Owning a house was not an immediate goal of mine. Renting was easy and convenient. If something broke, I submitted a maintenance request and it was fixed. Home maintenance in an apartment required little effort and even less stress.

I've also always enjoyed flirting with the idea that if I wanted to pick up and move to Europe or some other far-off location, I could, and with no strings attached. In my head I was a nomad, free to roam the world as I pleased and I was enjoying the minimal responsibility that apartment living provided. In reality, I was a 34-year-old with nearly 10 years under my belt of Washington, D.C. living. So if history was any indication, I knew I probably wasn't moving any time soon.

So after a decade in the city, I had graduated out of the financial starvation that plagued my 20s and I was leasing an apartment that was costing me nearly the same amount that a mortgage payment would on a $300,000 loan. My year lease was set to expire in a few months and so was the special rate that gave me a nearly $300 per month rent reduction. There was no way I was paying more for that apartment, so I started my condo search.

However, I had one problem – because of working for nothing in my 20s, I didn't have a 20% down payment saved. Apparently, I wasn't alone in this predicament. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, home ownership for those below 35 years old is especially low, hovering just below 34%. “There are many factors affecting this trend – rising rents, student loans, and delayed marriages,” according to a recent article by Apartment List.

I fell into the “all of the above category”. I wasn't married, I had student loan debt and I had rising rent.

I did what any obsessive-compulsive journalist would do, I used all of my spare time to research options for people who didn't have a 20% down payment. The fruits of my OCD labor paid off, I found a down payment assistance program offered by the Virginia Housing Development Authority. If I qualified, VDHA would give me a 3% down payment and I wouldn't have to pay private mortgage insurance. I was essentially getting free money; my entire down payment would be paid for by VHDA. There were rigorous qualifications I had to meet, but luckily I qualified.

For me, this made sense. I went through the numbers with an accountant and we determined that the down payment I was receiving would offset the closings costs and I essentially would break even if I purchased a home. In the short-term, I wouldn't be saving a ton by purchasing a house, but I also would no longer be throwing away money by helping to pay off someone else's mortgage. In addition, because I have freelance income, the tax breaks from homeownership would also offset that taxes I pay on this income.

With renting, I had to worry about my rate going up every year. However, with homeownership, I'm building equity; I have a fixed mortgage for 30 years and my earning potential will likely increase over time (God willing).

Let's be clear here, I'm not pushing homeownership on anyone. If you can't afford it, don't do it. My point is, you have options.

As I mentioned in my last column “Capitalizing on Millennials' Financial Planning Needs”, personalized service is absolutely essential to any financial process. I did my research and found a mortgage broker who answered every email and every call within a few hours or less (usually much less). Without her, I would have been much more hesitant about purchasing my first home.

So what can credit unions do?

Stephanie Zuleger, chief lending officer at the $920 million Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, Tenn. says it's important to look the beyond the black and white.

“If a credit union is just looking at loans in black and white, they might as well have robots working for them,” she said. “The grey is really important in lending. People have lives and their lives happen to them and we have to remember that when we're considering different decisions,” Zuleger said.

Zuleger says Y-12 Federal Credit Union offers multiple products that fit the needs of our borrowers including 100% loan to value financing, a 97% loan to value product, and anything below. The credit union also offers these portfolio products with no PMI, which helps make the loan even more affordable for members. In addition, Fannie Mae's Home Ready product is excellent as it helps members who want a lower down payment but may have a higher debt to income ratio or who require more flexible down payment or income considerations.

Y-12's mortgage loan officers are also trained to identify additional needs of borrowers and are incented on doing so. If a member doesn't qualify at the time, the mortgage loan officers are expected to help them create a plan to get into their first house.

“We also work with third parties who they can refer borrowers to in order to provide more options like U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Federal Housing Administration loans that we do not do in house. Overall though our portfolio loan requirements are focused on helping borrowers and finding ways to say yes, so we try to do that first in each interaction,” Zeleger said.

Zuleger confirmed what I already thought to be true – personalized service is key. “I have found from talking with my friends and listening to borrower feedback that in our market, millennials still want personalized service with mortgage lending. They want to understand the process, and they want to talk face to face in many cases. After the mortgage is complete, the members definitely want all the technology they have to service their loan,” Zuleger emphasized.

Stay tuned for updates on my financial journey and more tips on reaching millennials.

Tahira Hayes is a Correspondent-at-Large for CU Times. She can be reached at thayes@cutimes.com.

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