A sunny afternoon through some pretty backroads brought us to the home of Edgar and Gema – and their three children – in Gilroy.
Bay Area natives Edgar and Gema were often renting in places they didn’t enjoy while they both worked – he in tech, she in healthcare – and saved for a down payment on their own home. That mission was made difficult by rising home prices and the bite of paying off student loans. Buying a home in the Bay Area seemed so unlikely Edgar considered trying for a job transfer out of the area.
They learned about Housing Trust Silicon Valley’s Homebuyer Empowerment Loan Program (HELP) in a story published last summer by the San Jose Mercury News focused on the Empower Homebuyers SCC program – also administered by Housing Trust.
After working with Housing Trust’s homeownership team the family began looking for homes – and eventually finding one they were happy with in Gilroy that gave the kids their own rooms.
Owning their own home has has been good for the family, Edgar told us. “There is a peace of mind here. You are not paying rent for someone else’s mortgage, you’re paying your mortgage on your own home. I almost didn’t think owning a house was possible.”
Edgar and Gema are also excited to be able to celebrate their wedding anniversary this summer – 20 years as of August – in their own home.
For more information about HELP, click here. To learn about Empower Homebuyers SCC – the 2016 Measure A funded down payment assistance program created by the County of Santa Clara and administered by Housing Trust, click here.