Woman was thankful to land home through affordable housing program, then found out about a lien

HICKORY, N.C. — Inside Kim Ferguson’s house in Hickory, the floor mat says, “This is our happy place.” She hoped it would be but then she found out about a lien.

“Angry. A dream became a nightmare,” she said.

Ferguson says the dream of someday owning a home was a journey four years in the making.

The City of Hickory had an affordable housing project and in 2022, it sold 10 parcels to JRN Development. In exchange, the contractor had to build 10 houses and sell them to people earning less than 80% of the area’s median income.

Ferguson was one of those people. She says she moved in and a manager from the project stopped by. “He approached me here at the end of the driveway and was telling me, ‘Don’t freak out. There’s a letter going to come and there’s a lien on my house,’” she said.

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A subcontractor, Herc Rentals, emailed Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke saying someone owes the company money for work on the project. But Herc didn’t say who or how much.

Stoogenke spent six months trying to find out himself. That’s how confusing this whole situation is. Right now, all he confirmed is that there is a lien.

“Who’s that going to fall back on?” Ferguson said.

Herc says it’s working with the property’s developer to reach a settlement regarding money it’s owed and then it will release the lien. It didn’t name the developer.

The city emailed Stoogenke that it no longer has “standing to intervene in these matters,” and that all warranty issues are now between JRN and the homebuyers. The city also mentioned it’s received “so many complaints relating to JRN’s work on this project.”

Action 9 contacted JRN Development and it said, “Our records show that we settled and paid Herc in full.”

Homeowner in same house for decades never had runoff problem until new homes went up next door

“Four years long coming to get a home and now it’s like was it worth it?” Ferguson said. “I have a home. I’m thankful,” she said. “But that lien is hanging over my head. I want a peace about it.”

Ferguson hopes the floor mat soon means what it says. After all, a lien can impact credit, make it hard to sell your home, or even lead to foreclosure.

“I don’t want to come home and there’s a lock on the door,” she said. “I just want answers. I want whoever’s at fault to figure it out.”

One bright spot for Ferguson is it has what’s called a “general” warranty deed. Basically, that’s the seller guaranteeing you won’t have legal problems buying the house and, if you do, the seller will handle them. So that helps your cause. It’s also a takeaway so, make sure you get the same kind of deed when you buy a house.

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