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Chris Wood says he nearly lost his home. He could not afford the monthly mortgage payments.
He was saved by a woman with a steady job.
"I met my wife before I got in too much trouble," he said. "If I hadn't met Amy... I would have moved back to an apartment and tried to start over."
Wood was 20 when he paid $99,000 for a home in Southern Chase in May 2001. He had always lived in apartments.
He worked maintenance in an apartment complex. Beazer marketed its homes to the tenants. It offered bonuses to employees for referring tenants. It took employees including Wood on a tour of a local subdivision.
One week later, he drove out to Southern Chase. "I went in thinking, `I don't make enough money. I'm making $9 an hour,' " Wood recalled.
He was startled when a Beazer employee told him he could afford a home. He borrowed $500 from his grandmother to make the deposit.
As it turned out, he didn't make enough money. Wood's final loan application misstated his income and debts. Without the misstatements, he did not appear to meet FHA's requirements for the loan he needed.
He was suddenly spending 45 percent of his income on debt payments each month. He was in trouble almost instantly.
Enter Amy. The couple met, fell in love and married in 2004. They lived in Southern Chase for a few years, then decided to rent the home and move to a better neighborhood.
The house they bought was built in 1964.
"Everybody besides us has been there a long time," Amy Wood said. "And I don't fear to walk outside."
