Xavier Shands has been the go-to guy for all of Gorman and Company’s maintenance needs on rental properties for over 6 years.
Picture this: a man who has dedicated his career to tending to other people’s living spaces now embarks on a journey to transform his very own “piece of America”. Xavier has repaired and maintained many of the homes in Milwaukee’s Metcalfe Park neighborhood and spent his career taking care of other people’s living spaces, and now he gets to take care of his own home. As a seasoned maintenance technician, he’s breathed life back into countless homes in Metcalfe Park.
One Benefit of Homeownership: Freedom
“I get to fix up my house the way I want it. I am looking forward to doing the woodwork and restoring the cherry oak, putting quarter round around the shower and miscellaneous stuff, and being able to take my time”.
Going from renting to owning can be a difficult decision for some. We asked Xavier what motivated him to take the leap into homeownership. He had 2 impactful reasons.
First, the economic opportunity. Gorman and Company built single-family homes fifteen years ago to take advantage of a Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Now, fifteen years later that credit has expired, and renters have the opportunity to buy the home they have been renting at a deeply discounted price. . Xavier saw buying a home as an investment that would provide financial stability and a wealth-building opportunity. Instead of watching his rent increase year after year he decided he would rather be paying himself through a mortgage payment than pay to lease his home. The economic opportunity was clear.
Second, community impact. Xavier saw buying his home as an opportunity to stabilize the neighborhood. During the initial process, Xavier was unsure about pursuing homeownership in his Metcalfe Park neighborhood. But, while attending a community meeting he was approached by Milwaukee Chief of Police, Jeffrey Norman. Chief Norman said to Xavier,
“I really want you to consider buying this home. We’re looking for people like yourself to help stabilize the neighborhood.”
Numerous studies have shown that neighborhoods where families are homeowners form stable communities. Stable communities not only reduce urban blight and neighborhood deterioration, but they also experience a decrease in crime, poverty and children living in these communities tend to perform better in school.
Xavier understood the kind of positive community impact he would make by buying his property. On November 30th, 2023 with the support of his Acts homebuyer coach, Xavier closed on his first home.
Xavier is proud of his decision to stay in the Metcalfe neighborhood and shared what homeownership means to him,
“Homeownership means you’ve accomplished owning a piece of America. You own land rights. You own from the sky through the space above your house to the center of the earth, it’s yours.”
- Interested in moving from renting to homeownership? Your first step is to view our Virtual Homebuyer Orientation. Start Here.
