By Karen Stokes
Julia Over, first time homebuyer. (Photo by Julia Over)
June is National Homeownership Month celebrating the value that homeownership brings to families, communities and neighborhoods in the United States.
During the month, potential homebuyers are encouraged to explore incentives to achieve their goal of owning a home.
Julia Over has experienced a series of important firsts in her life. She was the first to attend college in her immediate family and the first homeowner.
Now, Julia has four children of her own ranging from 2-13 years old.
“The main reason for purchasing my house was stability because I have four kids. When I got old enough to realize the importance of owning your own home, that started my journey to becoming more stable,” said Over.
Over worked with Community Home Lending Advisor, Kim McCloud from Chase Bank to assist her to reach her homeownership goal.
“Statistics show children learn at a higher rate when they have stability. When renting sometimes you go from place to place. With a home they will be able to develop relationships with the community, friends, schools and church,” McCloud said.
Kim McCloud, Community Home Lending Advisor from Chase. (Photo by Kim McCloud)
McCloud explained that a benefit of homeownership over renting is you can develop generational wealth, an asset. Through a mortgage you get equity that you could use later in case of an emergency or college.
The 2019 U.S. Census data shows in Milwaukee, 55.8 percent of white households own their home compared to 37.5 percent of Hispanic households and 27 percent of Black households.
These disparities are widening existing economic inequality in the state, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
McCloud has 19 years of experience as a Community Home Lending Advisor. She works with first time buyers and conducts seminars to educate people about the process.
“The advice I give potential first time buyers is, do your research, attend one or two homebuyer seminars and workshops so you can know the components and the process of purchasing a home and what it looks like for you,” McCloud said.
Growing up, Julia was never taught what credit was or how to save/budget, so she had to figure everything out on her own and did a lot of research.
A few years ago, Julia did take a homebuyers course to understand the steps that she would have to take in order to become a successful homeowner.
There she learned about credit, how to budget and save, and how to afford a down payment and closing costs.
“Advice I would give to someone looking to purchase a home is to save, budget and have self control over your spending. It took me years to save the money to be able to pay the closing cost and the down payment,” said Over. “I would definitely say be patient and watch your credit.”
For more information on purchasing a home and homebuyer seminars contact Kim McCloud at 708-983-9318 or at Kimberly.McCloud@chase.com