Newrez's Brittany Boccher on the impact of VA loans from both sides of the transaction
Veterans Day is an annual reminder to thank those who serve our country, past and present, who protect the country’s freedoms.
In the mortgage industry, a thank you goes beyond words spoken on an annual holiday. Lenders, brokers, and originators work hard to educate both colleagues and veterans on the VA loan benefits earned through military service.
One military spouse finds herself on the other side of the VA loan transaction now, and it has allowed her to serve other military families through education and outreach.
Brittany Boccher (pictured top), national director of military strategy and military engagement at Newrez, has been a military spouse since 2005. She joined the lender almost nine years ago to build its programs for service members, veterans and their families, and she described them ahead of Wednesday’s Veterans Day.
"Anyone can say thank you," Boccher told Mortgage Professional America. "We want to back it up with action."
Her story, then the training
Boccher joined Newrez with no mortgage background, she said, after struggling with unemployment and underemployment as a military spouse.
"They looked at me and said, 'You don't need to know about the mortgage company right now. We need what you know about the military community. We can teach you everything,’" Boccher said.
The couple used a VA loan to buy their first home in California, she said.
"That's a hard market to purchase a home in and to be a first-time home buyer in," Boccher said. "And if it weren't for the VA home loan benefit, we would not have been able to purchase in that particular market."
Newrez trains its originators on the military move cycle, and how it shapes a closing, Boccher said. She said the VA benefit was built for families who move.
"It was built to help the veterans. It was built to help them as they moved from one place to another," Boccher said.
At Newrez, she said, the mission from the start was to build a military-friendly company.
"In order to serve external, we have to be prepared internal," Boccher said. "And I always say our back of the house has to be ready to serve the front of the house."
Newrez has an internal military and veteran lending certification that is part of onboarding, along with monthly continuing education classes for any team member, Boccher said. It also has a director of VA education and policy, a scenario desk staffed by subject matter experts for originators with tough files, and support for obtaining a borrower's certificate of eligibility.
"We want you to know the military alphabet. We want you to understand the rank structure. We want you to understand the move cycle and what that is like and why the closing date is not flexible," Boccher said. "And there's a period at the end of that sentence. The closing date is not flexible."
Newrez also gives every military borrower or veteran a challenge coin, whatever the loan product, in person at closing or by mail, she said. A new version of the coin is in the works for 2027.
"The transaction didn't stop at the closing table; the relationship just begins," Boccher said. "We're starting this journey of homeownership with you. It's not ending."
Where the money goes
Newrez asked military spouses and veterans to form a council and identify what keeps military families from owning a home, Boccher said. The council settled on five barriers, which are mental health, employment, financial readiness, family readiness, and the move itself.
The company then looks for partners whose missions match those categories, she said.
"Our dollar that we give out into the community is going to something that's moving the needle," Boccher said. "And it might be a slow move in that needle, but we know that it's going to be impactful."
She said the payoff Newrez looks for shows up as relationships, referrals, and word of mouth. That shapes how the company weighs community giving against traditional brand advertising.
"There's nothing wrong with putting your logo and a thank you on a billboard," Boccher said. "For us, we really would rather take those funds and invest them in a grassroots way that we're going to really see the return on investment."
For Boccher, Veterans Day is also personal. The military oath was her husband’s, she said, and she made her own vow to him when they married and started a family.
"While he was the one who raised his hand and was committed to that military service, it's the family," Boccher said. "The family serves. We're there to ensure the house stays operational. We're there to make sure everything runs so that the mission can continue."
During active duty, she said, home was wherever the military sent the family. Now that she is on the veteran side, it means something different to her.
"I've learned home is the place where reconnection happens after years of separation," Boccher said. "Home is where recovery happens because there's a lot that takes place over those years of service that needs to be repaired."
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