Oklahoma Company Helps Keep Homeownership Dreams Alive for Struggling Families

Homeownership has long been considered an American dream, but for many people, achieving it can seem out of reach. One Oklahoma company is helping families transition into homes they can eventually own. Michelle Houston is one of those families.

“Everybody's just been all hands on deck to keep this dream alive,” Houston said.

Houston’s dream is to own her own home—one she found thanks to Berry-Rock Homes.

“You choose your own realtor, you go out, you choose your house, you know, your dream home,” she said.

The home she chose is in a quiet Midwest City neighborhood. While she doesn’t qualify for a mortgage yet, she will one day through the company’s pathway program.

“We're a gap between now and when they qualify for homeownership,” said Nick Berry, co-owner of Berry-Rock Homes. “What we've developed 10 years ago is a solution for people that fall outside of mortgage regulations.”

Berry started the company 10 years ago with his business partner, Cameron Rock. Their program allows Oklahomans to choose any home on the market and lease it with the right to purchase it in the future.

“Our program is really unique. We're one of three companies nationally that run a program like ours,” Berry said. “We're really proud of the success rate: 83 percent of the people who enter into our program end up actually owning the house and getting that mortgage, the ultimate solution.”

While in the program, Houston lost her job and faced multiple costly home repairs. She defaulted on her payment twice and feared she would be evicted, losing all the money she put down on the home—money her parents had given her.

“There were days I didn't even want to get up out of bed. It just physically made me sick to lose our dream home and be out all this money,” Houston said.

The company didn’t evict her. Instead, they worked with her to catch up on payments and remain in good standing.

“We did work out a solution, and we're still working with her to overcome some of her personal challenges. She's ultimately going to be very successful in buying the house from us,” Berry said.

For Houston, this solution has allowed her to keep the keys to her home—and her dream of homeownership alive.

“I don't want to leave our home. We've made memories here, and I don't want to leave that,” Houston said. “It's taken a huge stress—that burden has been lifted.”

For more information on the program, visit Berry-Rock Homes.