What is it that sets a business apart from its competitors year after year? According to Kari Story, it is the kind of customer service that only a knowledgeable and local professional can provide.

Story is the branch sales manager of First Home Mortgage in Ocean City and a lover of the relaxed and welcoming area she calls home. In a market dominated by condominium sales,
she was able to finance an impressive $47 million in mortgages for her clients in 2019. She is excited but undaunted by last year’s towering totals and has a keen eye for the trends each year can bring.

“January sets the tone for the rest of the year,” she noted. “This January has been active. One factor that has had an impact is the dipping interest rate, now only in the high-3% range.”

Because Ocean City’s summer and shoulder seasons bring so many second homeowners back to the resort, she has become an expert in knowing the right local professionals to call to make the real estate transaction go quickly from start to finish. This is the kind of customer service and experience that a lender in another market just cannot provide.

Many borrowers have anxiety over the lending process, but Story and her staff ease those fears with their attention to detail and professionalism. Her entire award-winning staff has a calming effect during each step of the process.

Kari’s enviable success would have most professionals basking in the accolades, but not Story. In 2019, she experienced what she calls a “career accomplishment,” by hiring a new loan officer and opening a new office in Bethany Beach. The expansion allows First Home Mortgage to provide its legendary service to even more clients ready to purchase real estate as a primary residence, beach home or investment property.

Story once described First Home Mortgage as “small but mighty.” That is an apt description, but their power comes from the reason for their might. “What sets us apart is customer service,” she stated matter-of-factly, and First Home Mortgage’s demonstrated success is a powerful testament to that assertion.