Housing expo in Glen Burnie makes dreams come true

By TIM PRATT

Tim Pratt - Maryland Gazette

Angel and Kathy Ortiz stand in front of the home they bought last year after the Anne Arundel County Housing Expo. They found a program that helped them afford home ownership.

When Marley Middle School custodian Angel Ortiz found out he had to work overtime last year for the Anne Arundel County Housing Expo, he and wife Kathy were intrigued.

The couple was living in a two-bedroom apartment in Glen Burnie and had to deal with noisy neighbors, limited privacy and a severe lack of storage space.
So Kathy joined her husband at the expo “just to see what they had to say.”

One year later, the couple is living in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Pasadena and their mortgage payments are less than they were paying in rent.
And it all started at the expo.

“If we wouldn’t have gone to that expo, none of this ever would have happened,” Kathy said this week from her den overlooking Hog Neck Road. “We love it here. We have a beautiful view out back and if we want the hustle and bustle, we just look out front.”

This year’s expo takes place Saturday at Marley Middle School. It will give people like the Ortizes an opportunity to speak with lenders and Realtors, as well as government and nonprofit housing agencies, among other industry representatives.

About 20 vendors will be on hand.

Arundel Community Development Services and the Anne Arundel Association of Realtors are hosting the event.

Kathy Koch, executive director of Community Development Services, said the expo is a great first step for people who may want to buy a house, now or in the future.

“It’s a great way to get you started,” Koch said. “If you’re just starting to think about buying a house or if you think this is something you would like to do but don’t know if you can, this is a place where you can come and not feel challenged or threatened. You can walk in and casually talk to people and see if an opportunity is there.”

The expo will feature mini-workships, which require preregistration, as well as other services and programs.

“Buying a house is one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make in your life,” Koch said. “The more you are educated about the process and the tools that are out there, the more successful you’re going to be.”

Sitting in their den, the Ortizes looked back fondly on how far they have come in the past year. With Angel’s job as a custodian and Kathy unable to work because of severe arthritis and other health issues, the couple was living on one salary and Kathy’s disability checks.

Five years ago the couple filed for bankruptcy, Kathy said, and they never thought they would have money to buy their own house. But at the expo last year, the couple found out about a home ownership program for individuals with disabilities.

To the Ortizes surprise, they qualified for the program. They took the necessary courses through the Community Development Services and eventually were approved to buy a house.

Last fall, the Ortizes discovered a newly renovated house on Hog Neck Road and decided to buy it for $240,000. The couple got a 40-year mortgage at a 3.7-percent interest rate, and only had to put $500 down, Kathy said. They moved into the house in October.

“We never thought we’d be able to afford something like this,” Angel said. “The way I see it, this is a gift from heaven.”

Now the couple has a deck, a full-size washer and dryer, a large master bedroom, a dining room and a kitchen, plus all the storage space they need. They may even get a dog.

“We finally have room for everything we own instead of having to cram it all into a closet,” Kathy said with a laugh.

Koch didn’t have statistics on the number of people who attended previous housing expos and ended up buying houses, but she estimates over the last 15 years, approximately 500 people have gone through the ACDS home counseling program annually. Roughly 50 percent of those people end up buying houses, she said.

Koch is urging people to attend this year’s expo.

“We’ll help people figure out what they can do and what they can afford, but some people might find out they aren’t quite ready yet,” Koch said. “That’s why we want people to come out and start looking at some of the options that are out there.”
More than 150 people attended last year’s expo.

• The 2011 Anne Arundel County Housing Expo will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Marley Middle School, 10 Davis Court in Glen Burnie. For more information, visit www.acdsinc.org/html/expo/index.html.

———
tpratt@mdgazette.com