Lifelong Renter Finally Owns Home

Movin’ Out is incredibly fortunate to have people on our team like Rebecca, our Lead Housing Counselor, and Amy, our Chief Operating Officer, who have been on our team for 19 years and 21 years, respectively. They were around in the early days of Movin’ Out’s down payment assistance programs, and worked with some of our very first clients who were first-time home buyers. In some cases, lasting friendships formed and we were fortunate to stay in touch with clients and their families.

We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of one of those clients, Duane Anderson, of Stoughton, Wisconsin. Our thoughts are with his loved ones. Duane worked with Rebecca to purchase his home in 2009 with Movin’ Out down payment assistance.

“One of Duane’s proudest accomplishments was becoming a homeowner. After years of dedication and hard work, having a place of his own meant everything to him. It gave him the freedom to live independently, and his home reflected that — carefully maintained and kept just the way he liked it.”

We are very pleased to share the following story of Duane’s journey to first-time home ownership, entitled “Lifelong Renter Finally Owns Home,” written by Kevin Tuttle and reprinted with permission from USDA Rural Development:

A 21-year old man with a wife and an 18-month old daughter had all the makings of being on the road to success. Directly out of high school, Duane Anderson married his girlfriend and then began working for a company that manufactured leather interiors for cars, trucks, boats, and other vehicles. It was a career that interested him and something he was good at doing. 

A couple of years into the job, however, things began to change. Headaches started – bad ones. Ones that made him dizzy and queasy. Soon they appeared more frequently, so often that Duane sought medical attention. Migraines, he was told, were his affliction and there was no solution. Perhaps the chemicals and conditions at work were part of the problem, he thought, but he continued his career.

After work, he would walk home in what he thought was a regular stroll. Co-workers and strangers, however, thought he was drunk because he would be all over the sidewalk instead of walking in a straight line. More questions were raised about his constant headaches and the Stoughton native was referred to a specialist in Madison.

The news wasn’t good: brain tumor.

Shortly after the diagnosis, Duane had a 12-hour surgery to remove what turned out to be a lemon-sized tumor from his brain. They got all but 1 percent of it. The surgery was a success and the doctor immediately told Duane’s family the good news afterward – that Duane would make a full recovery. After all, Duane spoke to him and was able to squeeze the doctor’s hand in another test.

When the doctor came back after delivering the great news to the family, Duane was concerned that he couldn’t feel his legs. The doctor neglected to test his legs.

Nothing. No feeling. No movement of the toes. Paralysis from the waist down.

Duane’s doctor told him that he must have had a stroke either during or immediately after surgery; and that he would not walk again. Then came time for the doctor to deliver this news to Duane’s family, who didn’t take it very well after having been told he would make a full recovery.

Such news would devastate many people, especially young adults with their whole lives ahead of them. But Duane was stubborn and determined.

“I told my doctor I was going to get up and walk, but he said it wasn’t going to happen. I told them, ‘You don’t know me too well, do you?’ I was determined to get out of the wheelchair,” Duane said.

The surgery took place in March of 1976 and Duane spent the next four months in the hospital, going through rehabilitation, and continued to rehab after his discharge. By December, he stood up and took his first steps for his doctor, who couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Although walking now necessitated the use of a cane, he was walking nonetheless.

“I knew that stubbornness would come in handy,” Duane joked. “You look back and think ‘Wow’ when something like that happens to you. But I had the support of my friends and family and wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

However, after his divorce a short while later, he moved into an apartment. Then to another apartment, and another, throughout the years. For nearly 30 years, apartments were his home, but Duane developed a desire to own his own place, somewhere he could have more privacy. And if history was any indication, Duane would get what he wanted.

“If you want to do something bad enough, you can do it,” he said, referring to both walking and to owning his own home.

The search to get into his own home led Duane, now 54 and a grandfather to two boys ages 5 and 2, respectively, to Movin’ Out, Inc., an organization that links people with disabilities to safe, affordable, small-scale, integrated housing. It was through Movin’ Out that he found USDA Rural Development as the two organizations have worked together in the past to get people into homes.

Additional organizations, Dane County Housing Authority and Housing Cost Reduction Initiative, were brought in for support and funding, allowing Duane to qualify for a USDA Rural Development home loan, which funded about $100,000 of the $160,500 price. The remainder was funded through other organizations.

“Duane had to do some stuff on his own to qualify, such as paying his truck down. He had good credit ratings,” said Tony Gates, Area Specialist for the USDA Rural Development Dodgeville Area Office, which handled the loan for Duane. “He probably had about $2,000 of out-of-pocket expenses to qualify.”

The house, located in Stoughton where Duane has lived his entire life, was a “For Sale by Owner” house he had found while driving around looking for listed houses. Because of this fact and not having a realtor involved, the process took a bit longer than normal (the application process started in December 2008 and he closed on the house in April [2009]), but it didn’t faze Duane.

Duane Anderson’s House in Stoughton, Wisconsin

“When I was younger I was very impatient,” said Duane, who survives on social security benefits. “My first grandson was born and I settled down a little bit because you need to be patient with kids.”

That patience is what impressed Gates.

“When I met with Duane, he just had such a laid back presence and was very easy to work with and never complained throughout the whole process and was very gracious for Rural Development’s assistance.” 

The thought of owning his own place was something Duane wouldn’t let die, just like the thought of walking again. That independence was a driving factor – something he needed in his life to feel at peace. 

“You feel better about yourself. It’s a sense of independence and it makes you feel good about your place,” Duane said, shaking his head in an attempt to find more words that could better explain his joy and pride. “This is my own place. I can do what I want to do. It’s your place – it makes you feel good.” 

He wasn’t the only one to feel pride at finally being home.

“Here’s an individual who never owned a home and the willingness he showed in purchasing a home and the excitement he showed from Day One showed me that this individual was on a mission and really wanted to be on his own,” Gates said. “A very independent person who is grateful for what we did as agencies to provide him with a home of his own was gratifying.”

Now Duane, or Grandpa Cane, as his oldest grandson used to call him in reference to the various canes he uses for walking, can enjoy picking up his grandsons from daycare or school and spending time with them in his own home.

“Without them in my life, there wouldn’t be much to look forward to,” he said, adding that he loves the time he spends with his daughter and her husband, who is like a son to him.

Duane, who should get Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans annually to check if the 1 percent of his tumor has grown, but hasn’t in about 10 years due to the cost, continues a positive outlook on life and encourages others to do the same.

“Enjoy your life because time will pass you by,” he said.

Finally, he added some advice to other would-be homeowners who are looking for ways to get into their homes: “You have to keep at it, keep trying and don’t give up.”

A motto Duane obviously lives by.