This 51-year-old renter with stage-3 breast cancer thought she’d ‘go to her grave’ without owning a home. That was until she found Divvy Homes' rent-to-own program

A cute goldendoodle dog sitting inside a delivery box against stacked cardboard boxes in the living room. House moving service. Home ownership concept. New change in lives. (Credit: Getty Images)

Kimberly Rudy, a lifelong renter, mother, and breast cancer survivor, never thought she’d be able to afford a home. Like many Americans in today’s strained housing market, she struggled to save up enough money for a down payment because rent payments leached away at her monthly income. Earning about $42,000 per year, she had been making $1,500 rent payments each month at the same rental home she’d had for 10 years, and was unable to direct enough money into savings to buy a house. 

“Renting pretty much takes every penny you have,” Rudy says. “It's like you're being penalized by being forced to pay more for rent for something that's never going to be yours.”