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When two local realtors were presented with the opportunity to give back to local heroes, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity. 

LaGrange Real Estate Professionals Thomas and Evyn Crocker recently became Homes for Heroes affiliates that allows local teachers, first responders, veterans, active military and healthcare professionals to receive major savings on their homes. 

“School teachers, law enforcement, people that work in healthcare field and veterans oftentimes are under appreciated,” Thomas said. “They do a lot of very important work for the community. They are community heroes. We are just using this as an opportunity to give a little something back to these people.” 

Homes for Heroes is a national program that was started after the 9/11 tragedy as a way to give back to for their service when they make real estate transactions. Homes for Heroes offers a credit at closing for Hero home sellers and a cash back reward for Hero Home buyers.

To expand the circle of giving, Homes for Heroes, Inc., donates a portion of its earnings to the Homes for Heroes Foundation. Every time a hero buys or sells a home using the Homes for Heroes program, they are also helping heroes in need. 

Thomas said there are affiliates all over the country but that each county is limited to one affiliate. 

“There’s two ways to save and depends whether you are buying or selling,” Thomas said. “If you’re selling a house, you get a credit at closing that is based on a specific percentage of the price of the house. You can use that for negation costs or use it toward closing costs, or if you don’t use it for anything else, it would end up coming back to your total earnings from your home.” 

Evyn said that if a qualified hero is buying a house, they will receive a true cash back reward with no strings attached.

“As a school teacher, veteran or firefighter having that percentage of money can make a big impact,” Evyn said. “When you move in, there’s things you’re going to want to do. There’s walls to paint, floors or kitchen cabinet renovations that you can use that money toward.”  

Additionally, when heroes buy or sell a home using Homes for Heroes, they also help other heroes in need because Homes for Heroes, Inc. donates a portion of its earnings to the Homes for Heroes Foundation. This Circle of Giving strengthens American communities by putting more money into the hands of our American heroes, and benefits American community programs, organizations and businesses.

In the last year, the Crocker’s have been able to save or give almost $10,000 total to local heroes in the area. 

“We’ve been in the position of both being teachers, and there are some businesses where you can earn perks but these heroes have no way to really ever earn perks,” Evyn said. “It’s typically low pay, and they don’t get a lot of recognition. These are high stress professions that sometimes are undervalued and underappreciated.” 

The Crockers said they wanted a simple way to say, ‘thank you’ to their local heroes. 

“We want our local heroes to buy houses in this community and stay in this community because they are what keeps the community afloat,” Thomas said. “We don’t benefit from this whatsoever, but it’s still really important for us to give back to these local heroes.”  

For more information about the program, email Homes for Heroes lender Mandy Nolen anolen@statewidemortgage.com or call Evyn at (706) 302-1673 and Thomas at (706) 302-1976. You can also email them at evyn@gorealtyteam.com or thomas@gorealtyteam.com. The two are on Facebook @lagrangerealestateprofessionals.