Homeownership was a goal for Jackie and Mike Thompson while renting an apartment in Concord.  However, they were not certain about how prepared they were and were still just thinking about the possibility.  In August 2017, they participated in HOMEteam’s Financial Literacy workshop series, followed by an eight-hour First-Time Home Buyer seminar in October the same year. Over the following months, they met one-on-one with Homeownership Counselor, Richard Patterson.  Richard helped them develop a personal action plan, based on their specific needs and financial capacity, to identify and address any concerns and/or obstacles in realizing their goal of homeownership. 

 In May 2018, only seven months after taking HOMEteam’s First-Time Home Buyer seminar, Jackie and Mike purchased their first home in Boscawen.

At a recent event, they provided a great example to the crowd of the importance and value of participating in HOMEteam’s homebuyer educational programs and counseling services.

 As it turns out, we were much more ready to be able to buy a house than we thought we would be, but our lack of knowledge combined with the fear of making a bad decision had been holding us back. When we were finally ready to put all of our preparations and plans into action and look for a house, we both felt confident that we knew what we were doing now, and that the HOMEteam staff would be available to help us if we needed it.

 On May 5^th of this year, we closed on our house in Boscawen, NH. Two days later when we showed up to move in, we learned firsthand why your insurance policy starts the moment you buy the house (something we learned about in class!). The night before, the area had some extreme weather and a 70ft pine tree fell overnight, missing our new house by mere feet. Because we felt so prepared to handle the ups and downs (literally) that come with owning a house, this unforeseen event on day 1 didn’t feel like a crisis – just something we had to deal with as part of being homeowners.

They recently celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary. Mike is currently a full-time student, studying wildlife and conservation biology while working a part-time job on campus. Jackie works full-time as the Housing Coordinator at a NH college, and plays the piano at her church.