Karen Serfis

For over twenty years, Karen Serfis has worked to increase homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income households who wish to purchase their first home in Arlington and the surrounding communities. She teaches Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) homebuyer education classes and provides pre-purchase, post-purchase, and foreclosure prevention counseling.

Karen is a member of VHDA’s Homeownership Advisory Board and a co-chair of Arlington County’s Homeownership Working Group. In 2007 and 2008 she served on Governor Kaine’s Virginia Foreclosure Prevention Task Force. In May 2004 she received an Award of Excellence from the Virginia Association of Housing Counselors. Karen is a graduate of James Madison University where she received a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business. Karen is a certified housing counselor and has earned NeighborWorks NCHEC certifications in homeownership education and counseling, pre-purchase homeownership education, post-purchase homeownership education, foreclosure intervention and default counseling, financial capability, and homeownership counseling for program managers and executive directors. Prior to working with first time home buyers, Karen worked in the banking industry for eight years.