EVERETT – If Jasmin Grebovic’s life so far could be captured in a timeline, it would look something like this:
Michael V. Martina / The Herald
1992: Fled war-torn Bosnia in midst of political and ethnic conflict.
1992 to 1999: Lived in Germany, working as carpenter and providing for his parents and family.
1999: Moved to United States with wife and daughter. He had little more than the clothes on his back.
1999 to 2005: Lived in United States, working mostly minimum-wage jobs and attending community college classes.
2005: Bought a $252,000 house.
No, he didn’t win the lottery.
He saved up every penny, starting with a $20 deposit in 2003.
But it took more than Grebovic’s savings habits. If you had asked him two years ago when he expected to have enough money for a down payment on a home, he would have said at least another five years.
“That was the realistic thinking at the time,” Grebovic said, resting in a living room armchair at his south Everett home last week.
Two years ago, he even hesitated tempting his family with talk about owning a home. “I was scared to say that out loud,” he said.
Thanks to a boost from a fledgling United Way program in Snohomish County, Grebovic was able to squirrel away enough money in just a year and a half to buy his three-bedroom home.
The United Way program, called Individual Development Accounts, credits $3 for every $1 participants save toward their education, a small business or purchase of a home. For Grebovic, that meant his $2,000 became an $8,000 savings account. With that chunk of money, and a little help from the Everett Housing Authority, he had a down payment for his home.
The beauty of the program, United Way spokeswoman Deborah Squires said, is that it isn’t a handout. It’s a help up.
“It truly moves people from being dependent on social service to being self-sufficient,” she said.
Grebovic was the fifth person to graduate from the United Way program, which started September 2003. Forty-four people are enrolled now.
The program, which originated from concepts used in the 1990s welfare reform, is also focused on educating low-income people on the financial system. Grebovic went through four months of once-a-week classes taught by Washington Mutual bank staff on the perils and perks of credit and loans.
“Being on time and not having late fees, it’s very, very tricky,” Grebovic said. “You have to be very straight.”
Grebovic and his wife, Enesa, and two daughters, Arnela, 9, and Denisa, 5, aren’t used to living in their own home. Much of their lives, they’ve hopped from city to city. In the United States, they hopped from apartment to apartment.
At the seven or eight places Enesa Grebovic has lived since the Bosnian war started in 1992, she never felt settled in.
“After I left, I never lived in a place where I felt like it was my place,” she said. “It was always somebody else’s place. I was a guest all the time.”
Now, she’s finally home.
“I’m so happy it’s our house,” Enesa Grebovic said. “Everything you put in it is yours.”
Jasmin Grebovic is pleased, too. He had his car stolen twice while living the apartment life.
“Now I have my car parked in the garage and I feel it won’t be stolen,” he said.
The neighbors here know each other. The kids can play in the residential street. Cars aren’t driving by at 40 miles per hour. The family’s dream of homeownership has been realized.
It’s a dream Squires believes the program can give other families as well.
“It gives them the help to help themselves,” she said.
Reporter Chris Collins: 425-339-3436 or ccollins@heraldnet.com.
Find out more
For information about the Individual Development Accounts program or Washington Mutual Bank classes on finances, call United Way of Snohomish County at 425-921-3400.
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