Claudia Altemus and Steve Abbott

Claudia Altemus and Steve Abbott moved from apartment to apartment – five times in 12 years – with their two young sons, as rent prices continued to rise. Each new apartment meant settling down again, making it homey and livable for their family. Steve worked in social services and Claudia is a musician and has worked part-time elsewhere. She home schools their childrem, so keeping up with increasing rents was often challenging.

Then Claudia attended an information session at CATCH’s Home Buyer Education Center. Recalling that first session, Claudia says, “I cried when I left. For the first time, I wondered if the possibility did exist that we could own a home.”

For the next two years, Claudia and Steve put all their energy and effort into their dream. They completed Home Buyer Education Classes, met one-on-one with a CATCH housing counselor, improved their credit scores, set a strategy to increase their income and saved down payment money through CATCH’s IDA program.

Claudia and Steven then bought their first home through the Homes Downtown inititiave. In purchasing though Homes Downtown, Claudia and Steve will earn equity on their home and if they sell the home in the future, they agree to sell at a below market price. This preserves the affordability of the home for the next family. Claudia sees this as a contribution to the family. “If we can help the next family who never thought they could own a home to buy, so much the better.”

”The comprehensiveness of CATCH’s programs is what did it for us,” Steve comments. “Any one thing alone – the education, IDA program, or the Homes Downtown program – would not have been enough. Our housing counseling at CATCH literally walked us through the whole process, step by step and that was invaluable.”

Claudia says, “Shelter is the most basic human right after food. We own a home now, and this is something we never thought could happen. It is not a small thing that CATCH helped us do…owning a home has made a huge difference in our lives.”

Joe and Brooke Noonan:
Successful First-Time Home Buyers!

In July of 2003, CATCH received the following letter from Joe and Brooke Noonan:

Dear Sir/ Madam:
I am writing on behalf of CATCH’s Home Buyer Education Center. My husband and I attended our first workshop with CATCH in August of 2001 and since that time have accumulated over 100 hours of education. From credit counseling, household budgeting, mortgages, and future maintenance of a home, the Home Buyer Education Center at CATCH has introduced us to many professionals and opportunities. We joined the wonderful MAGIC Program, which gave us the chance to begin an IDA account for savings that built a great foundation of finances available to us when purchasing a home.

More importantly, our homebuyer educator and counselor always treated us with respect, honesty, and clear direction on the path to owning our own home. Now that we are amidst the stress and confusion of actually purchasing our own home, it is nice to know that there is a group of caring professionals that have our best interests in mind and who are willing to lend us a hand as we move toward our ultimate goal: “The American Dream.”

Thank you to CATCH and all of the great organizations that we have come to know through CATCH. We will always remember what CATCH has done for us and will be sure to share what an important asset CATCH is to the community.

Sincerely,
Joesph and Brooke Noonan

In August 2003, Joe and Brooke Noonan closed on their new home in Franklin, NH.

Dana Lizotte:
A CATCH Resident Perspective

Before moving into her CATCH apartment, Dana Lizotte was living with her mom in Canterbury where she shared a room with her young son, Quentin. She is very happy to have a CATCH apartment for a number of reasons. Having grown up in Penacook and Boscawen, Dana is happy to be in her old school district and the commute to her job at Concord Eye Care is not very long at all. Dana also likes living nearer to her family. Most importantly, she is thrilled with the space in her apartment: Quentin now has his own room and as Dana says, “I now have some ‘Dana time!’”