For four generations, a dream comes true

Tanisha Isaac had a dream. After work sometimes, she would drive by to look at it. At church, she would think about it. She often imagined the feel of the key in her hand, turning the lock in the front door.

The white, 19th-century house at the corner of Bowdoin and Holiday streets in Dorchester would have enough space to house four generations of her family.

"I prayed so hard," she said yesterday. "Oh Lord, please. "

Yesterday, her dream was realized when she got the Christmas gift of a lifetime.

The city of Boston is selling her the three-story, five-bedroom house for $100 and giving her more than $62,000 to fix it up. The city seized the home after its former owner failed to pay property taxes, and Isaac qualified to buy it under an affordable housing program.

Within two weeks, she will own it, and by June, the 29-year-old Isaac hopes to move in, along with her 7-year-old daughter, mother, grandmother, and two godchildren. Mayor Thomas M. Menino toured the house with Isaac yesterday and presented her with a wreath.

"This is the best gift," Menino said, glancing at the house with a broad grin. "This is what we should be doing in government, helping people."

The day marked the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice for Isaac. Three years ago, she moved into a rented one-bedroom apartment. She turned the dining room into a second bedroom for her mother, Denise, 52, and set off a section of the living room for her daughter, Cheyenne.

Isaac scrimped on purchases and saved as much as she could from her job as an office manager at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She took classes for first-time homebuyers, and in 2005, she applied to buy the house on Bowdoin Street. Out of nearly 80 applicants, Isaac was one of 12 finalists chosen to participate in a lottery to determine who could purchase the house.

"My mother and I were the only ones that went to the lottery," she recalled.

They watched intently as a city official pulled the first name from a plexiglass tumbler, then threw it back in. He had forgotten to turn it first. That little piece of paper lodged on a ledge near the front as the tumbler whirred. One by one, eight names were pulled and recorded. Finally, the official plucked the paper from the ledge. "Tanisha and Denise Isaac."

They left, disheartened by their ninth place finish, and Isaac began looking for another house to buy. She could not afford anything as big as the house on Bowdoin Street. Over the summer, she settled for a modest three-bedroom house in Mattapan. But just hours before her realtor was scheduled to make an offer, the city called. The eight finalists chosen before her had not met the final qualifications to buy the Bowdoin Street house.

"When he said, 'Are you still interested?' I said, 'Are you kidding me?' " Isaac said.

She, too, had to make it through the final vetting process: Her household income needed to be low enough, her credit rating had to be high enough, and she had to qualify for a siz able loan to pay for renovations with an estimated cost of $239,500.

Isaac, her mother (who also works at the university), and her grandmother, Evelyn White , who receives Social Security income, met the credit and income requirements. But together, they qualified for a loan of just $220,000.

Because the family is so close, the city kicked in the difference on the loan. In addition, the city put up $23,950 to cover possible cost overruns on the renovation and agreed to make the first six months of loan payments while the renovations are underway.

On Thursday, the Isaacs cleared the final hurdle when the city approved the sale.

After the Isaacs move in, they will pay $1,580 a month. And they will not have to worry about rent increases. The monthly rent on their Savin Hill Avenue apartment has risen from $900 to $1,100 since 2003.

"This is truly a blessing," Isaac said yesterday, standing in front of the house with her mother and daughter.

The Isaacs, lifelong Boston residents, have always rented apartments. Isaac grew up in the South End, one of two children born to Denise and her husband, a hospital worker who died 11 years ago from diabetes. Isaac's older sister moved to Springfield, where she is renting to own a home.

Isaac, who is superintendent of the Sunday school at Christ Temple Church of Personal Experience in Roxbury, said her faith helped her dream come true this Christmas. Her daughter Cheyenne, who wore a bright red hat and holiday dress yesterday, shyly shook the mayor's hand and recited the Bible verses she had memorized for church a few hours before.

"And this shall be a sign unto you," she said. "You shall find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' "

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.