June is National Homeownership Month, and IMPACCT Brooklyn is celebrating the same way we’ve celebrated for the past fifty years: by helping Brooklynites move into homes of their own.
Even born and bred New Yorkers need a little extra help buying a house in the five boroughs nowadays. Just ask Amber Sexton, a native Manhattanite who’s lived in Brooklyn since 1990 and just recently bought an apartment of her own – with IMPACCT Brooklyn’s help.
Amber’s thoughts first turned to homeownership over ten years ago, after a friend of hers bought a co-op (a housing arrangement where you own shares of a corporation, which owns all of the property in the cooperative) in 2007.
“I wanted to buy a co-op just so I could continue to live in NYC as I aged and live in a place that’s actually nice,” Amber told me. “Rents will be unsustainable when I’m older, but buying a private home is just not something I’m successful enough financially to achieve.”
But her process was off to a shaky start: shortly after taking a class at a Brooklyn Credit Union in 2008, Amber lost her job during the market crash. A few years later, Amber inherited some money to make a down payment on an apartment, and she enrolled in our First Time Home Buyer course, intended to walk prospective homebuyers of all sorts through the ins and outs of purchasing a home.
“I had a preconception that I wouldn’t be learning too much, but I was struck by how much better this class was,” Amber said. “There’s a lot of information to absorb, and even if you aren’t ready to buy, it helps you get your ducks in a row.”
With our help, Amber learned what makes up credit, what loans were available for people buying co-ops, the sort of issues that you might find in buildings with apartments for sale, and more. She also connected with Pat Julien and Pat Hernandez, two of our homebuyer counselors, for individual coaching and direction – a “crucial” step in buying her co-op, Amber said.
“There’s no way I would have ended up in this apartment without Pat Hernandez or the class at IMPACCT Brooklyn,” Amber started. “He was there for me with each weird obstacle that presented itself and the ups and downs of the process … he was answering emails at 10 PM and telling me to call him.”
In November 2017, Amber was accepted to a limited income co-op in a beautiful prewar building on the border of Crown Heights and Brownsville, in a great Caribbean area close to public transit. With our help, she finally closed on the apartment in May 2018.
“There were so many headaches and hurdles that Pat Hernandez helped me jump over,” Amber said.
Amber is settled into a place of her own and enjoying her apartment’s natural light, gorgeous floors, and art nouveau details. She just installed a dishwasher in the unit, and eventually, she’d like to install a washer and dryer. But, for now, she’s just enjoying all of the beautiful life her new neighborhood has to offer.
“All of the other shareholders are careful to remind me, I have it good!”
Buying a home is possible with IMPACCT Brooklyn’s help! Take the first step towards homeownership with our First Time Homebuyer’s course, intended to educate you about the buying process and help you overcome any barriers you might encounter. Space is still available for our next workshop in July, so sign up today!
