Woman is a first-time homebuyer at 77 years old thanks to her 'dream team'

    COOLIDGE, Arizona (KNXV) -- Often referred to as a cornerstone of the American Dream, homeownership has become unobtainable for many in our community. That didn’t stop one new homeowner in her late 70s from getting the keys to her own house.

Sherry Yates has been at her Coolidge home for nearly a year now and there’s still not one inch of it she would change.

”I love the whole thing, I can’t pick,” she said.

That’s largely because she was a renter until she was 77 years old. Now she’s a year older, a homeowner, and the only lease she has now is a new lease on life.

“You know, sometimes I feel 35,” she said.

Yates moved to Arizona in 2007 and rented in Glendale, where multiple generations of people lived under one roof. At times, 12 people were living with her.

When the landlord sold that house, she found herself in a new rental house in Avondale for a couple hundred dollars more.

After some years there, that house foreclosed and she ended up renting an apartment in Central Phoenix and realized her constant was change.

“It’s hard to stay in an apartment, plus when you got kids and they got kids, it’s very hard,” she said.

To add to that challenge, Yates admits she didn’t know where to start on the journey to homeownership – until she met new Oakwood Homes Counselor Beckah Stiasny.

"It’s a big, scary thing to buy your home, let alone build your home, so we counsel throughout the whole time,” said Stiasny.

A pesky credit score kept Yates from getting the loan she needed, so her team helped get that in line and then figure out how much she needed to save to make a $12,000 down payment on a $300,000 house.

So now, at 78 years old, she’s a proud, first-time homeowner of a 1,700-square-foot home, with four bedrooms, a two-car garage, and enough space to take care of her mother, who is in her 90s, her husband, two kids, and then some.

She considers her mortgage a privilege.

”I would pay my mortgage before I pay anything,” said Yates.

"This is the American Dream, to own your own home. I’m going to tear up, listening to you,” said Stiasny.

Oakwood Homes has two communities where its services are available. One is in Coolidge and another is in Surprise.