In December 1998, Didi Brown lived in a shelter for abused women in Tinley Park.
Her sole possessions were two suitcases her ex-husband allowed her to take when he kicked her out Nov. 17, 1998, a date she cannot forget.
Brown would seem an unlikely new homeowner, and an even more unlikely landlord, but that’s exactly what the 44-year-old office administrator can call herself this month after moving into her 1930s-era red-brick two-flat at 1851 W. Garfield Blvd. in Chicago.
“I drove past that house and I said: `I want that house!’ I prayed for that house,” said Brown, a mother of three and grandmother of seven.
Brown’s home-owning prospects appeared pretty bleak. The owners were asking for $150,000 for the vintage dwelling straddling two city lots. Brown was just getting resettled into her own rental apartment in Oak Forest with the help of the women’s shelter. And her initial lender said he could not offer Brown that large a loan.
“I just wanted a place that could be my own, where nobody could put me out,” Brown said.
Then two good things happened to Brown. The price of the house went down to $139,000. At the same time, a cousin referred her to Neighborhood Housing Services, a Chicago non-profit organization that seeks to create new homeowners and improve the city’s housing stock.
It appeared Brown finally could afford the home through Neighborhood Housing’s Chicago Family Housing Fund, which targets first-time homeowners.
To qualify, borrowers must be at or below the Chicago-area median income of $63,800 for a family of four, or must be buying a home in a low- or moderate-income census tract. In addition, the property must contain one-to-four units and the owner must live in the building.
But Brown’s deal fell through when an inspector said it required a minimum of $27,000 in rehab and repair work before it would be habitable. Brown could not afford it.
Brown was chagrined; a second bidder was waiting in line to snap up the place. But she was determined, telling her real estate agent she wouldn’t consider looking at another home. Sure enough, two months later, Brown got the call that the other bidder’s paperwork had fallen through. And the owners were lowering the price of the home to $125,000.
Brown closed on the home Dec. 16, becoming the 1,000th buyer to receive Neighborhood Housing’s purchase-rehab loan.
“I never thought I would be able to own my own home,” Brown said. “What a wonderful gift to receive for the holidays. I will start the new year with a new home.”
Neighborhood Housing’s loan program differs from others geared to low-income home buyers in that it allows first-time buyers to borrow from a single source to finance both the purchase and the rehab.
Since the program began in 1993, 39 financial institutions have invested more than $47 million in the program. According to Neighborhood Housing, it is the only such consortium of lender-investors focused on rehabbing smaller buildings in Chicago.
When the rehab on Brown’s home is complete, it will have a new furnace and wiring, a remodeled kitchen and a coat of paint.
Brown still has little more than two suitcases to fill the home and now is sleeping on a mat on the first floor.
But she grinned ear-to-ear as she showed visitors her built-in oak China cabinets, with the interiors lit by original brass fixtures. She talked of moving walls and doors, showed off a new closet built by her contractor, David Lomax, and his firm, Ex’Cel, and reveled in the smell of Pine Sol and construction materials that permeated the home.
“You see, I have a vision,” she said, smiling at she mused about the stained hardwood floors being refinished and corroded bathroom fixtures being cleaned up.
But she also showed off her heavy-duty steel front and back doors, and her state-of-the-art security system. The house is surrounded by a locked high wrought-iron fence, and Brown has no illusions about neighborhood safety.
“But I believe this is the beginning of this city coming back,” Brown said. “Neighborhood Housing is making it possible for a lot of people to venture out and make that dream a reality.”
Brown’s West Englewood neighborhood is primed for revival, though the once grand boulevard is dotted with boarded up homes and vacant storefronts.
While Neighborhood Housing has a roster of grateful clients, perhaps none can appreciate the program as much as Brown.
“I’m actually happy that I had the opportunity to dwell in a shelter, to experience that situation,” Brown said. “When I see a homeless person, I know they don’t have to be homeless.”
