Follow the signs: Real-estate team opens doors for deaf clients
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The topic is home buying, but this is really an evolving love story.
The chapters include a sibling's love for her sister, a couple's love for each other and a growing love to serve a culture that's unique.
But first meet Beth Clement, a real-estate agent in John L. Scott's Federal Way office.
Meet Janis Layman and Vlad Schmidt, loan officers in Seattle Mortgage's Lynnwood office.
Despite the miles between them, they've teamed up to offer deaf home buyers and sellers a unique service: American Sign Language (ASL) every step of the way from buyer-education classes through finding, purchasing or selling homes.
All three sign, which means ASL interpreters need not be employed, as is common when deaf individuals do business in a hearing world. But only one is deaf: Schmidt.
For Layman and Clement, in particular, entering the world of the nonhearing (a world Clement says emphatically is not a world of the disabled) has been a labor of love.
As word of their efforts gets out, people such as Ian Aranha are encouraged. Hunting for his first house, the biotech-firm employee, who is deaf, says via e-mail: "many deaf people are hesitant to go forth into real estate due to fears of lack of communication on both sides. I went out to meet some realtors a while ago but never could find someone who could sign or at least guide me through the myriad of processes."
Clement and Layman, however, "have taken bold steps where others fear to tread," Aranha says. "Most deaf people look at them as helpful because they are the only ones who took the initiative to give a (home-buyer-education) class in sign."
Clement's entry into the deaf culture began in childhood. Her younger sister, Vicki Frishmann, lost her hearing at age 2, the result of spinal meningitis. "I took my first sign-language class at 9 years old," Clement recalls. "I was real close to my sister, so I learned it fairly well."
Still close to her sister, Clement hopes to one day help her buy a house.
Putting skills to work
As an adult, Clement put her sign-language skills to work helping train deaf employees at restaurants where she worked as a server or manager. After 20 years in that business, she decided the time was right for a change.
Toying with the idea of becoming a professional interpreter, she took six quarters of ASL at local community colleges. With several additional years' training looming, she reconsidered. "What I really wanted for many, many years was to be in real estate," Clement said. The big draws: "I get to work with people, which I've always done, and all my hard work pays off. I like that there's no limit on your income."
Beginning her new career with John L. Scott last March, Clement soon decided to specialize in helping deaf clients (although not exclusively; the majority of her clients are hearing).
Helping the deaf "makes me feel great. They're so grateful and appreciative. And they have many challenges" to becoming homeowners.
A step process
For the 3,600 deaf individuals in King and Snohomish counties, the 9,200 throughout the state, their first obstacle on the road to homeownership is understanding the process.
Because deaf adults read on average at a fifth-grade level, simply providing written information isn't an adequate solution, observes G. Leon Curtis, director of the state's Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
"It has nothing to do with their brain; it's just that English is an auditory language, and it's very difficult for a deaf person to understand something that's auditory — especially when it comes to idioms," Curtis said through an interpreter. "A deaf person relies on visual input, and ASL is visual."
Additionally, ASL has different sentence structure than written or spoken English. Example: "We are going to the house" becomes "house we go" in sign.
The next challenge is financial. Curtis estimates 65 percent of the state's deaf adults earn $20,000 or less annually. And as Clement has discovered, many have credit issues. She believes it's not because they're bad money managers. Rather, financial education for many has been lacking — a sad fact that can hurt their ability to become homeowners.
"We grow up listening to our parents talk about how important it is to pay our bills or credit cards on time," she notes. "These people don't grow up hearing that. So if they're a little low on cash, they skip a bill. They don't know how bad it is to do that."
But Layman and Schmidt know, and as loan officers they're making it a mission to educate the deaf community.
Which brings us to the next love story: theirs.
Fluent in six languages
A native of Perm, Russia, Schmidt has been deaf since age 2. His first language is spoken Russian; his second is signed Russian. After studying at a college in Belarus — his specialty was computers — he emigrated to Germany in 1990. His third language became signed German, followed by spoken German.
Two years ago, Schmidt moved to the Seattle area. He's since learned ASL, followed by spoken English — six languages in all. His spoken English is fluent, lightly touched with a Russian accent. Helping those in the deaf community buy homes is more than a business for him, he says. It's a way to serve his community.
Schmidt met Layman 10 months ago; their friendship easily blossomed into love.
"I signed a little bit when we met, and since then my signing has gotten a lot better," she says, laughing, and jokes: "That's probably why I learned to sign — to meet Vlad. ... He's absolutely charming, more open, straightforward and direct than anyone I've ever met. It's really funny because we come from totally opposite worlds in every way."
In fact, growing up in Yakima, Layman never knew anyone who was deaf. Still, "I wanted to sign since I was a kid. I was driven to learn this language. It was like a passion ... it's still a passion."
After four college quarters of ASL instruction, Layman says she has much to learn. But she's grown comfortable attending the numerous social events held by Seattle's tightknit deaf community.
"We're pretty focused with the deaf communities," she says.
As with Clement, helping that community has become their mission. "Buying a house is a complicated process, especially in the deaf community because they're not exposed to it," Layman says. "And when you have to deal with people who are not hearing impaired, it's frustrating. Between Vlad and I working with deaf clients, the communication is fine. We're not speaking two different languages."
Experts on programs
To fully help their customers, the three have taken the Washington State Housing Finance Commission training, becoming certified to teach the free home-buyer-education classes that qualify buyers for down-payment assistance and government-loan programs. One loan in particular, Fannie Mae's HomeChoice, is for people with disabilities. (See www.homepath.com for details.)
So far the three have signed one class in Seattle; another is scheduled for February in Tacoma. More will be held as the need arises. (For more information contact jlayman@seattlemortgage.com or vschmidt@seattlemortgage.com.)
Those who attend are under no obligation to use these three in their home-buying process. Layman is emphatic about that. "We're not there to promote ourselves or our companies," she says.
Still, their communication skills make them a natural for clients such as Stephan Kennedy. A Starbucks employee who's deaf, he's in the hunt for his first home.
"After years of paying monthly rents with apartments, I decided it is time to buy a condo or house and wanted to make good investment," he says via e-mail. "But I knew nothing about buying a home."
Searching the Internet, he found information about the HomeChoice loan, which led him to Seattle Mortgage and Layman and Schmidt.
"I was truly blessed to have someone who can sign and assist me to go through the complex process with the loan for a first-time buyer," he says. "Then they also referred me to Beth Clement, the real-estate agent who can sign very well."
Elizabeth Rhodes can be reached at erhodes@seattletimes.com