processor was fired a day before I submitted my application. After further investigation, we discovered that the fired loan processor had taken several loan applications. He was using them to show his new job he could bring in new business with him. Let us just say this all ended badly for everyone involved.
On April 27, 2017, I contacted Military Housing Assistance Fund and spoke to Errol. After, a conversation about what happened he told me what and how they could help. Within a few hours Mike Anderson, a loan officer assistant, called me. He made sure to explain the application process in depth. The next day my realtor Emilda Gomez called me, and she met with us at home a day later. The branch manager Michael DeMorato also made contact to review my documents. Because of my previous experience, I was relieved to be actually speaking to the branch manager. Meanwhile, my realtor, Emilda, made me and my family feel like we were her highest priority. She tirelessly helped us view several homes.
Then, to prepare me for underwriting, Nicole Callaway contacted me. She is awesome! She helped me to understand what I needed to do. I know I had to be driving her crazy with my call after call, but she was always professional, kind and extremely helpful. Ultimately, everyone involved made us feel like my family’s needs were their own. We found an awesome home that would keep our kids in the same schools. We closed on July 18, 2017, which is 2 month and 23 days from first contact to finish. I want to thank Military Housing Assistance Fund for the awesome service and care.
We had ever bought a home before, always rented or lived on base. Finding our dream home wasn’t an issue, but we hit wall after wall after putting in our offer with missing documents the seller claimed to have but didn’t, having to rush to have inspections done that should have already been done by the seller, etc. Our realtor Cathy Sloan traveled 5 hours to work with us and she was a beast and stayed on top of everything so we could close on time. Errol and Michael worked their magic and Cathy negotiated with the seller to get our deal done like we wanted it. Overall, the whole home buying experience was stressful with all the problems that cropped up, but the issues were immediately dealt with and we finally own our forever home. We even walked away with a little bit of cash at closing. Everyone will have their own personal home buying experience of course, but this organization looks out for its clients and gets the job done.
I stumbled across the The Military Housing Assistance Fund when researching down payment assistance in Florida. I am heartened to learn that our United States veterans and servicemen are able to obtain great housing for their families. You guys deserve it! In a time when budget cuts are such a hot topic, it’s nice to see the “good guys” getting help with a home.
“I started looking for new house in the end of 2017. As a new home buyer, i had so many questions about the home buying process. I came to know about MHAF while searching online for any such program to assist military. MHAF answered all my inquires and assisted me with great bank and agents who made the home buying process much easier and bought the home within 3 months. Not only the process was quick, I am very satisfied with the interest rate. Errol is great and answered all my questions even in weekends. A lot of thanks to him!!
Overall MHAF gave me confident about the home buying process and made it much easier. It’s great program for any military personnel to buy the house.”
Thank you Military Housing Assistance Fund. I really Appreciate the gift and the opportunity to go through this first time experience. While I still am appreciative of this gift, I must give some advice as to your advertisement and explanation of your services when clients call to obtain them.
I have read the other testimonials and they are spot on with the mortgage lenders and the realtors being there to help out and explain all of what you are about to read. MHAF didn’t have to explain all of it because the mortgage companies branch manager broke it all down to me perfectly.
It would be absolutely nice to know the ends and outs of actual closing costs and prepaids as these amounts fluctuated so much throughout the process. Also if a client is having a home built from the ground up, the sellers or builders will not pay ALL of the closing costs (PREPAIDS OR ACTUAL). I believe I was told from the beginning but not made absolutely sure of, that I was to furnish the earnest money (which is a part of the closing costs as well as the builders or sellers portion). Also please let your clients know that once you assign them a realtor and lender that MHAF will NO LONGER BE A PART OF THE PROCESS until the closing costs are paid and the lender sends you the final paper work because the main thing I was worried about was the closing costs in which MHAF said they would help with and I didnt know how much I had to come to the table with until the day before closing. Please tell clients that they will have to furnish the ERNEST MONEY AND CLOSING COSTS . Again, integrate this into your speech that you give when you talk to clients. As an inexperienced home buyer, we do not understand voluntary costs, buy down rates, actual costs, prepaids and that if we have to borrow money from anyone to pay closing costs, that all information from the person you borrow it from has to be divulged within this process. Last but not least, I had to borrow a certain amount of money to pay closing costs, when it was time to bring the monies to the table for closing, the amount was significantly less than what I borrowed LUCKILY because of the mortgage lender!
Please let your clients know that they will have to bring money to the table FOR EARNEST MONEY when required and that you do not furnish any monies until the process is completely finished because I did not know this and was trying to get a hold of MHAF to see how much they were going to help with .
Using the VA loan does not guarantee no money down or no money at all from the veteran. The veteran WILL and HAS to come to the table with money! WITH OR WITHOUT THE MHAF!! Depending on how much the house is, closing costs will start out at $10,000 with (ACTUAL) OR (PREPAIDS) being as much as $5,000. The lenders MHAF provides, or any lenders will need to see that type of money in the clients accounts before they proceed with closing.
Most or all of these findings should be divulged to a potential client before assigning them a realtor and lender!
Again, even after all of this, the MHAF, AS PROMISED, granted me the gift money with no obligation, expressed or implied, to repay at any time and I still humbly appreciate it but please be up front in letting clients know what they are headed into when the process starts.
V/R
Marcus L. Daniels
Errol,
My family and I cannot thank you and your team of real estate professionals enough.
The entire team at Mortgage Solutions Financial and our REALTOR, Shelly Blankenship were an absolute pleasure to work with. From start to finish they fought the good fight and helped me ensure we were doing what was best for me and my family.
Nicole from Mortgage Solutions and Shelly were always available for questions, and to help on my behalf when presenting information to the underwriter or the selling agent when repairs needed to be completed prior to closing to be in VA Loan compliance. They got it done, even when our new home was originally set as an as is sale.
My family has found our dream home, and it’s all because of the team assigned to us by Military Housing Assistance Fund.
Thank you for everything!