Denika has been dreaming about buying her first home for nearly a decade. When her kids were enrolled with Community Progress Council for early childhood education, she took the Pathway to Homeownership workshops for the first time.
“I wanted to see if I was ready at that point,” Denika said. “I was learning a lot on my own, so it was also about what I still didn’t know.”
She worked on increasing her credit score and building her savings, making steady progress. This spring, she took the homebuyer education course with Community Progress Council again, as a “refresher.”
“I was making sure, at this point in my life, am I ready for this next step?” Denika said.
Most of the process, she says, is education: What it takes to be a homeowner, how it’s different from renting, learning the terminology around the loan process, your personal credit score, your assets.
“It prepared me for the responsibility,” Denika said. “You have to have all these things ready, just when it comes to applying for a home loan.”
From there, she set out to find the right place, looking sometimes 2 or 3 times a week with her Realtor, whom she connected with through CPC. In a sellers’ market, it took Denika some time to find the right home — and then to have her bid accepted.
“I had some heartbreak,” she said. “I’m just happy things happen for a reason.”
Last August, she closed on her home: Five bedrooms and two full bathrooms, with enough space for herself and six of her seven children who are living with her, from 2 to 15 years old. The house was mostly move-in ready, with just a few things to do to make it feel like home.
“I walk in there every day and it’s just unreal,” Denika said, smiling. “To be one of the first ones in my family to accomplish something like this, the freedom to do whatever… I just feel like it’s investing in yourself.”
When she thinks about the team at Community Progress Council, she’s grateful to the Housing & Financial Education team, and especially to her counselor, Nicole.
“We made a great connection from the door,” Denika said. “Listening to her personal story gave me the confidence to say, ‘I can do this.’ For someone to believe in you, it just makes you go harder.”
It makes the process easier when you’re surrounded by a good team, she added.
Having gone through the Pathway to Homeownership workshops and staying in touch through one-on-one check-ins helped Denika qualify for down payment assistance. But it also helped her navigate some of the aspects of homebuying that can come as a surprise to first-time homeowners.
For Denika, that included the savings buyers need for unexpected upfront costs: Inspection, appraisal, insurance, and then a roof repair that needed to be addressed before move-in.
“Take in as much information as possible,” Denika said. “Ask questions. Prepare yourself, and surround yourself with a good team.”
In the end, her journey took her about eight years.
Throughout the process, her kids have been her motivation, Denika said — both in setting an example for them, but also building the dream and the goal in their minds, too.
“It’s not an overnight thing,” she said. “But it’s possible. I did this with seven kids. It might take you a little longer, but keep fighting toward that goal.”