The thrill of holding that first set of keys: first-time homebuyers know there’s nothing like it.

And when that first-time buyer is actually the first in their US family to make the breakthrough from renting to owning, the whole community should celebrate.

That’s because every “first-generation” homebuyer is a blow to the racial wealth divide. Homeownership is the number one way Americans build assets – but Black and Latino families are far more likely than White families to spend their lives as renters, never building equity.

Edin’s story begins in Honduras, where he and his partner Elsy were childhood sweethearts. They got their bachelor’s degrees in business and accounting and found work in the same clothing factory.

But no matter how hard they worked, he says, “there was no space to dream.”

His father, who had emigrated to the United States in 1991, urged Edin to join him. So in 2003, the couple made the plunge and moved to East Boston. Like so many immigrants, they found work in the restaurant industry. Life was expensive, but they cobbled together a living and welcomed a daughter and son into the world.

Edin and his son in their new condo

Like Edin’s father, they continued to rent. Homeownership was an unrealistic dream. The prices were astronomical, and they couldn’t hope to save enough for a mortgage. Bringing up two young children in their new country was already enough to do.

But as the children became teenagers, Edin and Elsy again began to long for something stable, something the kids would know was always theirs.

Edin picked up a second job, this one as a cleaner. With their three jobs, would they be able to make that homeownership dream a reality?

They began to look, but prospects were slim. They walked into five banks only to find rejection. At the sixth, they found a kind loan officer who spoke Spanish, and who advised them about special programs for first-time homebuyers. They took a first-time homeownership class and, finally, qualified for a loan. Now they had to find something they could afford.

With the median condo sales price in Boston topping $680,000 – requiring an annual income of around $200,000 – their only option was to throw their hat into lotteries for publicly funded options. About 100 units are available for first-time homebuyers in Boston every year – a recent increase thanks to federal COVID relief funding – but the competition is stiff.

Edin and Elsy applied in multiple lotteries and made the trek from East Boston to view homes in Dorchester, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. Then they waited.

One morning, Edin woke up with a good feeling.

He and Elsy took the kids to visit another lottery opportunity, a condominium in Jamaica Plain developed by JPNDC in the old JP High School. They fell in love with it.

Just as they walked out beaming, Edin remembers, a Tesla pulled up to the building. Its falcon wing doors opened, and a family emerged to visit the same home. He immediately deflated. Surely these buyers would be more qualified than his family.

Elsy teased him and they agreed to apply anyway—it was a lottery, after all. They would hold onto hope.

It took months, but that home did indeed become theirs.

“Take a first-time homeownership class and from then on, be patient but focused in your search,” Edin advises others. “It’s a journey, but you can get there.”

Edin and Elsy’s two teens now commute to high school in East Boston, but they come home to Jamaica Plain. Their elder daughter graduates next year and is aiming to study dentistry. And both children, after school and extracurriculars with their friends, have a place that’s truly their own.

Do YOU have the homeownership dream? Start NOW to build credit and get ready. JPNDC can help! Contact us at prosperityservices@jpndc.org.

And sign up for our newsletter (bottom of home page) so you will know when applications are available for JPNDC’s new limited-equity homeownership project!