Today we’d like to introduce you to Ralph & Nike Ojo.
Ralph migrated to the United States in 1984 with little or no money in his pocket and no family to stay with but friends. After two weeks of living in the United States, he became homeless but found his way through. His first job started off as a dishwasher at the University of Houston and by working and moving aggressively, he paid his way through college. He attended Prairie View A&M University in 1987, majored in Agriculture with aspirations to establish his own poultry farm. After graduation, he stumbled upon a job as a Social Worker. With the knowledge he gained, that job ignited his passion for interacting with the family members of the mentally challenged. Ralph then decided to go back to Prairie View A&M University to get his Master’s Degree in Sociology in order to set himself apart in the social work industry.
After graduating, he accepted a job offer as a teacher at the UH-Downtown and Houston Community College as a Sociology instructor. Ralph’s communication and interaction skills increased in being able to adapt to reach his students. In 1995, he purchased his first home and this became a stepping stone into his Real Estate career. He saw the value in the industry and immediately became a real estate agent. His career started as an agent under the brokerage of Christie Realty and was the top producer for eight consecutive years selling over 380+ homes.
In 2001, he decided to start his own business to become a broker and Discovered Homes Investment Inc. was born. Transferring the skills acquired over the years at Christie Realty, business started picking up quickly and he became one of the top produces in the Houston area for Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). Around this time, his wife Nike decided to leave her job as a deputy clerk at the Harris County Tax collector’s office to join her husband. This move birthed the Mortgage Lending arm of the business.
Nike started her corporate career in the United States in 1996 as a Deputy Clerk at the Harris County Tax Assessor and Collector’s Office after migrating to the US in 1995, She has always helped her husband who had already kicked off his career in real estate with the administrative aspects of the business after her job at the tax office. Once business started booming in the real estate industry, the workload for Ralph increased and she decided to leave her job, joined him full-time in 2002, she has not looked back since then.
As a member of the National Associate of Mortgage Brokers and Association of Independent Mortgage Experts, Nike has built a reputation of helping low-to-high income earners rebuild and revitalize their credit to gain approval for their dream home. She specializes in different loan programs available from VA, FHA, USDA, Conventional loans and many more. Although the average time to close a loan is 30 days, Nike has the ability to cut that time in half from 10-15 days to help buyers move into their dream home. As a mortgage broker, you must have the skill in paying close attention to details in order for a loan to go through underwriting in a timely manner. No matter the color, age, amount, or marital status, Nike holds every transaction extremely important. Her passion is to educate the young men and women coming into the workforce about the benefits of starting to build their real estate empire and not wasting their hard-earned money on unnecessary stuff.
We believe in the Bible verse, Proverbs 23:7, which states “As a man thinketh, so is he.” If you think and believe you can achieve the dream of home ownership, you will. Every client that comes into the office to start their mortgage process is formulated into the mindset that they can and they will own their dream home despite their credit history if they follow the guidelines, we lay out for them. Ralph and Nike have been married for about 28 years now, we are blessed with three kids.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Actually God has been so good to us. We have enjoyed a lot of support from the community. We believe every challenge we face is a stepping stone to greater success. Challenges are part of life and are meant to be overcome. We choose not to dwell on the challenges of life but on ways to overcome them and remain grateful to God. We have to remain focused, dedicated and disciplined in order to remain a force to be reckoned with in any industry.
Please tell us about your company.
We are a Real Estate and Mortgage company specializing in residential home purchases and mortgage lending services. We also provide mentorship to those who may be interested in becoming real estate investors and agents. As company, we have provided home ownership services to thousands of families in the Houston and surrounding areas. We have also mentored other real estate agents who are now business owners impacting lives positively as well.
What sets us apart is the willingness to assist prospects when we come in contact with them regardless of their status. We stay in contact with them from the beginning to the end especially those that have been turned down by other financial institutions. We are profoundly proud to have been able to acquire our own office space Dec 2019 in Sugarland. This is a dream come through for us as a Team. It brings us closer to the many families we serve. As a company, we recently had a food drive where we catered to 205 families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing non-perishable food items as one of our way of giving back to the community.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Get the word out more about the importance of home ownership. Many families are not aware they could own a home of their own. We would educate more families to start early.
Contact Info:
- Address: 800 Bonaventure Way Suite 107
Sugarland TX 77479 - Website: www.discoveredhomes.com
- Phone: 713 777-1250
- Email: discoveredhomes@sbcglobal.net
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