Success Story: The Villegas Family

Things don’t always go as planned – the Villegas family knows that first hand.

The family, originally from Miami, encountered a few rough patches in 2017 and needed a fresh start. Family members encouraged them to get away from the expensive Florida city and move to Holland.

“We prepared our Miami home and decided to keep it to rent it out,” said Rey Villegas. “In April of 2018, we moved to Michigan and adjusted quickly from the big city to a small town.”

“We loved it!”

The family opted to rent for the remainder of 2018 and part of 2019 to save money before purchasing their Michigan dream home.

“We started looking for our home in May,” Rey said. “Our lease was coming to an end at our apartment and we made the promise to ourselves that we’d have a home after being in Michigan for one year.”

“We were looking for a home that was fairly new – no renovations needed – with very open space, a deck and a lake view.”

Shortly after beginning their search, they found their dream home in Riley Ridge and contacted the listing agent, Luke Bouman with At Home Realty.

“Working with Luke’s team was great,” Rey said. “We worked with Mary Van Vels and she was amazing. She was so understanding and very honest with us. They exceeded our expectations!”

The Villegas Family relied on their bank for financing. After receiving their pre-approval letter, the bank informed them that they weren’t qualified to purchase this specific home in Riley Ridge. Mary suggested they get in touch with Michigan Mortgage Loan Officer Amy Hendrickson for a second look.

“Amy gave my parent’s credit a second glance and was able to get us approved,” Rey said.

The family proceeded with financing with Amy and compared their experience to that of working with Mary – Amy went above and beyond and exceeded expectations.

“Amy was with us every step of the way,” Rey said. “We loved her attitude; she’s a very happy, positive person. We would recommend her to anyone!”

Now that the family is moved into their new Riley Ridge dream home, they’re looking forward to celebrating the four seasons in Michigan.

“We’re looking forward to summer nights by the bonfire roasting marshmallows, sitting on our deck in the winter drinking hot chocolate and hot apple cider in the fall,” Rey said.

“We are extremely happy!”