For years, Kiescha dreamt of becoming a homeowner. But she didn’t move forward because she didn’t think homeownership was something she would be able to attain as a single woman. “I literally thought that I had to be married,” she says.
But something inside of her would not let the dream die. “I just had this passion inside to become a homeowner at some point in my life,” she says.
When a friend told her about HomeFree-USA, she decided to check the organization out. She’s glad she did.
Her Homeownership Advisor Gigi looked over her finances and helped her with her budget. Kiescha also took several classes that HomeFree-USA offered. “I wanted to educate myself,” she says. “I really didn’t understand what I was doing, so I needed someone to help me.”
On a practical level, HomeFree-USA also helped her to save money. She learned through HomeFree-USA about a grant she qualified for, which provided her with $20,000 in downpayment assistance. That was money that she didn’t have to come up with herself, allowing her to keep more of her money in the bank.
The connections she made through HomeFree-USA were also valuable. HomeFree-USA introduced her to Clay Harris, a senior mortgage loan officer with Fulton Bank. She was pleased with her experience with Fulton Bank, which also made the homebuying process less stressful for her.
Kiescha saw first-hand that she didn’t have to be married to be a homeowner – and she’s not alone in that realization. In fact, a survey by Bank of America found that 87 percent of single women say it’s an ‘outdated idea’ for someone to be married in order to buy a house.
After buying her own home, Kiescha realized she wanted to help others make their homebuying dreams a reality. Just as she had once believed homeownership was not within her reach, she knew others felt the same way too and she wanted to help them realize they, too, could achieve more than they thought they could. “I wanted to educate them and really help them navigate through the homebuying process,” she says.
Today she is a licensed realtor with Keller Williams Preferred Properties.
“I definitely am looking forward to helping as many people as possible achieve their real estate goals,” she says. “I’m all about creating generational wealth.”
