Ivonne, her husband, and their two sons live in the Healdsburg home they bought in 2016. Ivonne works as a medical assistant at Sutter in Healdsburg, and her husband commutes to Sebastopol for work. Ivonne grew up in Sonoma County, has roots here, and never wants to move away. For her, it is the perfect place to raise a family.
Before purchasing their house, she and her husband were renting an apartment in Santa Rosa. They didn’t think they were able to afford to buy a home until they were introduced to the Housing Land Trust, “We qualified for the Housing Land Trust program, which at the time felt like it was too good to be true, but ended up being the reason we were able to purchase our house. If we hadn’t been accepted, we’d still be renting an apartment.” The Housing Land Trust helped them buy a home they love with zero down payment and an affordable mortgage.
Ivonne believes everyone should own a home and has been very happy with her homeownership (besides the HOA fees, which fluctuate). Ivonne feels like she got lucky, and is excited that there are organizations like Housing Land Trust and Generation Housing to provide support and information to help everyone get just as “lucky.”