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Couple gets out of debt, realizes dream of homeownership

Bill and Casey Daubenmire stand in front of their Sante Fe Road home which they recently purchased after getting out of debt. The Daubenmires sought help from SELF and other agencies to improve their credit.

Contributed photo by Jessica Uttinger Bill and Casey Daubenmire stand in front of their Sante Fe Road home which they recently purchased after getting out of debt. The Daubenmires sought help from SELF and other agencies to improve their credit.

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By Rick McCrabb, Columnist 10:32 PM Friday, July 3, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — There were times when Casey Daubenmire — afraid to leave her Middletown rental — daydreamed about buying a house with her husband.

“At the time,” Bill Daubenmire said, homeownership “was only a pipe dream.”

But Casey, the optimist in the relationship, said she “saw it happening.”

So the Daubenmires repaired their bad credit, paid off piles of debt, attended financial assistance classes, and saved every penny.

They’re living not a pipe dream, but the American dream.

“It’s nice to have our own place,” Casey said recently while sitting in the living room.

“It’s a sense of accomplishment,” Bill said. “It’s neat to make the progression from renting a home to owning a home.”

That brought a smile to his wife’s face: “I was so tired of moving,” she said.

Bill, 36, and Casey, 32, were married in March 2004, and even though they were in love, they were broke, too.

They were buried in credit card debt, and their credit score was lower than South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s approval rating.

So they rented a home in a downtown Middletown neighborhood, one of those streets frequently mentioned in police reports.

“When I looked out the back door,” Casey said, “there usually were guys smoking pot.”

No wonder they were spurred to seek financial assistance from two Butler County agencies: Supports to Encourage Low-income Families and Neighborhood Housing Services.

People interested in buying a first-time home, paying for post-secondary education or opening a small business are eligible for the financial assistance, said Kim Weigel, community relations coordinator for SELF.

The Daubenmires attended 14 hours of financial literacy programs that taught them budgeting, “wants” verses “needs,” and reducing their spending habits.

Bill called it “basic stuff that got us back on our feet.”

They started paying off debt, opened a savings account and worked with a case manager who monitored their spending.

Bill, who works in customer service at Crescent, a distribution center in West Chester Twp., called balancing their finances “a big relief.”

Once they saved $1,000 in their individual development account, the agencies matched $2,000. Each of them participated in the programs, so after they saved $4,000, they earned an additional $8,000.

“That’s a great reward,” Weigel said.

Finally, they were financially secure enough to look for a new home. They fell in love with a two-bedroom, two-bath brick home on Sante Fe Road, just off Middletown’s Central Avenue.

Bill’s mother lives just around the corner, and his twin brother, Brad, and sister Ellyn also live in the quiet neighborhood.

The Daubenmires purchased the 67-year-old home for $89,900. They closed in October and moved in a month later. They’re remodeling the inside and landscaping the outside.

And Casey, a teacher’s aide in the Middletown school district, is 17 weeks pregnant with their first baby.

“It’s a good time,” she said.

She’s home and nobody is getting high in her backyard.

Contact this

columnist

at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

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