Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
  • NEWS
  • Your Career
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • ENTREPRENEUR
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • TRANSITION
  • Health
    Sailor credits mindset, support with helping her fight cancer

    Sailor credits mindset, support with helping her fight cancer

    VA takes step toward increasing beneficiaries’ access to care

    VA takes step toward increasing beneficiaries’ access to care

    Units experimenting with pilot programs to address suicide

    Units experimenting with pilot programs to address suicide

    Program for service women transitions to virtual training

    Program for service women transitions to virtual training

  • Money
    This Army veteran has a new approach to wealth management

    This Army veteran has a new approach to wealth management

    Army Emergency Relief looks to convert $1 million into grants for soldiers

    Army Emergency Relief looks to convert $1 million into grants for soldiers

    Pandemic affects home buying process for military families

    Pandemic affects home buying process for military families

    Are you financially prepared to be activated?

    Are you financially prepared to be activated?

  • Travel
    Gronski reflects on ride of his life

    Gronski reflects on ride of his life

    Take leave. Use these exclusive military discounts. Repeat.

    Take leave. Use these exclusive military discounts. Repeat.

    Moving Benefits for Service Members

    Moving Benefits for Service Members

    Fun on a Budget

    Fun on a Budget

  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
  • RESOURCES
    • MONEY GUIDE
  • About us
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
Reserve & National Guard
  • NEWS
  • Your Career
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • ENTREPRENEUR
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • TRANSITION
  • Health
    Sailor credits mindset, support with helping her fight cancer

    Sailor credits mindset, support with helping her fight cancer

    VA takes step toward increasing beneficiaries’ access to care

    VA takes step toward increasing beneficiaries’ access to care

    Units experimenting with pilot programs to address suicide

    Units experimenting with pilot programs to address suicide

    Program for service women transitions to virtual training

    Program for service women transitions to virtual training

  • Money
    This Army veteran has a new approach to wealth management

    This Army veteran has a new approach to wealth management

    Army Emergency Relief looks to convert $1 million into grants for soldiers

    Army Emergency Relief looks to convert $1 million into grants for soldiers

    Pandemic affects home buying process for military families

    Pandemic affects home buying process for military families

    Are you financially prepared to be activated?

    Are you financially prepared to be activated?

  • Travel
    Gronski reflects on ride of his life

    Gronski reflects on ride of his life

    Take leave. Use these exclusive military discounts. Repeat.

    Take leave. Use these exclusive military discounts. Repeat.

    Moving Benefits for Service Members

    Moving Benefits for Service Members

    Fun on a Budget

    Fun on a Budget

  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
  • RESOURCES
    • MONEY GUIDE
  • About us
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE FREE
Reserve & National Guard
No Result
View All Result

Navy reservist on a mission to welcome families home

Jessica Manfre
by Jessica Manfre
March 15, 2020
Navy reservist on a mission to welcome families home

An Air Force couple receives a backyard makeover as part of Mission: Welcome Home. Photo credit: Chandee Ulch and Garrett Clark.

Caliber Home Loans is ambushing military families — for a good reason.

When Navy Reserve Lt. Bryan Bergjans told people he wanted a career in military lending, they looked at him like he was crazy. The push to encourage home ownership in the military and veteran communities wasn’t a priority at the time. Still, he saw an opportunity to improve the process.

“The lack of education around the program itself from all of the folks involved in the process across the board was terrible, from the realtor to the underwriter, it was bad,” Bergjans, senior vice president of military lending for Caliber Home Loans, said.

He enlisted in 1995 right out of high school and joined the Navy Reserve three years later to help with his education. By 2009, he received an MBA, working his civilian career around deployments. Bergjans set out to educate service members and their families about the home buying process, understanding that setting down roots is part of the ultimate American dream.

In his experience, the two common mistakes he sees service members make when buying a home are:

  1. Not getting a VA home loan certificate of eligibility first. [Read more about the steps to take on the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website]
  2. Service members don’t fully comprehend the financial obligation of owning a home — including the costs of repairs, replacements, and not becoming “house poor.”

Bergjans often speaks at conferences and military installations to simply break down those common misconceptions, but he also wanted to do more.

The Bergjans family.

At the start of 2020, Caliber partnered with Army spouse Maria Reed, founder and CEO of “Moving with the Military,” to sponsor a series of home makeovers for military families around the U.S.

“Whether we do business with you from a mortgage perspective or we roll our sleeves up and pick up a shovel, we want to welcome you home,” he said.

For the inaugural makeover, a team of roughly 20 volunteers surprised a St. Louis, Missouri-based Air Force family as part of Mission: Welcome Home. The matriarch of the household, Cat Vandament, was nominated because she opens her home every Friday to locals nearby Scott Air Force Base. Bergjans described the surprise as the perfect way to make a positive impact in Caliber’s own area, while doing something special for an active-duty family.

And Vandament says the makeover will allow her to expand her work for others.

“This was one of the most incredible surprises that I’ve has ever been blessed with. But more than that, it will allow my family to serve both their military and civilian community on an even larger scale. Our yard is now a space that I have been dreaming of ever since we moved in. I feel like now my yard is an inviting and comfy space where friends, both old and new, can gather and continue to cultivate connection and create memories,” she said.

Read more about Caliber Home Loans and its community outreach initiatives at https://www.calibermilitarylending.com/community-outreach.

Read comments
Tags: Bryan BergjansCaliber Home Loanscivilian careerhome ownershipMaria Reedmilitary familiesMission: Welcome HomeMoving with the MilitaryNavy ReserveVA home loans
Jessica Manfre

Jessica Manfre

Jessica Manfre, LMSW is an author and freelance writer for multiple publications. She is a licensed social worker, earning her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Central Florida in 2020. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Northwestern State University. Jessica is the co-founder and CFO of Inspire Up, a 501c3 nonprofit promoting global generosity and kindness through education, empowerment, and community building. She is the spouse of an active-duty Coast Guardsman and mother of two. When she isn’t working, you can find her reading a good book and drinking too much coffee.

Related Posts

VA takes step toward increasing beneficiaries’ access to care

by Emily Marcason-Tolmie
Dec-18-2020
0
VA takes step toward increasing beneficiaries’ access to care

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued an interim final rule impacting certified registered nurse anesthetists who are the primary...

Read more

Here’s how the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program can help reservists, guardsmen

by AmeriForce Exclusive
Dec-10-2020
0
Here’s how the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program can help reservists, guardsmen

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to long-term care insurance.

Read more

Husband, wife pen book about their ‘secret life in the National Guard’

by Bianca Strzalkowski
Aug-17-2020
0
Husband, wife pen book about their ‘secret life in the National Guard’

"One weekend a month, two weeks a year — that’s a commercial from the 1980’s," Lt. Col. Kevin Dellicker.

Read more

Protecting your family with the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program

by AmeriForce Exclusive
Jul-01-2020
0
Protecting your family with the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program

The prospect of needing long-term care may be far from your mind today, but circumstances can change.

Read more

Project 33 keeps memories of the fallen alive

by Andrea Peck
May-15-2020
0
Project 33 keeps memories of the fallen alive

Registration is now open for the virtual Memorial Day run.

Read more

Pandemic affects home buying process for military families

by Jessica Manfre
May-14-2020
0
Pandemic affects home buying process for military families

For those guardsmen or reservists in the process of selling their home, refinancing, or beginning a new home loan process,...

Read more

Ads

Connect with other Reserve Members

Military News, delivered to your inbox

Get weekly news updates, unsubscribe anytime.

Reserve & National Guard

  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Contact us
  • Advertising
  • Digital Magazines
© 2020 Reserve & National Guard by AmeriForce. Site by SCBW

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
  • Your Career
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • ENTREPRENEUR
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • TRANSITION
  • Health
  • Money
  • Travel
  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
  • RESOURCES
    • MONEY GUIDE
  • About us
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • CONTACT

© 2020 Reserve & National Guard by AmeriForce. Site by SCBW