Home : Blogs : Ann Sabbagh, Sr. Loan Officer : Ann's Blog

OH NO! Nehemiah is going, GOING, GO..............................................

The housing crisis will get worse if the down payment assistance programs go away! These have been great programs for those who have little money and wish to keep their money as a "cushion" in the bank for those "rainy days".

The price was increased by 3% and as long as the home appraised, the buyer financed 97% of the increased price, thus saving on placing a down payment.

Soon the consumer will need to use up all their savings to place not 3% but 3.5% down on FHA loans. Their "cushion" will be trashed and if there is any "rainy day", they will become part of the crisis.

WE NEED TO KEEP THESE PROGRAMS ALIVE! Is anyone listening in the "Ivory Tower"?

Ann Sabbagh

Vice-President

Seacoast Mortgage

www.annsabbagh.com

Posted by Ann Sabbagh, Sr. Loan Officer on 08/26/2008 07:39 PM

Comments (7)

nehemiah, downpayment, down payment

This post has been included in Rhode Island Information
Post is included in group: Mortgage Referrals Only
Post is included in group: Mortgages
Post is included in group: Shop Under One Roof!

7 Comments on OH NO! Nehemiah is going, GOING, GO..............................................

AUG

2008

agreed~

I've been thinking the same thing

Ann- Getting rid of programs like this certainly will not help anything... I hope someone figures out something to keep it alive and well :-\

Ann,

Which IVORY TOWER would be most effective to call/write/email?

With each good there is a bit of bad .. the program was good in theory.. help home buyers supplement the home buying costs with Down Payment Assistance...

It became a bad thing when buyers would first loan approval then go out an shop at the top of the approved loan amount the roll closing costs into the loan and the pile DPA on top of that ... basically paying 106+% of asking price, additionally most of these home buyers had marginal credit at best.

So what was a great idea quickly turned bad and lead to many foreclosure .. heck why fight for a home that you have noting at stake in..

My thoughts exactly Eric. These loans should have been only for those with at least decent credit, rental history, job history, etc.

As an agent that is heavy on listing .. I have seen offers written on properties that I felt at the time of listing were at the top end of the neighborhood price range.. and here the offered

Full price plus 3% closing cost 3% DPA and $495 DPA funding fee .. the agent did even try to bring the purchase price down to the bottom of the area market value .

AUG

2008

HR 6694 can help protect this slowly falling industry from caving in completely. HR 3221 raises the downpayment to 3.5%. Risk based pricing will raise MIPs, and once again the middle and low income families will be locked out of homeownership.

www.dpagroundswell.org allows you to write to your elected officials via email to support DPA reform. It also offers a lot of facts about downpayment assistance and how it's helped thousands of buyers.

It's not too late. We need downpayment programs to pull this market out the slump and keep closing these deals!

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?