Boston Community Capital's foreclosure initiative was featured in a Redbook Magazine article "I Lost My Home -- and Got It Back!" by Sara Clemence. The article tells the story of SUN Initiative clients Marchelle Jacques-Yarde and Christopher Yarde who bought their first home, a two-bedroom condo in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood. They thought they were well prepared.
Christopher, an accountant, had run and rerun the numbers to make sure they could handle $1,300 a month — the mortgage payment their lending agent confirmed for them. They even took a free four-day course for first-time homeowners.
The shock came at the signing in July 2007: Marchelle says the bank had tacked on private mortgage insurance for an extra $300 a month, which tipped their payment into undoable territory. But they had already turned in the keys to their old apartment and had driven to the contract signing in a U-Haul packed with all their stuff. "We thought we were too far in to back out, so we signed," Marchelle says.