On Wednesday, December 10, hundreds of Chicago REALTORS attended the Countrywide-sponsored "Discovering Government Selling Opportunities" event to learn how FHA, Veterans Affairs, and other government loans could more prospective homebuyers find and finance the homes of their dreams.  

Held at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the event offered an overview of the various forms of government financing and trends in special lending. Speaker Mavelyn Bland, Countrywide University, shared that REALTORS "can sell more homes than they think by working with an FHA expert," as FHA will be involved in more than 40 percent of financing for 2008. FHA loans, she said, are "common sense loans," and REALTORS who make it their business to learn as much as they can about this form of funding gain a "competitive edge."  

Kerry Wakely, VP of Strategic Sales Delivery for Countrywide University, told the audience that in 2008 so far, more than $718 million in loans had been financed by the government, and that 46.28% of purchases have been financed through FHA. He also gave an overview of the benefits available to armed service veterans through the VA. "There are 25 million veterans," he said. "Two million are women, 2/3's of them are over the age of 40, and 15 million live in urban areas."

Are you making every effort to learn about how you can use FHA and other government lending to sell homes? Has learning about FHA or VA lending boosted your business? Please tell us in the comments section below.              

Chicago REALTORS at the "Discover Government Selling Opportunities" event.