First-Time Homeowner at 69

Chester Wright didn’t finish college after he was drafted for the Vietnam War. He spent his later years plying his skills in electrical work before retiring due to a disability. Then, at the age of 69, Mr. Wright achieved what he had thought was out of reach – he bought his first home with the help of HOPE. After attending HOPE’s homebuyer classes and starting a savings fund with his monthly income, he was approved for a mortgage loan. The 100-year-old, wood-frame house in New Orleans’ Shrewsbury community once belonged to a black, female entrepreneur who sold fruit and vegetables from a cart. She left the house to Wright’s mother, and he recently bought it from his siblings. “I’ve never felt better in my life,” he says. “I have children and I have something I can leave them now.”