Dreaming of home: MidPen purchase of apartments allows family to plan for homeownership

April 12, 2017, 05:00 AM By Anna Schuessler Daily Journal Anna Schuessler/Daily Journal By living in their studio at Redwood City’s Atherton Court Apartments, Yesenia Nava and Eduardo Cervantes are able to save toward a home where they can live with their daughter. For Redwood City residents Eduardo Cervantes and Yesenia Nava, time is precious. Though the couple juggles their jobs, care for Nava’s 2-year-old, Tara, and visiting family members dotted across the Bay Area, they maintain a steady focus on moving out of their studio at the Atherton Court Apartments and settling in a home for their family. “We manage to try to save and maybe like even maybe get a house,” said Nava. “Because it’d be even cheaper than trying to rent. That’s our next plan right now.” With Foster City-based MidPen Housing’s purchase of the 55-unit apartment building on Rolison Road just north of Marsh Road in February, Nava and Cervantes can stay focused on their goal. Though plans to renovate the apartment complex in the next two years have yet to be finalized, the housing nonprofit’s $17.1 million purchase means Nava and Cervantes’ rent, which hovers just above $1,500 a month, will stay stable, allowing them to save and plan for the future in what many consider to be an unforgiving housing market. Nava and Cervantes experienced the effects of the market when rents shot up at the apartment they shared in Daly City a little over two years ago. Nava, 23, a supervisor at Panera Bread in Millbrae and Cervantes, 25, a construction worker in projects across the Bay Area, couldn’t afford the rent increase and decided to move into the Atherton Court Apartments to stay close to their jobs and family in South San Francisco and the East Bay. Two years later, the two believe the move has worked out well. Despite the traffic impeding their commutes, Nava is able to drop her daughter off with her sister’s mother-in-law before she heads to work and Cervantes said he is able to run errands at nearby stores. Nava said their rent has been manageable, but the two, who are engaged, have thought often about moving to an apartment where their family of three would have more space. But as they have put more thought into it, renting a bigger apartment makes less and less sense. “We’ve been looking but apartments right now are like ridiculously high,” she said. “We’re not really trying to pay for something [when] we might as well pay for something bigger.” The couple also realizes renting at another apartment would mean they would most likely have to move across the Bay, away from an area that allows them to just juggle their many commitments. “The commute is just like something I don’t want to do,” said Nava, who often sees a line of cars waiting to cross the Dumbarton Bridge from their studio. Though Nava and Cervantes don’t see many affordable options to begin a new lease on an apartment, they are well aware they are fortunate to have the rent on their studio stay stable as rents around them are increasing. Though saving toward a home is a large financial goal, they are motivated by the idea of owning their own place, and they know they have to save wherever they can to get there. “Just to move in, that’s a lot of money, you know,” said Nava. Rosemarie Caberto, the MidPen community manager for the Atherton Court Apartments, has seen a lift in spirits for the residents since the news that the below-market housing available there will stay in place. She said many residents told her they had stopped requesting from previous management that work be done at their apartments because they didn’t think anyone would respond. That changed since she started working at the Atherton Court Apartments three months ago. “I had two residents [who] had to cry because they’re very happy because we address their issues right away,” she said. Caberto is now in the midst of setting up 55 new below-market leases for those currently living in the units. At a meeting with residents this past month, she sensed a great deal of excitement around plans for future renovations. “They’re so happy, they’re so glad they’ll be having a community room [and] they’ll have their units renovated,” she said. In helping them sign new leases, Caberto has seen that most of the residents who live there are receiving some form of rental assistance and many are older and using Social Security benefits to pay their rent. She said preserving the below-market rates has allowed many of these residents to continue making the most of nearby service providers where they can receive health care or food assistance. Lisa Mendoza, MidPen’s regional property manager, said the nonprofit is in the process of financing renovations planned for the three buildings included in the Atherton Court Apartment complex. She said the organization is working toward rehabilitating each unit starting in the first quarter of 2018, and that MidPen would partner with a relocation agency to work out a plan for where residents would stay while their units are being renovated. Among the new features planned for the complex are carport parking to take parking off the street and a new structure housing a residential services office, community room, kitchen, computer lab and two laundry rooms. She said that some residents might see their rent drop by up to 50 percent in 2018 after the complex’s renovations are financed as well. Though Caberto will have her hands full in the coming weeks as new leases are signed, she is encouraged by the activity, and is already looking forward to seeing resident reactions to what’s next — renovating their units. “Hopefully that will happen soon so at least they’ll have a home that they can say is their home,” she said. anna@smdailyjournal.com (650) 344-5200 ext. 102 - See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-04-12/dreaming-of-home-midpen-purchase-of-apartments-allows-family-to-plan-for-homeownership/1776425178672.html#sthash.vwxu5gor.dpuf