Q: Tell us a little bit about your story.

Brent: I think we are pretty similar to other clients of The HELP Program. Both my wife and have been married before and through our divorces we had some credit problems arise. I was stuck paying the bills from a business my ex-wife had taken over and her ex-husband had filed bankruptcy and left the bills with her. We were living in a one bedroom apartment, not because we didn’t have the income to buy a house, but because we didn’t have the credit.

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Q: How did you hear about HELP?

Blanca: We heard about HELP from our previous landlord and we were living here, right down the street for about two years. He was trying to sell the house and we wanted to purchase it, but we were unable to because of our credit and he really needed to sell it really quick. He also wanted a big amount down, which we were unable to do. He was the one that actually told us about The HELP Program. He said, “Maybe they can help you to purchase your own home.” He told us about it a little bit and then said he would have the contact us. We agreed, but were a little bit tired of hearing, “Oh no, your credit isn’t high enough, we’re not able to help you.” So they contacted us and told us that they could help us. We were thinking, “OK, we’ll see.” Usually you only get so far and they tell you that can’t help. We finally went in and talked to them and they told us they were able to help us and how it was going to work and so here we are, into our own home.

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How did you get started with the HELP Program?
We had looked into another company that basically did the same stuff you did but they wanted all this money to get into it, basically like a down payment to get into that you didn’t get back, you lost. They wouldn’t lock in on a price and they wanted to make 97% I think after a year to refinance of market value. Which means the way the market is going, in a year instead of paying $200,000 for it, you would be paying $270,000. And you are losing basically all that money. Being able to have a house with a locked in purchase price is a huge factor for us.
Let’s jump back to how you began looking into a lease-to-own program.

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