A family in south Dallas has a house they can finally call their own thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
Jose and Dalia Palma were scammed out of their life savings when they bought a house near Highway 175 and Pine Street from someone who never owned it.
Before the Palmas moved in, the house had boarded-up windows and holes in the ceiling.
They spent $50,000 on home improvements and said they had plenty of work to do.
But all of it stopped two months ago.
"Everything changed," Jose Palma said in Spanish.
The Palmas were in tears when NBC 5 first met them in August. They'd just realized they'd been scammed.
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The home they thought they bought outright was actually in foreclosure.
"Different times at night, I couldn't sleep, because I'm scared for the next day that I might receive the bad news," Jose Palma said in Spanish.
An investor bought the home at auction.
Every day, the family of five lived in fear that they wouldn't have a house to come home to.
Jose Palma thought Friday was that day when he received an urgent call to come home.
When he arrived, it was the opposite.
The group of people standing on his doorstep was there to tell him an anonymous donor bought their home for them.
"Thanks to God there was one person that had a big heart to give us that gift that we honestly never expected," Jose Palma said.
"Right now I feel very happy, and I thank that person, because without the person we would have lost our house," Dalia Palma said.
Now, plans to renovate the house are back on track.
The family is able to envision their future thanks to the help of a stranger.
There is a criminal investigation underway into whomever scammed the Palma family.
Several other families may also be victims.
