May 2025 Lender News from AHFA

One Year, One Step Closer to Home:

Goggins Family Celebrates First Year of Homeownership

From rising rent to keys in hand, the Goggins family’s story is one of faith, focus, and first-time homebuyer success.


“After living in an apartment for three years and watching the rent go up year after year, we knew it was time — not just to move out, but to move forward into a home of our own,” said Desiree Goggins, who works in production/manufacturing. “The next four months were all about building our credit and improving our credit mix. After that, we spent a month narrowing down homes online, ruling out anything that didn’t meet our needs.”


The Gadsden family credits their Realtor, Austin Matthews of eXp Realty, with helping them find the home that fit.


“Once we hired our Realtor, he immediately showed us what would become our dream home. We kept looking, just to be sure — but our hearts kept coming back to that one.

When the seller accepted our offer, we were absolutely ecstatic!”


Loan officer Gabe Crain of First Federal Bank ensured the Goggins met all the qualifications for a First Step loan.


“August 17, 2025, will mark one year since we stepped into homeownership,” said Desiree. “I will forever be grateful for the AHFA program — thank you!”

The Goggins family become homeowners

The Goggins family celebrate Christmas for the first time in their new home

See current First Step interest rates, income limits, and other program details at www.ahfa.com.

AHFA Hosts Green Socks Day with Operation Hope

To emphasize the importance of financial education, AHFA staff participated in Operation Hope at the United Way of Central Alabama in Birmingham. The April 30 event provided attendees with practical knowledge to improve their financial well-being.


AHFA’s Carrie Hamaker and Cathy James welcomed participants to strike a pose at the photo booth. As part of the nationwide Green Socks Day Challenge, individuals were encouraged to take pictures of themselves wearing green socks and post them to social media using #greensocksday to raise awareness about financial literacy.

Top 2Q25 Lenders Awarded for Using AHFA Programs

Each quarter, AHFA applauds the individual lenders and the lending company who closed the most loans using the First Step and Step Up programs. Winners for the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year are listed below. We’ll be highlighting them individually on social media in the weeks to come.

Lindsey Nance, Movement Mortgage (1st place)

Lisa Newton, Lendlo Mortgage (tied for 2nd)

Shonnie McNeill, Peoples Mortgage

(tied for 2nd)

Alan Easterwood, SouthPoint Bank

(tied for 2nd)

Individual Leading Lenders


The leading lenders who closed the most loans using AHFA programs for 2Q25 are listed below in alphabetical order.


Lindsey Nance, Movement Mortgage


Lisa Newton, Lendlo Mortgage


Shonnie McNeill, Peoples Mortgage


Alan Easterwood, SouthPoint Bank

Top Participating Lender Company


Our top participating lender company for 2Q25 is Fairway Mortgage. 


We asked Fairway lenders to recall a moment when a first-time homebuyer reminded them why they do what they do. Stay tuned for their responses on upcoming newsletters and social media posts.


Congratulations to all of our winners! We appreciate them for using AHFA programs to help homebuyers.

Realtors and Lenders, Let’s Connect! We Want to Meet You!

Are you a mortgage or real estate professional who wants to know more about AHFA programs? AHFA offers on-site training on our programs that covers borrower and property eligibility, processing, documentation, income calculations and more. Our “Doing Business with AHFA” class qualifies for 3 CEUs, certified by the Alabama Real Estate Commission. To schedule an informational visit or training session, simply email Alana Beaugez.

April 21: Lender visit with Whitney Hancock, Mobile

April 21: Lender visit with Stockton Mortgage, Mobile

April 21: Lender visit with Mutual of Omaha, Mobile

April 21: Lender visit with Trustmark Mortgage, Mobile

April 22: Lunch and Learn with Mobile Area Association of Realtors

April 22: Lender visit with Direct Home Loans, Mobile

April 22: Lender visit with Embrace Home Loans, Mobile

April 23: Lender visit with First Federal Mortgage, Mobile

April 23: Lender visit with Union Home Mortgage, Mobile

April 25: CE Class hosted by Acopia, Anniston

April 29: Lender visit with Local Bank, Guntersville

April 30: CE Class hosted by Berkshire, Auburn

May 1: Lender visit with Cornerstone Financial, Birmingham

May 1: Lender visit with Ellason Mortgage, Birmingham

To schedule a visit or training session, email Alana Beaugez.

AHFA Kids Hits Gulf Shores

AHFA Kids traded spreadsheets for sunscreen to offer financial literacy lessons to a homeschooled group at Gulf State Park in April. The event featured educational programming incorporating coastal conservation themes.

Holiday Closing Scheduled

AHFA will be closed Monday, May 26 for Memorial Day. We will reopen at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27.

Current First Step & Step Up Interest Rates

Below are the current interest rates for AHFA’s homeownership programs. Please note that rates are subject to change without notification.

First Step

  • FHA / VA / USDA: 5.750%
  • CONV-Freddie Mac: 6.250%

Step Up 

  • FHA / VA / USDA: 6.500%
  • CONV-Freddie Mac: 7.000%

Alabama Housing Finance Authority | www.AHFA.com

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