A June 9 Real Estate article incorrectly identified George Escobar as the director of the D.C. mayor's Office on Latino Affairs. He is the office's coordinator of language access and advocacy coordinator.
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Testing the Boundaries
For Delmy Diaz, continuing to rent seemed a waste of money, but condominiums she looked at in Columbia Heights were too expensive. So she bought a condo in Southeast Washington.
(By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
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"There's no other choice because the affordability is in that side of the city," said Erick Gutierrez, director of housing at the Latino Economic Development Corp. "What we are trying to do is educate our clients to think about moving away from Columbia Road, Columbia Heights and see this as an opportunity to achieve homeownership."
Of the 30 families Gutierrez's group has worked with in the past eight months, 12 have purchased homes east of the river through the District's Home Purchase Assistance Program for low- to moderate-income people. Those eligible for the program can get up to $70,000 toward the down payment.
Diaz, 48, was one of them. She had been a renter since moving from El Salvador in 1981. Most recently, she had been paying $595 for a one-bedroom apartment in Columbia Heights. It was affordable, but she thought she was wasting her money, she said.
"I'm not for paying rent," she said in Spanish while sitting on her overstuffed couch watching a Spanish-language soap opera. "At the end of the year, that place is not yours."
Because she lived alone, she decided that a one-bedroom condo would do. But she could not find an affordable one in Columbia Heights.
When a counselor at the Latino Economic Development Corp. encouraged her to look at the Highland View Condominiums in Southeast, she said, she resisted, thinking none of her friends or relatives would go that far to visit her. She has a son and a brother in Columbia Heights and a cousin in Northeast D.C. Plus, she doesn't have a car, so she figured getting to Georgetown for work would be difficult. But she relented.
At Highland View, the condos were brand-new and big. Her transportation worries were eased when she saw a bus stop right outside that would take her to the Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metro station, where she could get a bus to her job. "That was something I liked," she said.
She immediately put down a $500 deposit on a two-bedroom unit. Now she pays $731 a month for the mortgage and the monthly maintenance fee.
On a recent day, she showed off her walk-in closet and another smaller closet, both packed with dresses and blouses. They were among the condo's most attractive features, she said.
The kitchen is a bit small, but she said she likes the wood cabinet doors and the new appliances. And there is enough space for a dining room table, which is important because she wants to entertain. A large bowl of fake fruit sits in the center of the table.
"I'm so happy I achieved my dream of owning my own home," she said. "This is the beginning. Ten years here, and then I'll buy a house."
She has been encouraging her friends and relatives to stop renting and buy homes near her. "I'd like to have more Hispanics here," she said. "I hope in the future they move here."
