For DeAnna Gratz, having a home offers a sense of security. Like a lot of families in North Dakota, she views real estate not just as an investment, but as a place to enjoy her family.
Gratz bought her first house in Gwinner when she was in her early twenties. Later, when she relocated to Bismarck, she pursued homeownership again. The house she was able to afford for herself and daughters Haley, now a college freshman, and Sierra, an elementary school student, however, had some issues. It was an older home, sorely in need of updating, in a neighborhood with an increasing crime problem.
When Gratz was in a better financial position, she decided it was time to pursue the goal of having a nicer place in a better neighborhood. And the move came none too soon.
“There were concerns about drug dealers in our old neighborhood. One month before we closed on our new home, there was a shooting two blocks away. A couple days later, the police blocked the alley across the street, and a SWAT team called [for the occupants of the house to] ‘come out with your hands up,’” said Gratz. “I never intended to stay there as long as I did.”
Gratz prepared for the purchase of a new home in 2010 by checking out her financing options. She contacted KerryAnn Thompson at Dakota Community Bank who told her about NDHFA’s HomeAccess program.
“If borrowers qualify, North Dakota Housing’s programs are the first ones I recommend,” said Thompson.
NDHFA helps state residents become successful homeowners by providing homebuyer education, down payment and closing cost assistance, and affordable mortgage loans.
The Agency is well known for its FirstHome™ program, having provided more than 35,000 North Dakota households with low-cost financing. The lesser-known HomeAccess program offers the same reduced interest rate loans to single parent, veteran, disabled, or elderly homebuyers who have previously owned a home. Almost 70 percent of the households that utilize HomeAccess are headed by single parents like Gratz.
“The most important thing that homeownership offers me now is a safe place for my girls.”
To learn more about North Dakota Housing Finance Authority, please visit their website.
For more information on Housing Bonds, see our advocacy page.
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