Home Buyer Counseling Program to Make Ten Families Home Owners - 6/28/2004 - Mortgage Loan Refinance Debt Equity

Pilot Home Buyer Counseling Program to Make Ten Lucky Families Home Owners

HUD, in cooperation with the National Housing Endowment, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and NAHB, hopes the program will encourage housing counseling nationwide by offering an opportunity to share in the American Dream of homeownership.

Under the pilot program, the National Housing Endowment will purchase 10 HUD homes and will work with a local NAHB-affiliated builder to renovate each property using in-kind donations of labor and materials as well as $100,000 donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Once restored, the homes will be sold to selected home buyers at a 50% discount.

“The President is committed to increasing homeownership and creating new home buying opportunities for lower-income households,” said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. “This pilot program will help accomplish his goal of creating 5.5 million new home owners by the end of the decade while also promoting the value of homeownership counseling.”

“The National Association of Home Builders has an ongoing commitment to housing America’s working families,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn. “This pilot program goes directly to the heart of that effort by helping to provide affordable homeownership to families who would otherwise be priced out of the housing market.”

To be eligible for the program, families must be first-time home buyers who have completed an approved housing counseling course and earn 80% or less of their area’s median income.

The application period will continue through July. Those interested in applying can find information and an application on the HUD Web site at www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/nsc/homewise.cfm, or they can call 888-297-8685.

After applicants are screened, a list of those who meet the criteria will be forwarded to local officials who will make the final selection randomly.

Buyers will be required to sign a 15-year mortgage that is at or below the market rate, for an amount that is one-half of the home’s appraised value. They will also be required to sign a lien for the balance of the appraised value, which will be forgiven if they remain in the home and make timely payments for five years.

“This program is certainly one of the highlights of National Homeownership Month, our educational outreach effort designed to provide important home-buying information and financial tools to families,” said Jackson. “While the nation’s homeownership rate is at an all-time high, just below 70%, minority homeownership rates fall well short of that. Creative efforts like Homewise will help reduce that margin.”