At NO cost to you! Well almost any listing you and the home needs to qualify! For qualified low to moderate income single's or families.......... this could be your story! Yes, you too can have your cake and eat it too! Garfield's area is:
North of 28th, East of 131, South of Cottage Grove and west of Eastern (including the west side of Eastern street). Look for your next home on www.grar.com with these guilde lines.
Here is one buyers and my story:
I am VERY excited!!!!
Well, it is not my home, but I feel much attached. A new client of mine was approved for a $90,000 FHA loan, however being that she is a single mother of 2, she did not want to go that high in price. As most of us parents know......unexpected situations come up with kids and she did not want to live and work to pay for her mortgage. However when we looked at homes in the $70,000 price range they needed so much work. They were okay for a young couple with no kids, but she wanted to buy a home to give her kids a better life style and a safe environment. So we discussed the purchase and renovate program from Garfield Development Corporation. After looking at many homes, we found a BIG home with great potential! After viewing the home we looked no more, this was IT!
So in the months to come I will keep you updated on the home, step by step process.
The first step was to call Garfield Development and talk to Kevin Perdue, to make sure the home qualifies.
•· Make sure the home is not too far gone, that the $37,500 grant is enough to cover necessary repairs. (if needing some of this grant money for down payment assistance and closing cost, then we have that much less for repairs) Now this grant money is NOT a loan you apply for. You apply to make sure you fall in the income level to receive it, but you do NOT apply for it like a typical loan. If you qualify income wise, then you get the grant - the WHOLE grant. Students can apply for this grant as well, not just families!
•· Mandatory repairs come first - IE: Making the house not only affordable to purchase but sustainable. Meaning, making the house energy efficient. New windows, new furnace, new water heater, new siding, new roof, making sure the insulation is up to code....etc.........When talking to my buyers and figuring out a budget with them, I am always amazed how much they pay for heat in their small apartment or house. I have to think once we update this home the monthly bills will be less then they are paying now, due to the updates. Not all of these things have to be done, however if they need replacing they will, and the house has to need one of these things to qualify.
•· Once Garfield approves the home, the realtor and buyer make an offer on the home "with the clause subject to buyer participating in the Garfield's purchase and rehab program".
•· Once offer is accepted we go to work! Kevin and my buyer were at the home Friday going over the list. Must haves come first........some other related "must haves" are l fee's - lead base paint abatement, city inspections, etc.
•· Then we figure out how much money is left and discuss with the buyer what she/he would like to be done. We are updating the kitchen and baths on this particular home. In my opinion this is the best place to put your money. She is going to help paint as to save some money on labor so she will have more money for cosmetics and new appliances. She also qualifies to shop at the home repair hardware store, so she can buy supplies for the updates at a very low cost! She does not need to use all the money, but if the house will appraise for $37,500.00 more when updates are done, I say use it! As this is ‘FREE" money. No interest rate, no monthly payments, and you do not pay it back till you sell the home of live there 50 years!
•· We have McGraw construction working on this home! So they came out with our list in hand and quoted on the work to be done.
•· Now we are waiting to close.................so my next update probably will not be till another 5 weeks........but my next update will follow along with the renovation of the home. So stay tuned!
Garfield Development Corp is not the only one that has this program; Lighthouse Communities also has this program, each with their own target area. If you need more information on this program please feel free to contact me. I honestly do not know why people are not beating down the door trying to get approved for this program, and why we do not have a waiting list. Is it that it sounds to good to be true? I do not know............but ask your questions, if I can not answer them Kevin Perdue - Program Director or Hillary Kooy - Board Chair can and will. Let us know what your hesitation is, so we can address these issues!
If you want to qualify for a loan to see if you fit the guide lines of this program call Brendan O'Driscoll at 774-9514 x 224 or email him at brendano@treadstonemortgage.com
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