“YOU CAN OWN A HOUSE. IT’S DOABLE.”

Jacques Dilonga was in his car heading back to his office from a lunch break when he heard a radio ad for the Neighborhood LIFT program. He says the words “down payment assistance” caught his ear as he and his partner were in the early stages of looking to buy their first home. They were just getting serious about saving up for a down payment on a house, so the timing of the ad was fortuitous.

Jacques, 31, lives in Dallas and works in the insurance industry, for a third-party claims management company. Even though he manages a team of data analysts, he still thought the home buying process would be challenging to navigate, especially coming up with the down payment. Jacque says he and his partner knew that “coming up with the large down payment was our main barrier to entry.”

After hearing the ad, Jacques got online to get more information about the Neighborhood LIFT program and found BCL of Texas. From there, he learned about an information session in Ft. Worth, where he learned more about the program and met with a loan officer from Wells Fargo, who looked at all his information and told him he was qualified for a grant. Jacque left the session confident that he now knew what was required to successfully apply for a down payment assistance grant, which he eventually received.

Jacques says he didn’t even know this kind of down payment assistance was even possible: “I had no idea, to be honest with you…it was really eye opening and especially the unique way that it’s structured.” He’s now an advocate of the program, “Actually, I’ve been more vocal with telling people that I know in my personal life about homebuyer assistance grants.” Asked what he tells people about BCL of Texas and the Neighborhood LIFT program, he says “I tell them to look for these programs because they’re out there to help people buy houses…I’ve become an advocate, I try to help, I want to help other people out.”

As Jacques and his partner prepared to close on their new home, he says that BCL of Texas was extremely helpful in keeping everything on track, especially as the closing coincided with a long-planned vacation and they found themselves far from home. Jacques says his overall experience was “great, the classes that we had to go to helped us find out about things we needed to know, things we needed to look for when you’re pricing a house, to make sure you’re not buying something that you can’t afford.”

Jacques message to other first-time is simple: “Figure out your budget, look at your, expenses and then go out and look for these down payment assistance programs. You can own a house. It’s doable.” Jacques says he and his partner love their new home and will likely be there for long time.

Please note that the Neighborhood LIFT program, as referenced in this interview, is no longer active. This interview reflects Mr. Dilonga’s experience with the program while it was still available, and his successful journey to long-term homeownership.