Meet a Homeowner: The James Dean Family

Jimmy and Karen Dean, with their three children, Corey, Brandy and Tamra, moved into their new home in June. Everyone in the family agrees that the house is wonderful. Karen has had a history of health problems this year and mold in their former home, a remodeled garage, added to her discomfort. She says she's happy to live "where I don't have to smell mold!" Jimmy says that building their Habitat house brought them together with many other great people; "It's a whole relationship; for instance, when we first moved in, one of our neighbors brought us a pizza". When comparing their old home with their new one, family members chimed in together: "Its bigger, better and cleaner!" Karen said "I actually have a kitchen here." And Corey commented "I don't have to hit my head on the ceiling now." As with all Habitat families, the hardest part for the Deans was waiting. Jimmy earned most of the sweat equity hours. He would come home from a full day at work and go immediately to work on the house. He estimates that the house was built in nine months. Their waiting time from being selected to moving in was one year. Naturally, the long days made Jimmy a little cranky sometimes, but mostly, he felt happy working on the house because he knew it was going to be their own. The family's best memories of the building include the people they worked with, painting the walls (Brandy and Tamra especially enjoyed this part) and Karen had fun being able pick out the fixtures and colors herself.