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Rural Development Celebrates Homeownership Month with Tunkhannock Family

Name
Dan Shields
City
Tunkhannock
Release Date

June is National Homeownership Month and all across the country USDA Rural Development is recognizing the partnerships it has with lenders, builders, community programs, and perhaps most importantly, the families themselves. Certainly one of the best homeownership success stories is that of Lisa and her family.

Lisa Stokes is a single mother with two daughters who works full time in a local Tunkhannock, Pa. restaurant. Lisa and her family paid a monthly rent and lived in an apartment that was hardly adequate enough for the three of them. Until recently Lisa never really considered homeownership. Having good credit is just not enough; the idea of saving for a down payment and closing costs seemed to put home ownership out of reach. That was until she talked to a local real estate agent who was familiar with USDA Rural Development programs. The agent explained the RD homeownership program and how people with good credit can get low interest mortgages without a down payment or out of pocket closing costs. 

In the fall of 2015 Lisa decided to apply and by the end of February 2016 Lisa became a proud homeowner.  RD staff in our Tunkhannock, Pa. field office worked closely with Lisa to help her through every step of the process.  She needed a home within close proximity to her work and the one she found was a perfect location, but it required a new roof and furnace replacement to make it safe and code compliant. The home was purchased for less that the appraised value, so RD staff were able to include the cost of the new improvements in the mortgage and all repairs were made. Lisa and her two children now have the security of homeownership with a fixed monthly payment that is nearly 40% less than what they were paying in rent.

Since finding a home with USDA, Lisa has referred her family and friends to participate in Rural Development’s homeownership programs. Her life has changed for the better and she couldn’t be happier.

There are many people nationwide like Lisa who are quickly finding out how fast the dream of homeownership can become a reality. Rural Development makes it that much easier to fulfill that dream. If you have any questions about Rural Development’s single-family housing programs in Pennsylvania, please call (717) 237-2186 or email at daniel.shields@pa.usda.gov.