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Home Buyer's Dream / Habitat fits 20-year mortgage to family's income
By CHARLES F. TRENTELMANOGDEN -- The Olsen family took possession of their new house Friday at terms that seem like science fiction in today's ruptured housing market:
Very little money down, zero percent interest, payments of $300 a month for 20 years.
No balloon payments, either. No resetting "teaser" interest rates. No doubling of payments.
"It's the exact opposite of a subprime situation," said Brent Olsen, who said the mortgage was carefully crafted to equal 22 percent of his income. There's some leeway to go up to 25 percent, he said, but that's it.
Talk about amazing, he said: He drives a truck and he can afford a house. "I'm ecstatic," he said. He's already planning which school his kids will go to.
Getting the home, however, was not easy.
Habitat for Humanity of Weber and Davis Counties sold the Olsen family the house, but it has taken Habitat more than two years to renovate the home in the 100 block of Doxey Street. It took nearly six months for the Olsens to qualify for it.
Habitat for Humanity of Weber and Davis Counties works to get low-income people into housing by finding old homes or building new ones. Homes are sold on a no-interest mortgage, which removes a major barrier to paying.
In return, qualifying families who have income but can't get a regular mortgage are carefully selected for their ability to pay and willingness to take an active part in the program. They have to put a minimum 500 hours of sweat equity into the project and take classes on home ownership and money management.
The home the Olsens got officially at a dedication ceremony Friday is on Doxey Street, which goes halfway through a block east of Wall Avenue between 27th and 28th streets.
The home is one of two houses on the block Habitat bought from Ogden city two years ago for $20,000 each. Both had to be gutted out. The other is waiting to be rebuilt.
Robert Gleave, past president of Habitat and still a volunteer worker, stood in the sparkling new kitchen of the Olsens' home and looked out the back door at a new fence and lawn.
First time they opened that door, he said, they had to force it. "When we got here, it was sleeping bags and broken bottles and transients and everything ugly," he said.
"And now I look out and they're (the Olsen children) playing on their skateboards."
Brent Olsen said that, until Friday, he and his wife and three children lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Roy. The furnace is broken and their 7-year-old daughter, TyAnne, has had to share a bedroom with her parents since birth.
Not any more. TyAnne has her own room. A volunteer decorated it with Hannah Montana pictures and a new quilt. The two boys, Jordan and Kaleb, have bunk beds in their room, which has a skateboard motif.
Joy Olsen, showing visitors around her new kitchen and living room, said the idea of her own home was "just more than words can ever say."
She waved her arms. "This is the beautiful kitchen with the beautiful high ceiling and the beautiful cabinets," she said.
Brook Lyons, current president of the Habitat chapter, said the Olsens set speed records for qualifying for a home, including the 500 hours of sweat equity.
"I just have never met people that were more dedicated to getting a house," she said. "They went without sleep and gave up a lot of family time, made a lot of sacrifices, to get this house."
Brent Olsen, who did a lot of that work, declined to take full credit. The other volunteers, the other donors, made it possible, he said.
Unfolding a short speech handwritten on lined school paper, he said "it's been an extremely unique experience to be part of the cycle of neighborhood benevolence."
"For my family, this home is, in fact, a miracle."
Add Your Comment
It was a good story to read, and kudos to Habitat for Humanity for making it happen, for this family and in the future for others.
But... if I read the story right, it took nearly two years or so, from start [buying the derelict homes from Ogden City] to finish [the family taking possession of the rehabed house]. That long to put one family in one home. Habitat will now begin rehabbing the second home it bought on the same block.
This is not a model likely to make a significant impact on the problem of good housing for low income families in Ogden. It's a wonderful thing for the few families involved and I hope Habitat for Humanity gets the support it needs to keep on and to expand its work. But in terms of dealing with the overall problem of insufficient safe and adequate housing for low income families, it does not offer a practical solution.
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