Smoke Signals 5
JULY 1,2011
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By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal Elder Edwin Ashman and
wife, Ellie, have moved into the
first home they have ever owned.
Before the new place made them a
Dallas couple in June, they rented
a house in Sheridan for 25 years,
raising seven children.
On and off for most of that time,
they were looking for a place to
buy and, according to Ellie, it was
always this place in Dallas they
were looking for.
Ed has been coming to see Nancy
Holmes, Tribal Housing Authority's
Homeownership coordinator, peri
odically since she started working
for the Housing Authority 17 years
ago.
"It just didn't work out those
times," said Holmes. "He used to
come in and talk about getting a
house. There were many episodes.
One house burned down before they
got to buy it."
In the past, the Down Payment
program that Holmes administers
has assisted as many as 100 Tribal
families in one year's time. This
year, the program has completed
almost 20 down payment awards,
many with the federal Housing and
Urban Development Department
184 loan program.
The 184 program was originally
written to allow Indians to pur
chase homes on Tribal trust land,
said Holmes. "But that changed a
few years ago so that now the 184
loans also can be used for down
payments off Tribal trust land,"
she said. "They also now provide
refinancing for Native Americans
enrolled in a federally recognized
Tribe," although the Grand Ronde
Tribe does not have a program for
that service.
"There's a lot of opportunity out
there," Holmes said.
Holmes works "from application
to closing" with Tribal members
purchasing a house with the 184
program, and just about any other
type of loan.
"I review their applications and
approve their grants," she said.
"Then, I'm working with all the
documents, and hand-in-hand with
lenders, the title company, escrow
officers and realtors to get the sale
to closing.
"If they're not ready, I'll let them
Photo by Michelle Alalmo
Tribal Elder Ed Ashman and wife, Ellia, recently purchased their first home in Dallas with assistance from the federal
Housing and Urban Development's Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program. Tribal Housing Authority's
Homeownership Coordinator Nancy Holmes worked with them "from application to closing" to make their dream of
owning a home come true.
know, (for example), that they have
to get better credit or stay in a job
longer.
"I have probably the best job at
the Tribe because I get to see people
come in, and through this grant, I
get to see them change their whole
life."
Only a few months ago, said Ellie,
the rent increased dramatically at
their house in Sheridan.
"We thought, 'We could make
a house payment for that,' " Ellie
said. The family started looking
into buying a house once again.
They visited a Windermere Realty
open house.
"It has been a really smooth
process," said Windermere Realtor
Cheri Jacobsen on Friday, June 10,
the day she turned the keys over to
the Ashmans. "It required so many
different transactions, but this one
has gone off without a hitch."
And the new house payment, said
Ellie, is $80 less than the cost to
rent in Sheridan.
Longtime Tribal housing lender
Valerie Harjo, who sat on the Grand
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represented Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage, the bank in the deal.
Harjo, a specialist in the HUD
184 program, is another impressed
by the way buying a home changes
lives.
With the 184 program, Harjo
facilitated the first loans for the
Tribe's Grand Meadows develop
ment. "Some were homeless before we
got them through the 184 process,"
she said.
There is a lot more paperwork
needed for a 184 loan, says Harjo,
and "there's not enough money in
these deals for a lot of loan officers,
but they miss out on the real soul
of this business."
"Over the years," said Ellie, "I
have been drawing pictures of the
home I wanted, and this is it. The
hillside. The pillars. The oval glass
in the front door."
When the family came to see it
the first time, everybody loved it.
"They all knew I had this dream,"
said Ellie.
Ask Ellie what made it possible
after all these years.
"The Lord," she says. "And Wells
Fargo."
"Every time I go by a Wells Far
go," said Ed, "I smile."
"This is a labor of love for me,"
said Harjo.
"It took going back a few times,"
said Harjo of the Ashmans' pur
chase. "But Ed and Ellie were
putting everything into it. The
requirements put some people off,
but not Ed and Ellie. You could
say, 'Hard work made it go easy.'
It's very rewarding. That's why I
do this."
Many Tribes and Tribal people
do not know about the program,
Harjo said. It is "the best purchase
loan out there: 2.25 percent down
payment. No mortgage insurance.
Non-traditional credit is possible.
And no credit score is OK. These
loans have less foreclosure rates
than traditional loans. They're
never a sub-prime loan. They're
conservatively written, meaning
it's not a loan for people who can't
afford it. There are a lot of require
ments, but they are not things you
can't overcome."
Still outside on the driveway and
heading up the front walk, there
was some discussion about finding
a nail to put a wooden cross up in
the house first thing. A stray screw,
at last, turned up.
Accompanying the Ashmans as
they stepped across the threshold
for the first time as owners were
co-pastors of the Dallas New Life
Nazarene Church, Kerry Lumley
and his wife, Marcelina, and Ash
man friend Pete Nairn.
In blessing the house, Pastor
Lumley said he hoped that in years
ahead, the Ashmans could look
back and say, "That was a home,
and it was a blessing."
Inside, Ellie pointed out a whole
new list of benefits in the new
house.
"Ed and I are getting older," she
said. "There are no stairs here. It's
wide open, in case somebody needs
a wheelchair."
"I'm just in a dream right now,"
said Ed. "I want to thank every
body. My big thanks go to Valerie
Harjo, Cheri Jacobsen, the Con
federated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Housing Authority, Vicki (Jones,
Housing Authority Administrative
assistant), Nancy (Holmes), (Tribal
Elder) Margo George (who, over the
summer, was temporarily secretary
for the Housing Authority), our
minister and, most of all, God, for
this wonderful gift, and most of all,
my wife because of who she is.
"Welcome home, Mama!"