Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 4, 2009
First time homebuyers a favorite for Women’s Council President
Stephanie Coward
When FSG Bank Senior Mortgage Originator Angela Stafford closed on her first home it was not the delightful experience she expected it to be. “I cried the whole time at the closing table signing those papers,” Stafford said. “It was the worst feeling in the whole wide world. The mortgage company that we worked with was terrible and we had no idea what we were signing until we got there.”
Stafford has since taken that horrible experience and used it to provide the best possible experience to the homebuyers she works with. “At the point when I started in the mortgage business, I knew that I didn’t want that to happen to anybody – knowing what it felt like,” Stafford said.
Stafford began working as a teller in 2000 when FSG was still Frontier Bank. Then during the start of the re-finance boom, she began helping the originators ship off files a few hours everyday. The bank had two originators who didn’t have a support staff and were becoming overwhelmed. The boom would lead Stafford, who graduated from UT Chattanooga with a psychology degree, to her current position.
“As the re-fi boom progressed … they needed someone to help do closing documents so I started doing closing documents and shipping and then I started processing, closing and shipping. And that’s when we had to add another person to help me with that as well and then in 2003, I was given the job of originator and I think that starting out shipping and working through all the various levels has really, really helped know what the whole process of everything is rather than just jumping into the origination position, and not have ever been processing or shipping. I have been there. In most of the situations that they come up with I’m like ‘I know, it’s OK. It’ll work out. I’ve been there,’” Stafford said.
She is currently finishing out her term as the 2009 Home Builders Association of Southern Tennessee Women’s Council president. Stafford joined the council six years ago and has held an office for the past three years.
Her first office was that of secretary, where she was responsible for handling the Women’s Council scholarships, which are awarded to students at UT Chattanooga and/or Chattanooga State who are part of a homebuilder field of study. Such fields include architecture, contracting, interior design and others. At the start of every year, the council sets a scholarship amount and then the state headquarters matches that amount. “We usually give it to one at UTC and one at Chattanooga State,” Stafford said. “It’s fun to go through all the applications and see what their plans are, what their long-term goals are.”
The council holds two annual spaghetti luncheons, one in the spring and one in the fall. All the money given at the door for the lunch goes to the scholarship fund. The lunch is cooked entirely by Women’s Council members. “That’s one of the big ones that everybody loves to come to,” Stafford said.
As current president, Stafford is responsible for booking guest speakers for the council’s monthly meetings. She also sets up off-site visits to various places such as the Chattanooga Closet Company, which they visited most recently. The council toured the center and learned about the company from a speaker during their visit. Stafford also sits on the board of directors and still participates in scholarship recipient decisions.
The Women’s Council participates in another philanthropic activity in the winter. “Coming up in December, we always sponsor a school here in Chattanooga and for the past couple of years, we’ve sponsored East Lake Elementary in partnership with our Associate’s Council and what the Women’s Council does, what we’ve done and will do for East Lake Elementary is on the next to last day of school typically, we go over there in the morning and we have put together supply boxes for each of the teachers,” she said.
Included in the boxes are such things as paper, pencils, pens and anti-germ wipes. This activity helps to curb the teachers’ costs of supplying their classrooms because when an allotted supply budget runs out, a teacher has to spend out of pocket to supply the students with necessary tools.
The Women’s Council averages 15 to 20 members at its monthly meetings and is comprised of women from all career paths.
“It’s women from all different types of jobs. We have bankers. We have real estate agents. We have architects, title companies, roofers, if one of the builders is a member, his wife, if she works with him at all in the office or anything, sometimes they’ll come too,” Stafford said.
HBAST membership is a wonderful networking opportunity, according to Stafford. “It helps, because one of the big things at the Homeowners Association is ‘do business with a member’ and once you get in and get to know people and get to know what type of work they’re in, if something arises and you need a roof, well, I automatically go to my directory and look up roofers because I want to use someone I know I am in the association with and I’ve talked with on a regular basis,” Stafford said. “If builders are building a house for a couple that doesn’t have financing yet, ‘oh, I know Angela Stafford, I talked to her just the other week at the general membership meeting,’ so it does get you a lot of contacts. It’s really good.”
Stafford said that her favorite part of her job continues to be working with first time homebuyers.
“As excited and nervous as they get I’m sure we’ve all been that first time buyer, or if you haven’t you will be … first time homebuyers are the best part of it.”
Stafford is also a member of the Chattanooga Mortgage Bankers Association and the Women’s Council of Realtors; and sits on the Corporation Board for Sigma Kappa sorority. She lives in Jasper with her husband of 10 years, Joe, and their two children, Emma, 6, and Tucker, 3.
More information on the Women’s Council can be found on the HBAST Web site at www.hbast.org.
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