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After the residents of the Lakes Region Co-op manufactured home community bought their park with assistance from the Community Loan Fund, they elected Lois Parris as their first treasurer. A couple years later, Lois's granddaughter, Lois Cilley, got a loan through the Cooperative Home Loan Program at the Community Loan Fund to buy a home in the same community.
Lois Cilley: My uncle built the home I’m in and I wanted to buy it when the opportunity came up. It was tough. To qualify for a loan at the Community Loan Fund, I had to get rid of my credit cards and put more money in savings. My boyfriend and I needed a certain amount to close on the house. I never thought that I’d own a home. Now that I am a homeowner, I have a lot of responsibility. I have a lot of equity. Eventually, I want to sell and own a piece of land and build a home.
Lois Parris: I think it’s a great opportunity for her to start home ownership at an early age.
Lois Cilley: I was paying more for an apartment than I am for my mortgage.
Lois Parris: New Hampshire has the third highest rent in the United States. Even to buy a house without a foundation is hard. I am proud of her. And to be head of the Grievance Committee! It’s a big step to put yourself out where you can get hurt.
Lois Cilley: Gram’s had an influence on me. I see how active she is here.
Lois Parris: She’s influenced me too. But I never thought of myself as an activist and I still don’t. I am just a person who sees something wrong that needs to be right. I have changed a lot. Now that my family’s grown up, I am freed up to do more. Being involved with MOTA and the Community Loan Fund has helped. I never thought I’d be talking at the State House, meeting with all of those people. It’s been satisfying to know that I’m helping people to live in a nicer environment.
Lois Cilley: I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I wouldn’t live here if it wasn’t a co-op and I’m going to work to make sure it stays that way.
Lois Parris: My favorite part of living here is the freedom of ownership. When we first bought the park, I remember my first feeling, that no one could take this away from me. I owned it.
Lois Cilley: My favorite part of living here is there is no bustle. No traffic. And I live close to my grandparents.
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Schuyler Merritz used her savings from her Individual Development Account program, administered by the Community Loan Fund, for the down payment on her house, which she bought in July, 2007. Sky served on CATCH Neighborhood Housing's Resident Outreach Opportunity Team, comprising CATCH residents from around Concord. CATCH is a partner, borrower and former program of the Community Loan Fund.
I never thought I’d own a home. I thought it was too expensive.
We lived in the 1820 House on North Spring Street for four years and then moved to Perley Place six and a half years ago. [Both are owned by CATCH Neighborhood Housing.] The building and neighborhood were nice, just a little crowded.
CATCH sent out a flyer on homebuyer education. That’s when I first heard about the IDA program. I thought, “It sounds great to match $3 to every $1 saved.” To be able to save money like that -- you don’t often have that opportunity.
At the time I started the IDA, I was trying to pay off my car. At times, putting away $20 a month wasn’t easy. I had it directly withdrawn from my paycheck.
I saw this house in January. I knew I really liked it. But I needed to finish the buyer education courses and finish my car payments of $240 a month. I completed saving in May. I had paid off my car by then. It worked out well. I ended up buying my home right away.
To move in, we had a caravan of vans and pick-up trucks going back and forth from Perley Street to here -- about two blocks away!
The neighborhood is great. I know everybody! It’s nice. Noisy in a nice, kid way.
I really like my home. It has a lot of space.
My kids really love it here. They have told me they feel really good that they have something that is theirs that they can take care of. From their point of view, they can paint the walls any color they want. I want a compost pile. I want a garden. I am building equity.
I have control over my house. I can do all these things that I could never do. I see so many possibilities. I have more space to have friends over. People now show up that didn’t come before. The way I look at it is, I’m in a better place and I’m going to keep giving back.
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Michele Baker was looking for, in her words, “opportunity” when she moved to New Hampshire from Plattsburg, NY.
“New Hampshire had a slower pace than where I’d lived," said the 36-year-old. She was looking for a better life for herself and her 11- and 17-year-old sons.
She got a job at a bank and bought a 12-year-old home in the Windy Acres Cooperative Manufactured Housing Park in Charlestown. “It was scary,” she said. “It was the first time I’d ever owned a home.”
Michele took over the mortgage payments of the previous owner, set at a rate of 12.5% over 20 years. Her rate was significantly higher than mortgage terms offered by traditional lenders, but common to the among the sub-prime lenders who dominate the manufactured housing mortgage market and controlled Michele’s mortgage.
She went to a local bank to lower her interest rate but couldn’t get the kind of help she needed.
“I tried to get it refinanced by a bank but because I don’t own the land that the house is on, the bank wanted 20% down, which I didn’t have,” said Michele.
Then she heard about the Community Loan Fund’s Cooperative
Home Loan Program. The program demonstrates that people like Michele -- owners of homes in co-op parks -- can be good risks, that the type of housing they live in should not determine the kind of financing they can get, and that cooperative ownership is land ownership.
Michele refinanced her mortgage over a 15-year term, reducing her monthly payments by $23 and allowing her to buy more-comprehensive homeowners insurance than she inherited from the previous owner.
“I am now paying less over five fewer years,” said Michele. “It would have been foolish not to take advantage of the Community Loan Fund’s program. It made sense."
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