When Tristan and Kenisha Henning and their three-year-old son began looking to buy their first home, it was Kathy Sampson at Minster Bank’s St. Marys location who first suggested they apply for the Welcome Home funds.
“Kathy was the first person to bring it up to us and explain it to us,” Kenisha Henning said. “She told us if we waited until the next year, we could apply for it. So we decided to wait and get the loan this year.”
Read on to learn more about how the first-time homebuyer grant funds helped the Hennings with their first home purchase.
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Using the Welcome Home Program Grant Funds
It took the Hennings almost two years to find a house they liked, and they eventually settled on a home in St. Marys, Ohio. Kenisha described the entire home-buying process as “smooth”
“The process really wasn’t that bad,” Kenisha said. “I don’t think we had any complications through the process. Everything seemed to go really smooth for us.”
The Welcome Home Program, which is through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, allows first-time homebuyers to apply for up to $5,000 in grant funds to help offset their upfront costs of buying a home.
“It helped us with our down payment and our closing costs,” Kenisha said.
Throughout their home-buying process, the Hennings received papers in the mail, which would let them know what the closing costs and everything would be.
“Once you were about to close, you got another set of papers that would be your final closing costs,” she said. “I felt it was really simple for us.”
Buying a home? Make sure you have these items ready before you apply for a mortgage >>
A Smooth Home-Buying Experience With Minster Bank
Overall, Kenisha described their home-buying experience with Minster Bank as great.
“I really love Minster [Bank],” she said. “Everybody there was really nice and friendly to us.”
Kenisha said she’s been working with Minster Bank since before her three-year-old son was born, and they’ve always been helpful.
The Hennings formally rented in Celina, but Kenisha said they have always worked with Minster Bank’s St. Marys location.
“It was a smooth process; everyone really communicated well with us, which I thought was important,” she said. “It was helpful to me because I had a lot of questions throughout the process, so I probably called Kathy 100 times. She was very helpful each time – she never thought a question was dumb or anything like that – she would answer each and every question that she could for me.”
Minster Bank Makes Homebuying Easy
If you’re in the market for a new home – whether you’re buying, building or more – Minster Bank’s Mortgage Web Center is your go-to place to find mortgage resources. There, you can check current rates, apply for a mortgage, try out our calculators and more.
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