By maximizing all the features and benefits of HomeAdvantage, Tower has turned thousands of members’ home-buying dreams into homeownership realities. Mohit Dave is one recent success story. When doing some preliminary mortgage research on Tower’s website, their HomeAdvantage program caught his attention and strongly appealed to him, so he contacted Tower to learn more. Tower connected Dave and his fiancee Fiona Tomlinson with a real estate agent right away.

“It was nice to not be picking an agent blindly,” said Dave. “Our agent did a great job of answering a lot of questions as well as exposing some hidden costs to home buying that don’t always stand out, like the home inspection, or if the house has a pool, etc.”

Throughout every step of the process, Tower employees were ready to assist Dave and Tomlinson. All the paperwork went smoothly and they felt that team serving them was knowledgeable. “There is a lot that goes into it, and it’s nice to have people you trust walk you through the process,” said Tomlinson.

Dave found a hidden perk while working with his credit union to purchase a home—less paper work! “Some of the paperwork was reduced because of the way Tower is set up with my workplace. They were able to pull some of my information like pay history, etc.”

Dave and Tomlinson found that HomeAdvantage was able to provide them with all the information they needed for their home search. “The Multiple Listing Service was our preferred method of finding homes to look at because the homes in the search results better fit our criteria and their listing status was more accurate,” said Tomlinson. “Some of the other online search options provided random results and things that weren’t on the market anymore.”

At the closing table, Dave and Tomlinson were able to reap the benefits of HomeAdvantage Cash Rewards. “In our case we took that money and put it towards closing costs, which was a nice little extra amount of money to have towards that,” said Dave.

Tower’s HomeAdvantage program also made a difference in Roger Kylin’s recent home-buying experience. “This is my second house to purchase; the last time I purchased a house was 16 years ago. Home buying was much lower-tech then,” said Kylin. “The whole process was so much easier this time.” With the help of modern technology, HomeAdvantage offers credit union members with a one-stop home-buying experience.

Kylin also appreciated the agent referral that HomeAdvantage was able to provide, “Not worrying about having to find an agent on my own was nice.”

However, probably the sweetest part of the deal for Kylin was the Cash Rewards. He chose to use his rewards toward closing costs. “What the Cash Rewards allowed me to do was to have a better offer. Because I was asking the seller for help with closing costs, I only had to ask for 2.5% vs. 3%,” said Kylin.

“Through the HomeAdvantage program, we can provide members with the real estate tools and support they need to buy and sell their homes,” said Barry Stricklin, Tower’s senior vice president and chief lending officer. “The Cash Rewards incentive enables us to make homeownership more attainable for some members, so we consider this $2 million milestone a worthwhile achievement because we know we are making a difference.”

About CU Realty Services, LLC

CU Realty Services provides real estate services to credit unions across the nation, helping them increase their purchase mortgage business. Launched in 2001, the CUSO has worked with more than 100 credit unions and thousands of their members. CU Realty’s range of web-based tools helps home buyers find homes, research neighborhoods, calculate costs, connect to experienced real estate agents, and earn a cash reward. By offering this program to members, credit unions are able to achieve significant increases in their purchase mortgage business.

CU Realty Services partners with hundreds of credit unions and mortgage CUSOs in 24 states. To learn how credit unions are becoming members’ first point of contact, visit www.curealty.com.

About Tower Federal Credit Union

Tower Federal Credit Union was formed in 1953 when its seven original members pooled together their money, each contributing $5. Since its inception, Tower has grown to be the largest federal credit union in Maryland with $3.10 billion in assets and 181,689 members worldwide. Headquartered in Laurel, Md., Tower has branches in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard and Prince George’s counties as well as at Fort Meade. As a member-owned, not-for-profit financial institution, Tower is committed to meeting our members’ diverse financial needs through low loan rates, low or no fee products and services, unbeatable value, superior service, and untiring innovation. We provide top-notch financial products and services for our members. In addition, we make protecting the security of our members’ accounts one of our top priorities­­ – and we are always going to extra lengths to protect their personal and financial information. After more than 60 years of serving, Tower is financially stronger than ever and remains committed to helping our members achieve their financial goals.