How the legacy of homeownership guides one mortgage leader’s role

There’s a street named after him in Hillsborough, Faribault Lane, and a chimney from one of his original homes remains standing. A plaque honors the family after Christensen’s great-grandmother, Mary Pherribo, donated land to the city. She, too, was a homeowner, having bought a house for $500, Christensen said, noting some family members still live in the home.

“I’ve always considered homeownership to be a part of your life journey,” she said. “When I talk about role modeling, this is what I mean. My parents were homeowners, my grandparents were homeowners, my uncles. I just presumed that this is the way you live your life – you grow up, you go to college, you buy a house, you get a picket fence and a dog.”

Despite such a legacy, Christensen had her sights set on a career in interior design. “I just kind of happenstance into mortgages,” she said. “I don’t know that you’ll ever meet anyone who’s, like, ‘I went to school to get into mortgages!’ No, we all fell into it in some way. I’m the quintessential mortgage person, I was actually going into interior design.”

It was at the encouragement of a friend after Christensen gave birth that she started thinking about entering the mortgage industry. “She said ‘you’ve got a great brain and would make an awesome underwriter,’” Christensen recalled. “That’s how I fell into it. I took some training courses at the Mortgage Training Institute – which isn’t even open anymore – got some certifications, and started contract processing for a brokerage in Salt Lake City. I built my career from there.”