Meet James Jordan

Home HeadQuarters' 650th Home Improvement Loan Customer of the Year

“I decided that I’m done with the dogs and the mess and I’m getting a fence for the entire backyard.”

When James Jordan walked into Home HeadQuarters last week to close on his home improvement loan, he wasn’t expecting any fanfare. He planned to meet with the organization’s Loan Operations Manager Meghan Carroll, sign some papers and head to work.

What James didn’t know was that, as his was the first of three loan closings scheduled that day, he was the 650th home improvement loan customer for Home HeadQuarters in its 2017-18 program year, ending April 30th. As the owner of an HHQ-rehabbed property in Syracuse’s Strathmore neighborhood, and a recent HomeBuyer Education Course Graduate, James and his fiancée didn’t require much in the way of fixing the home, they needed a little help with the neighbors.

“It’s the neighbor’s dogs,” said James matter-of-factly. “I decided that I’m done with the dogs and the mess and I’m getting a fence for the entire backyard.”

To finance his fence, James took advantage of a 1% Onondaga County Initiative Loan for exterior property improvements. The special revolving loan fund, made possible by the Onondaga County Legislature and County Executive, is just one of an array of public and privately funded loan and grant programs offered by Home HeadQuarters. For more than two decades, the non-profit community development lender has been a leading provider of home improvement loans and grants to Syracuse and Central New York families providing more than $107 million in financing to almost 10,000 home owners.

Home HeadQuarters makes home improvement dollars available through programs like the FlexFund Loan, a $10 million loan pool capitalized by private lending partners, and the CDBG-funded Syracuse Homeowner Emergency Repair Assistance, where almost 70% of the participants are low-income homeowners of color. Throughout its 20+ year history, Home HeadQuarters has remained the top home improvement lender to families of color in the city of Syracuse, out lending all other financial institutions combined.

Even with a little bit of fanfare, a free t-shirt tied with a bow and some picture taking, James Jordan’s loan closing only took five minutes.