Homeownership is becoming far more elusive in Chattanooga, and it’s a dream Theresa Roberson almost let die.
Roberson, who works full time as a scheduling supervisor at a local doctor’s office and part time as a caregiver for another health care operation, was eager to own a home again – a place her four grandchildren could visit – after her divorce and subsequent foreclosure.
Still, she waited patiently for seven years to pass, when most negative debt would fall off her credit report, while renting a small apartment in East Ridge, taking classes at Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprises to improve her eligibility for a home loan and scratching together savings for a downpayment.
When the time came to house hunt, she was armed with a pre-approved home loan and downpayment assistance through CNE, and her own savings, yet after six months of fastidious searching and three failed bids she felt no match for the market forces at work.
A household with an income of $45,650 a year – around what many teachers, firefighters and skilled laborers make – can afford a $155,000 house. In the last six months, however, only 188 houses costing less than that went on the market in Chattanooga, and 68% were sold to investors, according to recent data collected by CNE, which has been positioning itself to begin leading Chattanooga’s response to the global affordable housing crisis.