Posted on February 18, 2022
By Lisa Braxton
BOSTON—Lisa Stringfellow’s debut novel, A Comb of Wishes, tells the story of a little girl named Kela who finds a mysterious comb that belongs to a mermaid. It is a charming tale for middle graders about loss, longing, and discovery.
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Stringfellow, who purchased her first home thanks to a low-cost mortgage from MHP’s ONE Mortgage Program, has seen her book’s themes play out in recent chapters of her own life, in her home purchasing journey.
Divorced, the middle school English teacher left Louisville, Kentucky, in 2015 with her three children and moved back to Boston to be close to family. Looking at apartments, she experienced sticker shock. She discovered that renting a two-bedroom apartment in Boston would cost her at least triple the amount as it had in Louisville.
As a result, she and the children moved into her mother’s three-bedroom home in the Dorchester section of the city. She and her younger daughter, Althea, now 17, slept in the finished basement on a convertible sofa. Althea’s twin brother, Benjamin, had a twin bed in the attached garage that was converted into a room. Stringfellow’s older daughter, Michaela, now 23, stayed in Stringfellow’s childhood bedroom. Her mother fostered children and she and a foster child occupied the two other bedrooms.
“It was definitely cramped,” Stringfellow said.
All three of Stringfellow’s children are on the autism spectrum. Michaela is relatively independent. The twins require more care.
The basement had a hotplate and microwave oven, but no kitchen. The lack of privacy made work difficult. Stringfellow teaches fifth and sixth grade at an independent school in Boston.
“I have a job that can be pretty intense at times with the amount of work I need to bring home as a teacher and expectations. I didn’t really have a separate place where I could go to keep my papers when I needed to do something. I had the kids in the background,” she said.
“Sometimes my son can be especially loud or he has an issue with paper. He likes to hoard it. My son would collect paper and draw on it, so I had to be careful not to leave important papers out. I couldn’t close a door. That made it hard sometimes.”
She began to feel urgency to purchase her own place and for her mother to have her space back. While saving money for a home and paying off debt, she found out about Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) and enrolled in its first-time homebuyer class. It was there that she learned about ONE Mortgage.
Developed in 1990 to address racial disparities in mortgage lending, ONE has helped more than 23,000 low- and moderate-income families buy their first home. It is the state’s most affordable mortgage product and more than half of all loans have been made by people of color. Participating lenders offer below-market fixed interest rates. A state-funded loan loss reserve means borrowers don’t have to buy costly private mortgage insurance, saving hundreds more each year.
Pictures tell story of Stringfellow's love of home & family
She describes the home search as a rollercoaster ride. It was challenging to find a house in the city that she could afford based on her pre-approval amount. She was firm about staying in the school district where her children had their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). She wanted a place close to where her mother lived, not far from Dorchester. Several times she was outbid. To get the house she eventually purchased, she dipped into her retirement fund to make the numbers work.
“It wasn’t an easy decision. I felt I was gambling a little bit with our future, but it made a difference.”
Stringfellow was able to put 3.6 percent down, didn’t have to pay private mortgage insurance and obtained a conventional 30-year loan from Citizens Bank, one of over 40 lenders that offer ONE Mortgage. She purchased the single-family, 3-bedroom home in the Hyde Park section of Boston in 2019. It includes a downstairs living area that was made into an in-law suite by the previous owner, providing a separate space for Michaela. Stringfellow and the twins have separate bedrooms on the 2nd floor.
“I love that we each have our space. I have my own space, but I can keep an eye on them. The twins, when they have difficult times, I don’t have to explain to my mom or anyone else their behavior. I have a mini trampoline in the corner of the room. If Benjamin’s having a not-so great day and he’s having a meltdown, we’re not disturbing anybody. He has his time to calm down,” she said. “We have laundry without having to go to a laundry mat.”
Since moving in, Stringfellow has made improvements. She’s added a deck on the back, a quiet place where she can have a cup of coffee, enjoy the outdoors, and, of course, read A Comb of Wishes to her children.
"I have many moments in the house, sometimes in my bedroom, sometime downstairs, I look around and wonder ‘How did I get here?’ I’m just grateful. There are so many wonderful things I feel blessed to have this house.”
(Lisa Braxton is communications coordinator at MHP. For more information about ONE Mortgage, email her at lbraxton@mhp.net).