Kimberly Patrick: Her Time is Now to Own a Home

Living in her rented mobile home in Pearl, Mississippi, Kimberly Patrick yearned to buy a house of her own. She wrote a letter to herself and put it in her Bible. “I just prayed and prayed,” she said.

On January 4, 2022, Patrick’s prayers were answered when she closed on her new home in Pearl, purchased with a mortgage from HOPE. “It is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Patrick said of her three-bedroom house with a skylight in the kitchen, a patio, and a fenced-in backyard. Patrick’s daughter, 17, lives with her and she has three grown children. “She’s the reason why I was so adamant about getting a new house. Renting was money that was just being given away that I could have been putting into a mortgage payment all these years. I had to make up my mind and get my credit situated so I could make this move.”

Patrick’s realtor referred her to HOPE, where she worked with Don Jackson, Vice President of Mortgage Business Development. As he does with all borrowers who come to HOPE, Jackson diligently walked Patrick through all the paperwork and documentation she would need to qualify for the loan, including raising her credit score to at least 590. Patrick was able to increase the amount for which she was eligible by refinancing her auto loan.

Jackson also initiated a grant from the Mississippi Home Corporation, a state agency that provides funding to eligible borrowers with low to moderate incomes, lowering Patrick’s down payment and closing costs. He also obtained a federally backed bond loan with a below-market interest rate of 3.14%, and added Patrick’s previous on-time rent payments to her credit report to help her meet the loan criteria.

Jackson said that Patrick would not have qualified for a mortgage with a traditional bank, and that other banks in the area often point potential borrowers in HOPE’s direction. HOPE is one of the only lenders to offer mortgages to customers with credit scores of 580. It also requires borrowers to obtain homebuyers, education certificate, through a class that they can take in person or online, as part of its mission of raising the financial acumen of its customers.

“It’s personal for me. Growing up in the rural South in sub-standard housing, with not enough room for my brothers and sisters, and not having the availability of housing, for me it is a mission that people need this,” said Jackson, who has worked at HOPE for more than 14 years. “It’s part of my calling.”

Patrick said she felt that personal commitment come through during the thorough application process. “He put everything he had into it. When he said he was here to help me, that’s just what he did,” Patrick said. The result was her new house, where Patrick said she relishes having control over her destiny.

She bought a puppy, Rocko, who currently lives in a doghouse in the backyard built by Patrick’s fiancé. Patrick said she plays with Rocko outside after coming home from her job as an appointment clerk and dispatcher at TForce Freight. “When I go out on my patio, I can just breathe and let go. It feels so good to sit back there.” Patrick’s daughter, meanwhile, has decorated her new bedroom with LED light strips and both mom and daughter are happy not to be sharing a bathroom.

Patrick also loves her neighbors and feels very welcome in her new neighborhood. “Everybody keeps their yards clean, there are a lot of people walking,” she said, adding that she feels safe and content in the new surroundings. “I love my little house.”