Olga Aranzazu came in for her first counseling session with another counselor in January of this year. The client’s English is limited as she is an immigrant from Colombia but wanted to achieve the American Dream to buy a home in the U.S. Because of her low income job as a CAN, the client needed as much down payment and closing assistance as possible.

Since her former counselor left the agency, the client lost hope until she was contacted in April and was assigned to this counselor who proceeded to counsel the client in her native Spanish. The client was informed in the programs that were available and that could help her with her down payment and closing needs. She then decided that since her wish was to live within the Tampa City limits, she would apply for the Dare to Own the Dream Program as well as the East Tampa CRA Program as she wanted all available options.

Originally and of concern was the fact that her budget showed a deficit. A budget was prepared for the client to follow and this budget would allow her to use her financial resources to meet all of her financial needs and also would prevent her from further dipping into her savings. The client subsequently made the necessary adjustments with her budget with a “needs vs. wants” mentality resulting on a modest monthly surplus which allowed her to add to her savings.

The client had very good credit and was counseled on the proper ways to use credit and keep her good ratios.
Eventually, and because the client followed instructions, she was able to apply for both the East Tampa CRA and the DARE to Own the Dream Program with a goal of becoming a home owner by 2022.