We are Erin and Rick Cespedes, a family with deep ties to our community. Erin is a committed public servant who grew up in San Mateo and has worked with children all her life, including for the past seven years as a high school history teacher at Sequoia Union High School District in Redwood City. Rick made the move from Miami to San Mateo in his teenage years and now works as an account manager in San Carlos.
We recently purchased our first home in Redwood City – a vibrant community we love where we can put down roots and raise our family. Just a few days after we moved in, we also welcomed our first child, Ava, into our lives.
We always wanted to purchase a home but never thought it would be possible. We were intimidated by the stories we heard from friends about how big our mortgage would need to be. We’d also looked into housing programs for teachers. We always made a little too much money to qualify for those programs, but not enough to go out and buy something on our own.
Then, over the summer, Erin heard about Landed's down payment program right after it launched at her school district. We came to the first informational session, and all of sudden it felt like homeownership might be possible. We got started working with Landed immediately.
Looking for a home in the Bay Area is very competitive and draining. We made several offers before we got one accepted, and it sometimes felt like we would never be able to find a home. Throughout this process, Landed was on our side: writing personal letters for us to include in our offer package, calling the sellers and agents to advocate for us. We were surprised by how supportive the Landed team was.
After making offers for a few months, we found our perfect home waiting for us. We got our offer accepted, closed on the home, and moved in the nick of time – our daughter Ava got to spend the first few days of her life in our new home.
