Shamir Darjee didn’t know anything about a mortgage or real estate listing six months ago. Most 20-year-olds don’t.

He did know that he’d like his own bedroom. For the last ten years, he slept in the living room alongside his younger brother in a two-bedroom apartment, shared with his grandmother and father.

A week before his birthday, he closed on a $460,000, five-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Concord’s south end.

“Nobody thought I would buy a house at such a young age,” he said. “My grandma, my dad, they’re still in shock.”

Darjee’s family immigrated to New Hampshire from Nepal when he was 10 years old.

His aunt was already here and helped them find an apartment at Morning Star Condominiums. She made sure the kids enrolled in the Concord School District, where Darjee started fifth grade at Broken Ground Elementary School barely knowing any English.

“I did not know anything,” he said. “I was lost. First couple of days, I was lost.”

By high school, though, he made the honor roll and played varsity soccer. As graduation approached in 2023, he heard one resounding piece of advice: go to college.

“I just couldn’t afford to go to college,” he said. “But you don’t need college to be successful. You can do the things you love without going to college.”

He needed to work to support his parents. His father had suffered a stroke when he was younger and when Darjee turned 18, he became a paid caregiver for his grandmother, who speaks little English.

Typically, his weekdays start at 2 a.m., when his alarm goes off for his shift at a foundry in Franklin. By late afternoon, he comes back home to care for his grandmother. From 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., he’s on the job with her.

The 90-hour work weeks meant Darjee could start saving. He’d pick up Saturday shifts and work overtime here and there. He stopped buying “stupid stuff” for his car and in 15 months, he’d amassed over $75,000, he said.

Just over a year ago, he realized that with these savings, he could put a down payment on a house for his family.

Junu Kadariya, a licensed real estate agent in Concord, helped Dajree find the house near Rollins Park. She walked him through the unfamiliar process – from pre-approvals to needing credit and job history. And in doing so, she could relate. She also immigrated to the United States from Nepal.

Kadariya became a real estate agent to help immigrants like herself. When she bought her first home in Concord everything about the process was new to her. After the closing, she realized she paid exorbitant fees that could have been avoided.

“When I bought my first home, I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know how the processes started, what are all the terms and everything, and it is the lifetime, biggest investment that we make,” she said. “I realized, why don’t I become a realtor? That way I can help my own people.”

Kadariya started the process with Darjee as she does other clients – understanding his budget and explaining that buying a house could provide a lifetime asset, but it also comes with years of commitment to paying down a mortgage and keeping up with property tax bills.

Darjee doesn’t have much wiggle room. He put down $80,000 and has a monthly mortgage payment of $3,350.

While Darjee will continue to work his two jobs to keep up with his payments, the house means new stability for his family. After ten years of renting, they left behind the small Morning Star apartment, with its cramped space and worn-down furniture.

For his father and grandmother, two bedrooms on the first floor are accessible with no stairs.

For his brother, a bedroom downstairs with a television gives him the space to invite friends over. He now walks to Concord High and can jump the fence in Rollins Park and land in his backyard. Like his brother did, he plays on Concord’s varsity soccer team.

The living room has become a revolving door of extended family, with cousins running over after school and aunts and uncles gathering on weekends. He also hopes to celebrate the new home with members of his church community soon.

Each bedroom in the house is nearly complete with new furniture. He has plans to turn an unfinished room downstairs into another bedroom, painting the walls and laying down new carpet. Someday, he’d like to build a garage where he could work on cars.

In high school, he scrambled to do all his homework during the day knowing that when he came home to the apartment there would be little space or time to himself.

With a house in his name that he hopes will only grow in value, he finally has a bedroom to call his own.

“I still don’t believe it.”

 

Michaela Towfighi can be reached at mtowfighi@cmonitor.com