Habitat for Humanity Choptank celebrated a major milestone at it recent annual meeting. The first home owner to pay off a mortgage in the traditional manner, making regular monthly mortgage payments, joined with Habitat volunteers, staff and future home owners for a mortgage burning ceremony. Reverend Duke Dixon, of the Presbyterian Church of Easton, designed and led a special service to commemorate the occasion. At the close, all those gathered joined in singing “This Little Light of Mine” as home owner Diane Satterfield put her loan papers to a candle.
Satterfield, an employee of It’s Good to Be Home which is a division of Londonderry Retirement Community, purchased her Easton home on February 19, 1994. This was a home that she helped to build alongside Habitat volunteers. Habitat funded the construction of the home and provided the mortgage financing taking back a no-interest mortgage at settlement. Over the last 20 years, Satterfield has made monthly payments including the principal repayment and escrow for her home owners insurance and property taxes.
Although the dream of home ownership has been made complete for Satterfield with her final payment, her responsibilities as a home owner continue. Education and support are core components of Habitat’s housing program. Volunteers from the Mortgage Servicing Committee have developed an educational workshop to help Satterfield and the other home owners who will begin paying off their 20-year notes in the coming years to make sound financial and home maintenance plans for the future.
Since 1992, Habitat Choptank has empowered 63 working individuals and families from Talbot and Dorchester counties to build a better future for themselves through home ownership. These are home buyers who do not earn enough to qualify for conventional mortgage financing. Each ‘partner family’ contributes 300-400 hours of “sweat equity” in the building of those houses and purchases their home with a 20 to 30-year no interest Habitat mortgage. Currently, four partners are working through Habitat’s multi-step partnership program toward the goal of becoming successful home buyers. Applications for home ownership are accepted throughout the year. For information about home ownership, to volunteer with Habitat Choptank or to make a donation, visit www.habitatchoptank.org or call 410-476-3204.
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