Jackie Pope couldn’t qualify two years ago for the home she wanted. But, she couldn’t get it out of her head.
“I was surprised. It was beautiful,” she said.
A friend of Pope’s had bought a house through Habitat for Humanity Jacksonville years earlier, but it looked rather un-beautiful — like a box, she said.
Because of that, Pope was reluctant to apply for the program. When she saw HabiJax’s new model, her opinion changed.
“My mind was locked on that house,” she said. “They told me I qualified for another one. But I said, ‘I don’t want that. I want that.’”
New homebuilders since the 1950s have used models to inspire the middle class to purchase a “dream home.”
It’s been the experience of HabiJax that a model can inspire the “affordable” homebuyer just as much.
The organization on April 30 held the grand opening of The Wiley in New Town. It replaces the first model HabiJax built in 2012.
There are a few other Habitat affiliates that build models, said Angela Leatherbury, HabiJax chief administrative officer, but it’s unusual. Having a model dispels a lot of misconceptions about HabiJax homes.
“There are a lot of our clients who think, ‘Oh, our houses are small, you couldn’t fit any furniture in them,’” Leatherbury said. “We wanted to show them the vision of what this could be.”
HabiJax built The Wiley on a 40-foot wide lot. So the home had to be narrow – 20 feet.
The three-bedroom, three-bath model shows, by lengthening the floorplan, HabiJax can still deliver a nice 1,000-square-foot house.
There’s a homey front porch, a vaulted ceiling in the living room, new Whirlpool appliances in the kitchen and a home security system.
The price is $101,000.
With a HabiJax zero-interest loan, that means mortgage payments will range from $420 to $450 a month — half or sometimes even a third of what clients already pay in rent.
HabiJax’s Amela Alomerovic counted the names on a sign-in sheet after the hour-long open house. It showed the model had drawn nine prospective buyers.
Reactions range, she said, but usually people are surprised the house is so nice.
“Sometimes they think all of our homes are going to be one bedroom,” Alomerovic said.
Instead, all floorplans start at three bedrooms. Buyers also are surprised they get to pick features like siding, paint colors and cabinets.
HabiJax clients get motivated by seeing a house, Alomerovic said — to fix credit problems or to stick at jobs to show a stable work history.
“It becomes real,” she said.
For Pope two years ago, it made her drop the idea of buying a new car and start digging her way out of debt. She made progress with every paycheck.
“It got to where my credit union couldn’t keep up,” she said. “All I could see was the vision of this home and that someone was giving me half a chance.”
Pope remembers her move-in date, June 23, 2014. Since then, she’s planted flowers in the yard and put up a fence, things she never wanted to do when she lived in a rental.
She remembers on the day HabiJax volunteers came to help build her home, she “cried all over them.” She still sends them thank-you notes.
“They didn’t have to do it,” she said. “They really want you to have this. It makes you feel like you matter.”
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