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Our Customers

Perhaps the best way to get to know our customers, and the invaluable assistance The HomeOwnership Center provides, is through their stories. The following three individuals participated in three of our most popular programs: Home Rehabilitation, Foreclosure Prevention and First-time HomeBuyers.

Home Rehabilitation for Seniors: Mrs. G.*

Mrs. G, a 63 year old widow , was on the verge of giving up. Her deteriorating home in Barneveld, Oneida County, suffered from peeling paint, a crumbling basement wall, unsafe stairways, dangerous furnace and heating issues, and faulty wiring. A siding job left unfinished when her husband died three years ago left the outside of her home covered with plywood and frayed tarpaper.

Gary Edwards, contracts coordinator for UNHS NeighborWorks® Homeownership Center, needed only a few minutes of assessing Mrs. G’s house to realize she was a prime candidate for the SAFE (Senior Assistance for Emergency) Program funded by the Governor’s Office for Small Cities.

With $18,459 of GOSC funding, vinyl siding was installed on the entire house, the fieldstone wall in her basement was rebuilt, new basement stairs were constructed, all of the peeling paint was eliminated with aluminum wrapping, and a technician cleaned her furnace.

Mrs. G. said in a letter. "You all provided kindness that sometimes is all a person needs – young or old.”

*This story was featured in a 2006 publication prepared by the Governor’s Office for Small Cities entitled “Growing our Small Communities”.

Foreclosure Prevention: The M. Family

Mr. M, the breadwinner for a family of four, had worked steadily for years until he was suddenly laid off by his employer. He took the initiative to contact his mortgage lender directly, and informed them that he would catch up with payments upon receipt of his tax return, which he did.

Mr. M found a new job, but at lower pay. The family, which included two children ages three and six, needed to apply for food stamps, HEAP and Medicaid for the first time ever to supplement his income. Struggling to make ends meet, Mr. M fell behind in their mortgage payments again.

Mr. M and his wife came to The HomeOwnership Center for counseling. After reviewing the family’s finances, we were able to establish a monthly budget that would enable them to meet their current mortgage obligations. However, there was no discretionary income to catch up on the arrears.

The HomeOwnership Center staff contacted social services, and was able to work with them to provide a one-time payment of the mortgage arrears—an unusual step. The M family was able to avert foreclosure and save their family home. They continue to live there successfully.

Creating First-time HomeBuyers: Ms. C

Ms. C, our 2006 HomeOwner of the Year, is one of the most dedicated customers to come through The HomeOwnership Center’s first-time HomeBuyer Program.

Ms. C first came to The HomeOwnership Center in 1998. A recently divorced mother of two, she was working full time and deeply in debt. All she could afford was a tiny two bedroom apartment. Realizing the time was not right; Ms. C put her home ownership dreams on hold while she attended college and changed careers.

Then in 2001, Ms. C came back, determined to try again. She was working full-time at a new, better paying job. With the plan we developed with her, she carefully and steadfastly repaired her credit. Ms. C had become so successful that she exceeded the income guidelines for The HomeOwnership Center’s mortgage products, and we were able to refer her to a local lending institution.

After a long search, she found her dream home on Sunset Avenue in Utica. “At first it didn’t appeal to me,” she said, but once I went inside it grabbed me. This was my home.”

And soon it was. Ms. C closed on her home on her birthday, February 1, 2006, and lives there with her mother and two children.