A Newmarket family is walking away with $10,000 after winning a first-time home buyer’s contest put on by three local businesswomen.
Heather and Josh Antle are ecstatic after not only finding the home of their dreams, but being the lucky winners of the $10,000 grand prize.
Last fall, mortgage agent Debbie Viveiros, real estate agent Gemma Leggett and financial advisor Stephanie Vincec joined forces to put on a program for first-time home buyers in the York-Simcoe area, the First Time Home Buyer’s Boot Camp.
Their six-month program encompassed three parts: a meeting with Viveiros to go over the qualifications for a mortgage; a customized financial plan with Vincec and a house hunt with Leggett.
The prize of $10,000 was money pooled together by the women themselves to be granted to one lucky family at the end of the competition. The goal of the contest was to help as many eligible buyers as possible to prepare for homeownership in York Region and Simcoe County.
The Antle family saw the original call for registrants in the fall, and decided to apply. Their plan was to receive as much help as possible to prepare for home ownership. Heather said they didn't expect to buy within six months, but wanted to get a jump start on saving for a downpayment, with plans to buy in fall 2020.
After meeting with the three women and going over their real estate goals, they were given a budget to work with to help them save for a downpayment.
"We thought we were doing well on our own before, so this really opened our eyes to how much we could change things," said Heather.
The family saved aggressively throughout the fall and winter. They cut out all unnecessary expenses, including entertainment and takeout meals.
"It was hard, trying to find coupons, price matching," shared Heather about the saving experience.
The Antles were anxious and motivated to find a house, not just for the competition, but for personal reasons. In February, their landlord let them know that they would be selling their rental house in May.
Heather thought, "I can’t go into another rental for a year." She and Josh were determined to get them and their three daughters out into their own home by spring.
"We looked at house after house," said Heather, and were often left disappointed after losing out on many bidding wars. "But let me tell you, Gemma worked miracles," said Heather.
Heather said all three women were very supportive throughout the whole process, often times going above and beyond to make sure they were able to visit every house they wanted to see, and checking in daily.
"This would not have happened without them, especially within our budget," said Heather. "I would call them in tears and they were always there."
Then one day, their dream home came on the market. Leggett called them in the morning and by the afternoon had an appointment to go see it.
"We didn't think we would get it," said Heather. So they were overly excited when their offer was accepted.
"We ended up getting the home of our dreams!" shared Heather, noting it was in their most ideal location and within their budget.
Of all the families entered into the boot camp challenge, the Antles were the only ones to purchase a home.
In total, there were more than 60 applications received and individual financial plans were given out to all eligible participants.
The results were based on a few factors, including how much money each contestant saved, how much money was put toward a downpayment, how much credit scores went up, and an essay component on how well the contestant(s) thought they did with their progress.
In the end, only 42 contestants stayed in the program. Ten families made it to the qualification stage and two were pre-approved for mortgages.
“The program was successful. The goal was to position them (contestants) for home ownership and we have several ready and close to ready to buy,” explained Viveiros. But thanks to COVID-19, the team of women are advising the other families to hold off on purchasing homes for now.
Picking a winner was not an easy task.
“It was a really tough decision. We had two families that were really close in all areas,” said Viveiros. “We all had our favourite family but we used the data to decide and keep it fair.”
In retrospect, Viveiros said the contest was a lot more work than they expected. As it was the first time pulling off such an endeavour, she and her teammates knew there would be a lot of hours involved.
“The contest was a lot more heavy lifting than anticipated. (There was) lots of content to pull together and customized financial plans to be developed and constant check ins required,” she explained.
Viveiros, Leggett and Vincec had originally planned to do another competition in the fall, but due to COVID-19, those plans are on hold.
"I believe most people will require the rest of the year just to get back on track," explained Viveiros.
The Antles are grateful for all the program that helped them go from renters to buyers.
"We thought we were just doing this for the education," said Heather, "The 10K wasn't even a question."
Heather and Josh's three daughters are excited to move into their new home. They, too, had sacrificed part of their lifestyle to make their dream a reality.
"This was a really big step for us," said Heather. "Today we paid our last rent payment and that was pretty amazing."
The family moves into their new home May 22.