Vet Gives Back To Local Heroes
By Gina Dostler
The Kistler Group has partnered with Home for Heroes to give back to people who serve others. After 20 years, Julie and Carl Kistler have built a successful real estate brokerage firm and now open their doors to help veterans and others buy homes.
Q: What is Home for Heroes?
A: It is an organization that works with real estate-related service providers like us who offer substantial rebates and discounts to our heroes, those that serve not only our nation but our communities. Military personnel, firefighters, law enforcement officers, lifeguards, nurses, doctors, teachers, all those that work to help better our lives, we want to better their lives with our help.
Q: What types of rebates and discounts do you give?
A: We give 25% of the gross commission (paid to us) back after closing, whether the home is sold or bought. There may be some lender restrictions, where the savings are instead applied to recurring and non-recurring closing costs. There is a discounted lending fee available with our preferred lender; and a discounted closing fee with a Homes for Heroes preferred escrow company. And a discounted home inspection is available with a Homes for Heroes preferred home inspection company.
Q: Wow, you must have a lot of heroes knocking at your door.
A: Not as many as we should. Some are hesitant to utilize the benefits, not quite sure of the process or don’t even know about it. One big obstacle for our vets have been finding real estate agents willing to work the VA loans for them. It is one of the most misunderstood benefits. To educate the market, we offer free seminars to show how simple it really is to work through these loans. We find so many realtors avoid working with veterans and truly miss out on potential sales.
Q: That’s too bad because there are a lot of vets in our city.
A: There are more than 131,000 vets in OC alone. And 6,500 more come every year so the stats are rising and they need housing. The whole purpose of the VA loans is to help veterans and their families to obtain home financing. Qualifications and terms for the mortgages, once understood, are really no problem to process.
Q: So both buyers and sellers seem to shun VA loans.
A: A lot of people are out of their comfort zone when it comes to these loans. I spoke to an agent who said it took four days to present an offer to a seller that was very hesitant to take a VA loan. It took four days of convincing the other agent that a VA loan does work and we know how to process without delays.
Q: What motivates you to work with this program?
A: I am passionate about helping. I love what I do. I love my community. And I love to give back. It is one of the most fulfilling things I do. It is the right thing to do. Giving back locally let’s me in on the ground floor to witness all the smiles for those we help. I’m a vet, have two boys in the Army and my brother was a Marine sniper, now currently working at the embassy in Afghanistan for the last five years. Tough guy.
Q: Where did you serve?
A: I was in the Navy and was very proud to serve my country. It has been one of the best times of my life and I’m still in touch with all my shipmates. Right now my one son just reenlisted and is going to work with drones. But being airborne, he still gets to parachute out of planes, something he loves to do. For me I’ll just keep my two feet on the ground, giving back to our heroes one house at a time.
