Many of my readers have been following my own personal journey buying a new home, and although I must seem like a super smart new home sales guru (:)), I actually spent my first 5 years after college working for a newspaper. I know, shocking right?
So when I got to Engle, I didn’t know a whole lot about the home buying process. What I did know about was marketing; and thus - the New Home Sales Guru was born. I even remember thinking - “well, they must not be in bad shape if they’re hiring me!”, even though it was the end of the 3rd quarter, 2007, and rumors of a downward turn in home sales were beginning to circulate.
Little did I know, just a few short months later, Engle’s parent company, Tousa, would file for Chapter 11 protection and my career changed.
So how did we get here?
Never fully understanding the process, I knew what I thought was important: everyone was getting loans (why didn’t I know this back then?), and buying homes they couldn’t necessarily afford with no money down. But there’s so much more to it than that…
This project was completed as part of Jonathan Jarvis’ thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. I personally found it to be greatly informative for anyone who isn’t as familiar with the process. Especially those people who are feeling the backlash of strict loan policies and signing over their first born child - ah hem - to underwriters who need to know every detail of their life - today, I wore black flip-flops and ate dinner at Giovanni’s - just to buy a home.
Being a first time home buyer in this market is great. We have every benefit - from rock bottom pricing and builder incentives, to low interest rates and a great tax credit - but you have to be willing to put in the effort. Getting a loan these days isn’t very easy… but it’s very worth it.
And now, I present: The Crisis of Credit Visualized
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
Tags: The Journey
