The neighborhood is better. They can have their own rooms. They don't have to share. I did the best thing. The nonprofit housing agency tutored Figueroa in the ins and outs of home buying - how to find a house, determine what she could afford, secure a mortgage, get an inspection and obtain homeowner's insurance.
Clients are also, when necessary, helped to overcome bad credit records.
He, his wife, and two children moved into their first house in March, in the city's Overbrook section. More often than not, it's not the size of the monthly mortgage payment that keeps first-time home buyers from making the move, city housing officials say. While that makes homeownership easier here, it also reflects a more ominous trend - the city's growing poverty. About 15 percent of the city's population was below the poverty threshold in 1970, compared with about about 20 percent in 1990. Low-income families also frequently face difficulties securing comprehensive homeowner's insurance, according to a 1999 city report on impediments to fair housing choice.