How Homeless Man Became House Owner- Man Shares story

A 24-year-old twitter user identified a Chris Atoki has shared detailed information on how he became home owner from homelessness.

Chris, while narrating the story said he multi-tasked to find school tuition as well as pay his mom’s rent.

He explained that there were so many downtimes when he was kicked out of his mom’s house and resorted to sleeping inside his car.

Chris said at the point he wanted to give up and end his life but along the line found a reason to hold on.

See full story he shared below.

So I got some time to write. About 5 years ago I was working full time at a warehouse and I was going to college full time. I had to work full time because I had to give my mom what equates to about a weeks worth of pay every two weeks at the time.

I would wake up at 7 AM and go to class until about 3 PM. I would take a 2 hour nap and go to work at 5pm and work a 12 hour shift until 5 am. Took another 2 hour nap and back to school again. It was hard but I just sucked it up.

One day my manager at my job said he has to cut a few people’s hours and since I’m in school, he picked me to be on of those. I figured it was fine. I could still pay mom rent and I would be able to sleep.

I think it might’ve been two weeks later. They start letting people go and I was one of the people that had to be let go because “I didn’t work enough hours”. But you guys cut my hours. Doesn’t matter. Jobless.

Here I am 18 years old. Only job I had was loading trucks and I’m still going to school because that’s what I was taught you have to do to make it. The problem is with no income and no parental help I lost even more.

Had to drop out of school because I couldn’t afford it anymore since I wasn’t working. (Yes I applied for literally hundreds of scholarships and got 1, but still couldn’t afford it). And I had falling out with mom so I got kicked out.

So I had to stay in my car. I remember the day. I parked in front of Walmart. Freezing cold. Less than a dollar in my account. I think it was like $0.83 or something. No family. No friends. No money. Hungry. Felt like giving up. Cried. Tried to sleep.

I didn’t sleep. I was thinking about how much I hated everything. My mom, my dad, my father. My family. My job. College. My rusty car. People. But most of all myself. I told myself that my situation was an accumulation of why my life didn’t matter.

After days of contimplating ending my life I took a look in the rearview mirror and realized the only person I could truly count on was myself. Idk what it was. It was like almost looking at myself outside of myself? And it’s like I had something to fight for.

I really don’t know how to explain it but I told myself that I would fight for myself as long as I live. Maybe someone can explain it better but either way I felt like I was born again. Like a different person. I was going to grab life by the horns.

After that I went to the library and applied for EVERYTHING. I mean anything. Warehouse, factory, meat packer, wedding DJ assistant, solar panel canvaser (twice), insurance agent, etc,and finally mattress sales man for a company where I had to go meet clients.

I saved enough doing these odd jobs that I was able to put a payment down and get another car. I did this job for a while until driving 400 miles a day started to wear on me. Eventually I applied to Mattress Firm and got the job.

I thought I was doing well for myself making 30k year. I couldn’t afford an apartment yet so I would shower at the gym next to the store and show up to work. On the days when I was the only one working the showroom I would sleep on the beds instead of my car.

Eventually I almost got caught because I overslept and one coworker decided to come in especially early so I decided I had to look for a place. Just like with the job I looked for anywhere. And I found a decent room for 550 a month Thumbs up.

I was doing this for a while but I wasn’t happy. I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life, but I also couldn’t go back to school.

I kept at it through a few challenges but things were pretty smooth, plus my son came into this world. Another reason to fight and push myself. I wasn’t the best father when he was first born but I’ve corrected my mistakes and pushed on.

I’ll wrap this up because it’s getting quite long. After LS I went back as a teaching assistant. I wanted to help students achieve the same goals I did and get the same guidance that I wanted. I gave my all to each one of them and they know.

Eventually I applied to tech jobs and got my first one in Philly. I LOVED what I did. And I doubled what I made the previous year. I kept grinding and kept learning and I moved on to another job where I was making more on top of that. And didn’t stop there.

I’m ina financial position greater than I ever thought possible.I’ll end and say no matter where you are.Find that motivation to push you to do better. It doesn’t happen overnight. I’m nobody special. I just took control of my life.

My goal is to show people that no matter the circumstances you can overcome it. I’m a 24 year old black man with tattoos and was homeless just 4 years ago. To now owning a $350k home on 1.24 acres. If I can do it. You definitely can. I’m proud of myself.