MONTEBELLO, CA - The name, Montebello, which means beautiful hill in both Italian and Spanish, was originally an agricultural community. However, with the discovery of oil by Standard Oil Company, it brought about a revolutionary change and the agricultural hills soon became a major contributor to oil production. Soon its oil fields were producing one-eighth of the crude oil produced in CA.
Montebello is located a few miles east of downtown Los Angeles and is host to one of the area's best-loved attractions: the Grant Rea Park, which houses the Montebello Barnyard Zoo.
The Montebello Zoo is a family favorite for Montebello residents and everyday there is like a party with children galore running around the place.
Montebello has been experiencing a growing spurt the past few years and now has more than 60,000 residents. Montebello is also a "young" city with a median age of 34 years old with nearly half of the population being young families with children.
One of the best things about Montebello though is that first time buyers can receive up to $75,000 in down payment assistance to purchase eligible properties through the HERO State program. Payments for these "silent seconds" are deferred until the home is sold, refinanced, title transferred or no longer owner occupied. So how does one qualify for this assistance? Well, here are some of the basic eligibility requirements:
- Applicants must be first time buyers - no previous homeownership in the last three yrs.
- Only purchased foreclosed (REO) or abandoned properties are eligible
- There are income guidelines but basically, you must be a low-medium income borrower
- Sales prices limits are $493,000 for single family residences & $394,250 for condos/townhomes
- Property must be located within a HERO designated census tract
- Buyers must contribute a minimum of 1% of the down payment, which may be a gift
- Buyers must complete a HUD approved homeownership education course
One of the challenges with this program was that many of the designated census tracts were in the unincorporated areas of the county where there were little to no active and eligible properties listed.
Now the LACDC has launched the HERO State program that has the same benefits and requirements as the initial HERO program but with the HERO State program, there are designated census tracts in some incorporated areas of Los Angeles County.
Here in the Los Angeles County, there was only a smattering of eligible census tracts scattered around the area. Now, with HERO State there is the city of Montebello with many eligible properties in these census tracts. Montebello's census tracts extend from the Civic Center District in the south all the way up to the Racquet Mountain area in the north.
If you're interested in more info on how you can qualify for this program, please feel free to contact me at 805.5278554 or donne4loans@earthlink.net regarding eligibility requirements, available census tracts or if you just have a question. I would love to be able to assist you with finding the most affordable loan option available to you in purchasing your first home here in Los Angeles County.
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