LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Davina Hunt Bare has a vision of helping hard-working families find safe, comfortable and affordable homes to achieve that American dream of homeownership.
She believes once a family owns and takes care of a home of their own, they pass that legacy — and maybe some financial security that comes with it — to their children.
To that end, Bare started DB Homes 4 Hope last summer and has just started buying houses in need of rehabilitation to repair, with the goal to rent the restored homes to people who might not otherwise be able to afford nice homes.
She started the business last June after moving to Lynchburg from Charlottesville. She and her husband came to the city for a weekend away and saw how low some of the houses were priced.
“We saw in Lynchburg you could just buy a house for what you purchase a car, and we came back to Charlottesville and my husband said, let’s pray about it and let’s just see if the Lord wants us to make a move,” she said.
She and her husband were trying to do something similar in Charlottesville at the home they own on 11 acres.
The Bares turned the basement into a two-bedroom apartment for a single mom and her daughter because the mother could not afford a home in Charlottesville even with working two jobs.
“And then we were running into other people and they would say, it’s so expensive here, and we could not buy outright in Charlottesville,” Bare said. “We were able to rent out a piece of our own home, but we wanted to do more so we left our church and our family and moved here last summer.”
Lori-Ann Strait, who lives in the apartment of Bare’s Charlottesville home with her daughter, has worked 15-hour days and anywhere between two to three jobs at a time. Several times, her prior landlords have told her the house she had been renting from would be sold and she would have to leave within 90 days.
She and her daughter moved into Bare’s home in March after she needed a new place to stay and said the arrangement has reduced her stress levels and given her peace of mind.
“I feel relieved,” she said. “We live in a good area and that sense of security is a blessing.”
Strait said she is happy Bare has started the business in Lynchburg and hopes she succeeds.
“She definitely has the heart and compassion for doing it,” she said. “And she’s a very good business person.”
A year before moving to Lynchburg, Bare purchased a house on 13th Street for just $7,000 in hopes of renovating it and in turn renting it out to a family who otherwise couldn’t afford it. Since then, she also has purchased a home on Loraine Street in hopes of turning it into a duplex for more than one family to rent from. She said it costs between $50,000 and $60,000 to renovate these homes to get them to a point where they are safe, welcoming and cozy.
“We want people to have home ownership and we want them to at least be able to have the space for two kids or three kids, like the average American-size family and a one-bedroom really won’t allow for that,” she said.
Committed to building community with every rental by offering opportunities to create financial stability and generational wealth, DB Homes 4 Hope sells or rents affordable luxury houses to families for a fair price by enhancing their lives and offering the hope of homeownership to those who might not otherwise be able to achieve it.
The resale price range of renovated properties will be $100,000 and $150,000, Bare said, and they will be renovated with custom ornamentation, spacious walk-in closets, hardwood doors, vaulted ceilings and high-grade vinyl, hardwood paneling or ceramic tile walls.
Bare’s business plan is to interview rental candidates who desire home ownership, allow them to rent from DB Homes 4 Hope until they overcome barriers such as saving up a down payment or resolving credit issues, and then the business will help the tenants find homes to purchase.
“We are essentially renting to people whose budgets couldn’t afford luxury and taking a chance on them — based on their shown character and desire for homeownership in the interview and references,” she said. “We’re willing to go out on a limb like someone did for me many years ago.”
Bare said the business is so important to her because statistically she said she should be in jail, a teen mom or living on a low income because she is Black and her parents had her when they were teenagers.
Bare has bachelor’s and master’s degrees, retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, and now her son is following suit and is in his freshman year of college.
“So if we could break this idea of teen pregnancy in our family and break the thing of having lack of education, we can do the same thing with economic empowerment and homeownership, because once a person sees that this is possible, it can be done,” she said.
She said oftentimes in minority communities, the matriarch may own a home, but when she dies, the rest of the family can’t afford the maintenance or payments.
“That generation is done, but if they can pay for the property taxes on the house, do the maintenance on the house, they can will that house to their kids,” she said.
She believes once three generations have experienced home ownership, it can continue for lineages down the road.
“But that may not be true for many Black and brown minorities,” she said.
Bare is selling her home on Rivermont Avenue and is moving into a townhome to use the money to buy more houses that can be fixed up for more families.
“Is it a sacrifice to sell our house? It’s beautiful and I like that I can walk and bike on Rivermont. But I can buy another house and I know there will be families we can help and then all of us will have a house,” she said.