Last week, we stared looking at opportunities for first time home buyers with the $8,000 tax credit. We also started talking about some obstacles that are keeping people from taking advantage of the program. To find out if you qualify for the first time home buyer program and to find out how to clean up your credit, you can re-read last week’s column at www.coloradodreamhouse.com/news
This week, I want to tackle two more obstacles that are getting in the way of people buying their first homes. We said that credit score, fear of losing their job, and down payment were the primary barriers to buying a first home. Let’s take a look at down payment and see how you can overcome this issue. FHA is offering loans with only a 3.5% down payment. Let’s say you buy a home for $170,000, 3.5% of that purchase price is roughly a $6000 down payment. The Colorado Housing and Finance authority has a program that will lend you up to $6000 for a down payment at it does not violate FHA rules. The premise here is that local, state, and government agencies are moving quickly to lend people down payment money against their tax credit. Once you receive your refund, you’ll be obligated to pay back the down payment loan. For more details on this program, go to http://www.chfainfo.com and search for the “jump start” program.
Finally, how about the risk of losing your job? This is a very real and solid reason for not buying a home, but there are some things that you can do if you decide to go forward with a home purchase. First, make sure that your mortgage is a very small percentage of your total monthly bills. If you think your job might be in jeopardy be proactive and don’t wait to get laid off. Update your resume and start looking for new opportunities. If you need to switch occupations, enroll yourself now in night classes while you still have a job during the day.
Dan Polimino is a Realtor with Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty. He can be reached at DPolimino@fullerproperties.com and www.CoDreamHouse.com
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