Amanda Finnegan

Salavador and Maria Villaseñor and their two children, Ramon, 6, and Maria, 13, cut the ribbon on their new home Monday morning. The house was the 12th home built for a working family funded by The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas.

By Amanda Finnegan (contact)

Mon, Nov 24, 2008 (11 p.m.)

Salavador and Maria Villaseñor got their first home Monday.

In a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Comstock Drive in North Las Vegas, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and Habitat for Humanity dedicated its 12th house to the Villaseñors and their two children, Maria, 13, and Ramon, 6.

Maria Villaseñor cut the blue ribbon and the Villaseñors walked into a new three-bedroom, two-bathroom house with hard wood floors and fresh carpeting.

The house was no freebie. The Villaseñors worked on the house for 300-plus hours, made a down payment and will pay a no-interest mortgage over the next 30 years, as all Habitat homeowners do.

The new home will be a significant change from the one-bedroom apartment the family has been renting for five years on Decatur Boulevard.

“Our neighborhood is OK but compared to this, it’s going to be totally different for us. It’s something great and they helped us do it,” Salavador Villaseñor said of Habitat.

The house is one of three Habitat homes on the block.

Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas builds single-family homes throughout Clark County for working families earning less than 60 percent of the area's median income, which would be $38,340 for a family of four and $41,000 for a family of five. Families must earn at least $26,000 a year.

The Villaseñors came in contact with Habitat in the summer of 2007 after finding an ad in the newspaper about the organization. After qualifying for the program, the couple began the volunteer process, working on seven other homes on St. George Street, and finally their own.

As for the first order of business when the Villaseñors officially move in during the next few days, “We are going to have a big party for our friends and all of the workers,” Salavador Villaseñor said.