Helping people afford homes

For 17 years, Bruce Davis has been making first-time home buyers' dreams become a reality, and now, Davis is continuing that philosophy as the branch manager for Countrywide Home Loans in Forest Hills.
Davis, who is in his second year with Countrywide, has spent nearly all of his 17 years in the business working throughout Queens, which has seen prices of homes skyrocket throughout the past few years.
&#8220The Queens market has become more and more challenging,” Davis said. As prices of homes continue to go up it's becoming more challenging for borrowers to afford homes.”
However, at Countrywide, Davis said he and his staff of approximately 20 employees work hard to accommodate the individual needs of his clients.
&#8220We offer more of a consultation to the home-buyer,” Davis said. He explained that Countrywide offers a large selection of home-loan programs that makes it easier for customers to get approval for a loan.
Although the length of time from start to finish often varies depending on the particular situation of the customer, oftentimes people can go from filling out a loan application to closing on a home all in one month.
&#8220We want to do loans that make sense, and we take a common sense approach to our lending,” Davis said.
In addition to regular home-loan consultations, periodically Davis and his staff offer free seminars generally geared towards first-time homebuyers, to help give direction to people no matter how far along they are in the process.
&#8220It's a matter of opening the door to homeownership so they can see how to get through that door,” Davis said.
However, he said these free seminars are not an advertisement to try to push customers to apply for a loan with his company.
&#8220We don't go [into the seminars] with idea of trying to convert people to Countrywide,” Davis said. &#8220If we get the information out to the consumer, we protect them from being taken advantage of by predatory lending.”
Countrywide Home Loans is located at 105-10 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills. For more information about Countrywide, call 718-263-3005.