CINCINNATI — For Ellen Strickland, her Butler County condo was supposed to be a new start. She’d been through a difficult divorce, a foreclosure, her son nearly died in a car crash, but for the past five years, the condo was something stable.

Now, she risks losing that too. Strickland’s landlord is looking to sell the place before the end of April and she’s struggling to come up with the money and a mortgage to buy.

Strickland spent years turning the place into a home, her son, Scott, could live in. With help from disability advocacy groups, she upgraded the bathrooms and added a lift so every part of the house was accessible to Scott and his wheelchair.

Nearly 18 years ago, he was in a car crash resulting in a traumatic brain injury. Since then, he’s lost mobility in his right arm and both his legs. He’s also unable to speak.

Through it all though, Strickland said he’s still the son she raised and his personality hasn’t changed.

“He is very much alive. He is just stuck inside of a body,” she said.

Every day, she takes care of him, making sure he gets the food and water he needs, and remains comfortable.

“We give him liquids through his tube to keep him from dehydrating,” Strickland said. “He will eat some though the mouth, but not much.”

Scott is now in his mid-30s and still practices physical therapy to try and regain some of his strength. His mother said it’s unlikely he’ll ever be able to hold any kind of job, but she wants to keep him in her care as long as possible.

“I think he’s doing better staying here with me, and if I would have to move, I’m sure the place that I would go to would not be as equipped and have as much space as I have here,” she said.

That’s why for the past few months, Strickland has been spending much of her free time calling banks. She needs an $83,500 loan to buy the condo, but it’s proved harder than she expected due to two different concerns.

The first is her complicated credit history. After the divorce about six years ago, she couldn’t afford the house, and she said she had to rebuild her finances. Strickland said she’s the thankful her landlord allowed her to rent the condo at the time, but in the years since, she’s made all of her monthly payments on time.

Strickland hoped her recent actions would be enough to earn a creditor’s trust, but they’ve also been asking for a lot of documentation dating back 10-15 years. 

It's an issue borrowers across the country have run into during the pandemic. Due to the economic downturn and an increased risk of defaulted loans, lenders have tightened their standards. Many homebuyers have had to pay a higher down payment or offer more documentation to get a loan or keep their preferred interest rates.

That brings Strickland to the next issue, getting the documents and sending them in a timely fashion. 

With so many people working from home or reducing their hours in the office, Strickland said she’s had trouble tracking down archived copies of things like the deed to her former home and other pieces of her credit history. Meanwhile, she said mail back and forth from the banks has been slow as well.

“You know it’s taking too long and I understand they think it’s taking too long, but nobody’s ever done any of this through COVID,” she said.

In the meantime, Strickland is also juggling a full-time job and caring for Scott when she’s home, but the deadline to get the loan is fast approaching. 

Her landlord has given her until mid-April to come up with the money.

With time running short, Strickland’s friends set up a fundraiser for her family, to give them a little breathing room. They held an event at Tres Amigos in Warren County and set up a GoFundMe.

Strickland said she found the move a little embarrassing, but she’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep her home.

“I am sorry that I have to ask for money because that’s not what I really want to do. I want to pay my way,” she said.

If she does get approved for a loan, she said all that money will go to a down payment or paying it off. 

All she knows is her options are running low. It took a lot of work to make the condo a place Scott could live comfortably and Strickland said she can’t afford to start over.