Eleodoro and his wife Sofia found out about ACTS Housing through a friend.
“If it was good for them, it would be good for us,” Eleodoro said.
The couple was ready to stop paying rent where they were drinking bottled water because they were afraid to drink out of the faucet.
“When I drank water out of the tap at their rental home, they looked at me like I was crazy,” ACTS Realtor Tess Wynn said.
They saw a total of three homes with Wynn leading the way.
They fell in love with a city-tax foreclosure in the Borchert Field neighborhood on Milwaukee’s North Side. It wasn’t too far away from their friends on Milwaukee’s South Side or the freeway to get to their jobs.
They purchased the home in early-December of last year for $3,500.
Every day when they ended their workday the couple and Eleodoro’s brother went to the house and worked on the home’s interior rehab which included: flooring, plumbing, tiling the bathroom, and electrical work.
They also replaced the lead laterals on the home. Plumbing work on the home had disrupted some of the lead piping. A city inspector required them to replace it.
The City of Milwaukee also worked with the family to make sure the lead pipe replacement was affordable.
The family was afraid it would cost them tens of thousands of dollars, but their ACTS Rehab Counselor, Ramon Guadarrama, told them about a city program where they could get the pipes replaced for a fraction of the cost.
Outside of completing exterior work on the home, they are done with work on the interior.
They moved in Feb. 22.
“It was the fastest rehab project I have ever seen,” said Guadarrama.
Having their own space may have been a motivator in the speed of getting the work done.
“When people ask me where I’m going I say I’m going to my house,” Eleodoro said. “I’m proud to say I’m going to my house.”
Before and After Photos
