A Garden of Her Own
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Homewise
Lynzie grew up in the North Valley of Albuquerque in a home right off the Rio Grande River. She remembers spending nearly all her time outside, creating adventures among the trees.
To her, home was more than just the house where she and her family lived, it was a place to explore the world from her own backyard.
Lynzie always knew she wanted a home of her own. She’d been renting for several years and was ready to have a place that was truly hers. Yet, there were two obstacles to buying a home. The first was saving money for a down payment. She didn’t see a way she could save the typical 20% that most lenders require and knew that meant she would have to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Making that extra PMI payment each month was her second big obstacle.
Through Lynzie’s job at Accion, a non-profit organization that supports small business owners, she was introduced to Homewise. Homewise and Accion have a long-standing partnership in offering complimentary financial and educational resources for the Albuquerque community. It was through this partnership that Lynzie learned about the HomeLift program. HomeLift provides qualified borrowers with $15,000 to use toward down payment and closing costs on their home purchase. Lynzie saw the HomeLift program as an opportunity to attain the money she needed for a down payment and avoid PMI at the same time. Lynzie was approved for a mortgage loan, with the extra HomeLift down payment assistance she needed to help turn her dream of homeownership into a reality.
When Lynzie started searching for her perfect home, she remembered the home of her childhood and the years she spent growing up in that great backyard. She knew that having a big yard with plenty of space to grow a garden and a back porch for enjoying brunch with her friends was a top priority. With the help of her Realtor, Lynzie quickly found the perfect place with a yard that felt like an oasis. It was everything she was looking for; a place she felt could truly be her own. She quickly closed on her loan and started moving in the very next day.
“There’s a lot of emotion attached to this experience for me,” Lynzie says as she reflects on buying her home. “I’ve been working on this vision of my future for a long time, and it finally feels like everything in my life is coming together. I’ve got a great job working for a nonprofit where I get to help people realize their dream of becoming small business owners, and now I’ve realized my dream of becoming a homeowner because of help from another nonprofit. It feels like a great collaborative circle. Thank you Accion and Homewise!”
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