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Please Join Us for Homeownership Resource Day
click here for more information.
HomeStarts
For over 30 years, Community Frameworks has helped to plan, finance, rehab, and build affordable housing. In 1996, HomeStarts (a division of Community Frameworks) formed to promote construction of affordable new homes for the many individuals who were finding themselves no longer able to afford to own safe, secure, or adequate housing for their family’s needs.
HomeStarts helps you:
- Build your new home.
- Gain simple construction skills needed for home remodeling, maintenance, and repair.
- Create a neighborhood by knowing your neighbors.
- Finance the purchase price and closing costs for your home.
- Achieve acceptable credit.
- Budget your money for current and futures expenditures.
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Homestarts uses the “self-help approach” to bring affordable, new home construction to families. We search for an appropriate building site and purchase enough land to build a number of homes at a time. Then, a building group (made up of eight to 12 families) is formed. HomeStarts oversees construction and teaches each family how to build each others’ homes. The benefit of this labor contribution by our families, also known as sweat equity, offsets the cost to build the homes and is recognized by mortgage lenders as a down payment contribution to their financing transaction.
LOWER INCOME LOANS ARE OUT THERE FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS
In 2004, Ms. Smith an office worker and single mom, earning $28,000 a year, was living in a modest rental apartment in Spokane. Ms. Smith couldn’t imagine how she’d ever own a home. Like many lower-to-middle income earners, Smith had no idea about the numerous programs available to help potential home buyers in her salary range. However, when she learned about the HomeStarts program from work colleagues, she quickly turned in her application and financial paperwork in hopes of owning a new home.
Ms. Smith found that she was able to obtain $79,000 against the $105,000 cost of the home through a Fannie Mae 1st mortgage state bond program loan. Community Frameworks subsidized $24,000 of the remaining monies needed to purchase her home. Ms. Smith earned the monies she would need to have in the traditional market place for closing costs by performing sweat equity on her home, as well as those of her future neighbors. Ms. Smith ended up with a mortgage payment of $580 (this included her property taxes and homeowners insurance).
Ms. Smith and her daughter moved into their brand new home over the 4th of July weekend in 2005.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES?
Why do some renters miss the opportunity to make the leap to homeownership? Our clients are hard-working people. When they think of “assistance”, they often think of welfare or food stamps. They think ‘I don’t qualify for that, so why would I qualify for other assistance.’ In housing, however, people can earn as much as 80 percent of the local median household income ($43,700 for a family of 4 in 2006) and still qualify for assistance. Even two-income families may truly benefit from what our program has available.
Families may also have housing expectations that are beyond what they can afford. That’s always a difficult bridge to cross in terms of their finances. We can show how quickly our families can move through this process and how beneficial it is to own your own home, no matter how small or how modest, initially.
There are many reasons beyond economics to seek home ownership. Research over the years clearly indicates that those persons who are homebuyers are much more engaged in their community. Everything from higher voting and volunteerism rates to taking a greater interest in children’s schoolwork is connected with homeownership in a way that is often surprising and independent of any other socioeconomic factor. These benefits contribute to our quality of life.
Ms. Smith will tell you, however, that the biggest benefit is a much more basic one: a place to call “home.”
Don’t miss the opportunity for you and your family. Inquire now about our:
- Lower interest rates
- Zero down payment requirements
- Lower monthly payments
- Increased purchasing power
- Credit counseling
HomeStarts builds a limited number of homes each year. So if this sounds like the opportunity for you, please contact us while homes are still available for this year. |
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