Joel and I fell in love with the Northwest Corner and made an impulsive decision to move to Salisbury. We’ve never regretted it. We were received warmly, starting with our first rental in 1987, right up to when we purchased our home in 1997. Our landlords and people in the community did whatever they could to make it possible for us to live here. One landlord charged us below market rent so that we could save for a down payment. Another citizen gave us a no interest loan to “fatten” our down payment. The person who sold us our house waited months and months for our financing to come through. She wanted a family to live in her former home.
We wish we had not needed the assistance and that affordable housing had been available instead, but we appreciate all of the generous people who made our home here possible. Without such strong community support, we never could have owned our own home.
Now our children are grown, and we are downsizing. The HousingUs program, along with financing help from the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development, is making it possible for us to remodel part of our house into a small apartment that will remain affordable for many years to come. Our contractor’s generosity and our own labor are keeping our costs down. Over the past few months HousingUs has been indispensible in guiding us through the steps necessary to accomplish this. The added income will help secure our retirement and provide an affordable apartment for someone else.
We are so grateful and excited to take our turn to offer someone a chance to make a home here in this community.
Theresa Carroll
HousingUs is an initiative of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
This article was published in The Lakeville Journal on 1/21/16.
Theresa and Joel