Colette’s Dream Is Coming True

Colette’s Dream Is Coming True

When Colette gets the keys to her very own home, she says, it’s going to be a “pinch me moment.” 

“I dream about it a lot,” says Colette. “It’s going to be overwhelming.”

Colette has been seeking to become a first-time homebuyer. As a mother of seven, she wants to invest in an asset the family can call their own for years to come. She’s been renting her entire life, always feeling like she’s taking care of someone else’s property. Now, Colette is building her own brand new four bedroom home in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood.

“After retirement, I’ll already have paid it forward to my future,” Colette says of the investment she’s making in homeownership.

For many in this country, homeownership has been a driver for generational wealth creation. U.S. homeowners have an average net wealth that is 400% higher than that of renters with similar demographics and earnings.

Colette also sees this as an opportunity to set an example for her children, five of whom will be living in this new home. 

“I’ll be showing them they can do anything they put their mind to,” she says. “It’s been hard being a single mother, so to buy this home is a huge accomplishment. I hope that it’s a push for them.”

Colette described her childhood growing up in Chicago.

“I grew up in the projects of Chicago,” she says. “It was one of the scariest times of my life. The nightmare of living there – I never want them to experience that.”

Through Habitat’s affordable homeownership program, Colette will soon have a stable, single-family home that she’s looking forward to making her own.

“I’m going to feel like ‘I actually did this,’” Colette says. A feeling she knows will be a tremendous source of pride for her and her family.