By George Berkheimer
for the Bedford Gazette
Linda and Thomas Bullington left Bedford County to pursue careers in music education and safety engineering and returned with the knowledge to start a financial services business.
“We were both born in Bedford County and I graduated from Chestnut Ridge High school and later the Indiana University of Pennsylvania,” Linda Bullington said. “I taught music at several county schools.”
Due to employment considerations, they relocated to Beaumont, Texas, and later Mifflinburg, Pa.
“We underwent a total of five moves before we returned to Bedford County,” she said.
Along the way, the Bullingtons also switched careers.
Linda stayed with music instruction until the real estate agent who helped them buy and sell their house in Mifflinburg suggested she get a real estate license.
“It was a backdoor into the lending industry,” she recalled.
Meanwhile, her husband spent his early career in safety engineering and later wound up with a human resources role with JLG Industries in Bedford before getting involved in real estate and supporting Linda’s financial services work.
“It’s true,” Linda Bullington said, “he quit his day job to work with his wife. We’re happy with the outcome.”
Personal Service
“I began working in the mortgage industry in 1998, as a branch office for national lenders,” Bullington said. “We opened Bullington Financial Services in March 2014, and offer purchase and refinance options for residential mortgages for Pennsylvania residents with loan programs in Veterans Administration, Federal Housing Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and conventional loans.”
Working in the mortgage industry demands a lot of trust, and putting clients at ease takes both a measure of skill and hard work.
“I find that most people appreciate working face-to-face when purchasing and financing a home,” Bullington said. “It is the interaction with people at your office that makes everyone more comfortable with the process. Most of our customers walk in the door and we are able to build relationships.”
In many cases they have been referred to the Bullingtons by friends or family, or know about their services through a civic organization or went to school with them.
“They like coming to us because you can’t ask a telemarketer a question that’s not in their script,” Bullington said. “And if there’s something we don’t have an answer for, we’ll find the answer and get back to them.”
Smart Choices
The housing market has been in flux for a few years, and federal intervention has resulted in interest rates that now give many home buyers pause.
“We’re here to help them make the best choices they can,” Bullington said. “We know that rates will eventually go back down, but current conditions make a lot of people apprehensive.”
Typically, she added, the average mortgage holder in the United States refinances every two to five years, so mortgage holders shouldn’t be afraid of refinancing.
“We do a lot of work with people right out of college who are just starting out on their own, helping them to get a credit package together to get a house at a comfortable price point for them,” Bullington said. “Our advice is that they figure out the maximum they would be comfortable with, look at their budget, and ask themselves if it will allow them to still take their family out on a Friday night for pizza.”
Unlike the bad advice many loan applicants received from irrefutable lenders in the mid-2000s, Bullington said the best advice is to simply live within one’s means.
“A house doesn’t have to be perfect, because you can always invest sweat equity or use simple design tricks to improve it,” she said.
Return to Roots
Financial services and real estate might not have been the career she envisioned at the outset, but Bullington said the journey has been rewarding.
“We were blessed to meet many wonderful people throughout our moves, but were always hopeful to return to our roots,” she said. “There is truly no place like home, and Bedford will always be home. Bedford County brings the hometown feeling of seeing people you know in your everyday activities, and the ability to visit with old acquaintances is very special.”
It also has four beautiful seasons that offer diverse activities throughout the year.
“From golf to skiing, we have so many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors here,” Bullington said. “We’re going to celebrate 20 years in our location on Richard Street in 2024. We feel blessed to have multiple businesses that our family owns and operates here.”