Never Never Land

A Texas Woman’s Fight To Achieve Her Dreams

I was lucky enough to work with one of the most amazing teachers in Texas, Karyn. She called in and said she had a piece of property in Harper, TX that was empty and she wanted to put a mobile home out there. Somewhere in the conversation, she mentioned to me that she had tried a few other times to complete the process, but never had any luck. She kept getting her hopes up only to be disappointed and turned down by the banks. Her kids would have fun with her and call the property, “Never Never Land.” They didn’t believe a mobile home was ever going to end up there.

After working together for a short while, we discovered that Karyn had some credit scores she needed to bring up to be approved for the home. I put her in contact with the credit repair company we used, and she took it from there. The credit company was amazed at what a pleasant person Karyn was to work with, and how fast she was able to get what they needed to help increase her scores. They had never met someone who would respond so quickly and was able to get everything required without having to remind her.

Setbacks Didn’t Stop Her

Within a month I received a call from Karyn saying her credit was up and she was ready to move forward with the application! I sent her the paperwork right away. She emailed back the completed application within the same day, which is something incredibly rare in this industry. The bank took a few days to respond, but when the result came in, it was unfortunately a denial, again. 

The score the bank was looking at was too low…

I was dreading the phone call and having to hear the disappointment in her voice. Making that call is never fun, but this time I felt exceptionally bad because of how hard she had been trying to help her family. She was working two jobs in an attempt to achieve their dreams.

Being the fighter she is, Karyn tracked down the contact information for the bank and called the loan officer to figure out a solution. She found out the bank could look at another credit score to try to get her approved. She gave them the go-ahead and had to wait a few more days to find out if she was approved.

Never Say Never

Finally, the results came in with positive news this time around! Karyn was going to be able to achieve her dream of homeownership after all. I knew she was working, but I couldn’t wait to call her – I was too excited! When she answered, I asked if she had a minute to talk. She said she was teaching class but had a moment to speak. You could hear the defeat in her voice; she knew the bad news was coming…

I exploded with excitement when I told her, “you did it, Karyn! you freaking did it! You are getting this house. There’s no more Never Never Land!” The amount of joy that came out of her was amazing, and my eyes started to water the second she started crying. 

Her refusal to accept failure, and determination to succeed finally led up to this incredible moment.

When we spoke later in the evening, she said she was in front of her class when she started crying. Her daughter happened to be one of the students in the room as well. I wish I could have been there to see that moment of pure happiness.

As we continued picking colors and ordering the home nothing changed about Karyn. She was still the kindest and most pleasant person to work with. We were able to put her new home on her beautiful piece of land, surrounded by mature oak trees. To this day, she is still one of my most memorable clients, and one of my favorite stories of triumph to share.

Worth It In the End

In any industry, there are days when you deal with irrational customers that are underappreciative, and take your time for granted. But, it’s the memories of working with someone like Karyn, that really stick to your heart and make all the long hours and difficult times worth it in the end.

Karyn’s new singlewide home set on “Never Never Land”

Karyn,

I am so grateful for the experience you gave me by allowing my family to be a part of this amazing journey with you. The fact that you kept pushing instead of making excuses when it seemed everything was going against you was truly inspiring. Your story is one we talk about whenever we are training someone who is new to our business and we want to understand how incredible our customers are. I wish you nothing but the best in life, you certainly deserve it.

Jason Piña