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This week, we’re excited to introduce you to our new blog series: Homeowner Stories! Our first homeowner feature is Chris, who has owned his home at Vineyard Square in Chapel Hill for about five years.

At 29 years old, Chris is a first-time homeowner — and he readily admits that he never imagined homeownership would be for him. “It’s always what I wanted, but I never knew that I was capable,” shares Chris. Because Chris has autism, he has had several different living situations over the years — sharing a home with his parents, a group home, an apartment with a difficult roommate situation — and he is unable to drive to his job at Harris Teeter or manage his finances without some support. But his townhome at Vineyard Square provides everything he needs: he lives close to public transportation and within walking distance of much of what he needs, and he lives close to his parents, too, so he has the support he needs to maintain his home.

As his father John shares, Chris “has the gift of gab,” but has a lot of challenges when it comes to math and other skills. So the support of his family and the CHT team through the homeownership process was critical. A real estate broker let them know about CHT, and “everybody at Community Home Trust was bending over backwards to help us,” says John. “They expedited everything in order for us to move in around the same time that Chris’s lease was going to be up,” which was critical because the timing was very tight.

“I’m just happy I live here because I can have a long and good relationship with my parents,” shares Chris. And John agrees: “The ability for him to live on his own is really, really important. I feel better knowing that he’s been able to do this.”