How a former church pastor became a Roam top performing agent partner

Kevin Hosner, a real estate agent in Johns Creek, GA, is on track to have his most successful year as an agent since he got into real estate 10 years ago. “At a moment when the real estate industry has been in upheaval and agents are seeing revenue drying up, I have been incredibly blessed to see my client list and closings increase dramatically since I started working with Roam,” said Kevin.

Kevin began working with Roam in October of 2023 and since then he’s helped countless buyers across the greater Atlanta metro area save thousands of dollars a year in mortgage payments by purchasing a home with a low-rate assumable mortgage through Roam. Here we share some of the secrets to Kevin’s success.

A startup founder inspired to serve

Kevin’s journey into real estate began unconventionally, transitioning to his calling to help home buyers and sellers after dedicating 20 years as a church pastor in northern Georgia. His calling to the ministry led him to plant the seeds for a ‘startup’, co-founding a new church with just 7 families who began meeting in a living room in Alpharetta, GA. Within the first year, the church grew into a thriving community of 100 members in Cumming GA. As the congregation expanded, they moved from one temporary space to another until they were able to create a permanent home. It was a dream for Kevin to lead the team for design and construction of a new building for his church community that continues to thrive today.

In many ways, Kevin’s background as a pastor has served him well in his current role as a real estate agent. “My passion is serving people”, said Kevin. “Helping someone get into a home, particularly someone who’s never owned a home, or who’s parents have never owned a home, seeing that kind of generational change to the trajectory of their family, it’s a blessing and I’m humbled by it all the time,” he said.

A game changer for Kevin and his clients: mortgage assumptions

Now ten years into his career as an agent, Roam has been a life changing opportunity for Kevin and his clients. As rates have skyrocketed in recent years, housing affordability plummeted in the greater Atlanta area, like most of the country, putting home ownership out of reach for many of Kevin’s buyer clients. “Buyers feel like they are getting farther and farther away from their goal. Rates are up, home prices are up, and rental prices are up. A lot of people out there are discouraged. Three years ago they thought they could afford to buy a home, but now they think they can’t because rates are so high.”

When Kevin first discovered Roam, he was intrigued to learn more about how he could help his buyers get back into the market by purchasing a home with a low-rate assumable mortgage. His clients were curious to learn about assumable mortgages and shocked that they could get access to mortgage rates as low as 2%. “The buyers that I’ve helped who worked with Roam to purchase their home are absolutely filled with joy,” said Kevin. “They are either laughing or in tears when they see it’s possible to afford a home with Roam. It is such a blessing.”

Read more: How Roam Works for Homebuyers

Secret to success: Taking time to educate sellers

Kevin shared his process for helping his clients land their dream home while working with Roam. “I’ll have the buyer use the Roam website to browse properties with assumable mortgages. Once they find about five houses that have potential, I take the time to call the listing agent to make sure they’d consider an offer with a mortgage assumption,” said Kevin. “It takes time to explain the process, how assumptions work, and what an advantage it is to their seller. My approach is to speak to people with dignity and care. I explain that I’m not asking them to accept an offer at this point, I’m just asking if they’d be willing to consider it,” he shared.

Kevin’s ability to connect with other agents and explain all of the benefits of an assumption for the seller has made all the difference. “Taking that time to speak to the listing agents is a lot more work on the front end. But it pays off because I know I’m only taking my buyer to sellers that will consider an assumption. This is particularly important if it’s a VA loan and I'm bringing a non-VA client/buyer,” said Kevin.

Read more: How Roam Works for Sellers

How mortgage assumptions benefit sellers

When speaking to listing agents, Kevin summarizes the benefits for sellers as follows:

1. The buyer generally won’t be asking for closing costs
2. No need for an appraisal - this is a huge advantage for something that has appreciated rapidly
3. Seller is completely released from the loan at closing
4. Closings typically take 45 days. Roam backs this up with their Seller Closing Guarantee 

Learn more: The Roam Seller Closing Guarantee

Based on Kevin’s recent experience with a client, here’s an example of how an assumable offer can be a great win for the seller..

“My client was interested in a house that was listed at $600K. I think we could get it for around $540K if my buyer pays cash or takes out a loan at 7% financing, and we could close in 12 days. However, if the seller is willing to allow the buyer to assume the 2.5% mortgage and take 45 days for closing, our offer would be closer to $580K. 

Let’s assume the downpayment is approximately $150K, and the buyer would be taking over the assumable mortgage balance of $450K mortgage at 2.5%. Using simple interest to calculate the payments, that’s $11,250 in interest payments. Assuming a traditional mortgage at 7%, the same loan amount would have $31,500 in interest payments per year. This is a savings of over $20,000 / year or $1700 / month for my buyer. When you show this type of math to the buyer, they’re happy to make a higher offer on the house.” 

This approach of presenting various offers to the seller can be effective. For example, on a recent home purchase, Kevin wrote up two offer options, $450K cash, or $500K with a mortgage assumption, and the seller chose the assumable offer. 

Common misconceptions about assumable mortgages

In some cases, Kevin does a bit of extra legwork to educate sellers and clear up some common misconceptions about assumable mortgages. “For many sellers, there’s a lack of understanding and lack of information about assumable mortgages,” said Kevin. “Some common misconceptions are:

• The seller thinks they’ll still be on the hook for the mortgage after closing
• The listing agent tells the seller that assumptions take too long or never get done
• A google search says assumptions take 6-9 months. 
  
  

I take time with the listing agent to slow down and explain the opportunity and why it’s good for both the buyer and the seller. In fact, it’s a huge selling advantage for the listing agent. It’s a way to yield more money for the seller and for the agent to earn more money,” said Kevin.

Handling VA assumptions

Another issue with assumptions that Kevin may have to address is the situation where the seller is a veteran with a VA loan, and buyer who wants to assume the loan is a non-veteran. While non-veterans can assume a VA loan, it means the seller would have to give up parts of their entitlement. This may or may not make sense for the seller to do.

“With a VA, the seller has earned their entitlement by their service to our country, so it’s understandable that they would want to hang on to that benefit,” Kevin explained. “However there are many instances where it’s actually a better outcome for the seller if they give it up. Here’s an example: imagine the seller bought their home for $300,000, and now it’s worth $500,000. They’re sitting on at least $200,000 in equity which puts them in a great position to make a down payment on their next home and qualify for a conventional mortgage at much better terms than a new VA loan. VA loans are not inexpensive. So it may be in the seller's best interest to take the highest offer, even if it involves an assumption that would mean giving up the VA entitlement.”

Learn more: VA Assumable Mortgages Could be Your Path to Homeownership

What’s next for Kevin

As one of our top agent partners, Kevin’s client list continues to grow through word of mouth given the remarkable savings he’s helped his buyers achieve with Roam. He also continues to invest time in educating the agent community about mortgage assumptions through his service-oriented approach, helping listing agents benefit from the Roam platform. As it turns out, the secret to Kevin’s success is pretty simple. “My goal is to be helpful to people,” explains Kevin, “if you’re helpful, honorable, and truthful, everything else will work out.”