In 2024, the first-time homebuyer market share dropped to a historic low of 24 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. But despite Americans nationally having a tough time buying homes, through the New York Housing Lottery System (NYHL), over 60 New York families became first-time home buyers this year.
Of them is the couple of Tanese Orr, a 45-year-old Jamaican-American, and her husband, Robert Lashley. Orr shared with PIX11 her American dream had always been to buy a house, but after living in public housing for 20 years, it felt impossible.
To help with Orr’s dream, she applied to the Small Homes Rehab-NYCHA Program — a government program which restores foreclosed homes across the city and sells them. “I applied for the homeownership aspect because I was already renting and didn’t want to leave an apartment for another apartment,” Orr said in an interview with CNBC Make It.
Three years after signing up for the program, Orr logged in and saw an active lottery for homes. That’s when she applied. Less than two months later, she received an email to submit a list of required documents, and then Orr eventually toured two houses in Brooklyn.
“While I was going through the process, they kept asking for more documents but I didn’t care. I was going to find a way to get everything to them because I knew it would be my home,” Orr said.
According to Zillow, homes in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Clinton Hill, where Orr toured, sell for around $971,000. This figure is up 2.2 percent since 2023.
But the married couple lucked up when they were able to secure a two-family home, worth $1.1 million, for just $727, 365, according to CNBC. Despite the blessing, Orr wants everyone to know this wasn’t as easy as it seemed. “People think that we just won the lottery and we got it for free but that’s not true.” Orr continued saying, “We still had to have a good amount saved.”
Matter of fact, the couple reportedly secured a 30-year State of New York Mortgage Agency low-interest rate mortgage and jumped through many other hoops to secure their first home. But if you let Orr tell it, every hurdle was all worth it in the end.
“The best part is saying that ‘it’s ours,’ and saying ‘we did this and we were responsible enough to save and work hard for this and it’s ours,’” she said. “It’s a peace of mind.”
Now, the couple lives happily in their newly renovated house. They also found another tenant who lives in a different part of the house. “I love Brooklyn, I love the neighborhood, and I love that house,” Orr said.