I've seen lots of comments lately talking about how the elimination of the Down Payment Assistance Programs will devastate the housing market and keep hundreds of thousands of people form home ownership. I've had several comments on my blog where I stated that Saving Up to Buy a Home is NOT a bad thing. One person gave me a website to look at that talks about the positive side of the down payment assistance programs. The site includes testimonials from people who were able to purchase a home using the down payment assistance program.
In one testimonial, a single Mom was able to buy a home for her and her son because of a down payment assistance program. They were able to buy a home with a large yard in a nice neighborhood and have lived in the home now for 3 years. I am happy for her and glad she has a nice home for her family. She mentioned that she thought she would never be able to have her own home. When a coworker bought a home she inquired about how the coworker got it. She was told about the down payment assistance program.
What if the coworker had responded and said she SAVED UP for the home and was able to buy it. There are a lot of people out there that think they can't have something because it isn't something that their family has ever had, and their past experiences have led them to believe they can't do it either. But THEY CAN, if they know how.
Let me explain where I PERSONALLY am coming from.
In 1994, I was coming out of a horrible marriage. Thanks to my ex-husband, I had 26,000 in credit card debt. I was driving what I referred to as a bag lady car - it had a huge dent in the side, had well over 100K miles on it, and I wasn't sure it would start when I cranked it (many times it didn't and I kept on cranking ‘till it did). I had a few pieces of furniture - bed, washing machine (no dryer), Christmas decorations, pot and pans and a box of old photos and mementos. I also had a son who was in middle school to support. And I had a job-like the woman on the web site.
I moved to an apartment and started paying down my debt. After a few months I started looking to buy a house, and found that no one would give you a mortgage loan without a down payment. In 1994, there were no down payment assistance programs unless you got a bond loan (which were limited to certain areas) and I wanted to keep my son in the same school, and bond money was not available. I had no relatives to turn to - it was up to ME.
So, we went on a budget and saved EVERY PENNY we could so I could buy a house with my son. We did not eat out AT ALL and put groceries on a strict budget. No cokes, no McDonald's. We bought only clothes we NEEDED - a 13 year old needs clothes every other month but we bought items on sale and off the clearance counter. We didn't have cable and watched the A/C bill. We chose baseball over basketball because we only had enough money for ONE sport that year. We didn't take a vacation. You get the idea....
Fourteen months later, I had saved enough money to put 5% down plus pay all my closing costs. Now, the house we bought wasn't quite what I wanted to buy (seems I have always wanted more than I can afford), but it was a nice townhouse in a great neighborhood in the school system I felt would give my son a great education. After we bought the house we were able to lighten up a bit and go back to more normal spending habits.
If there had been a down payment assistance program available would I have used it - you bet. I wished that there was someone or something there to help me - but there wasn't. But, I BELIEVED that I could have a house and it was just a matter of what do I need to do to get there. It took me over a year and I had to work really hard to get there. If down payment assistance goes away, we have to let people know that homeownership IS available for EVERYONE. It's about spending extra time with them and making a compelling case for SAVING UP for homeownership. It won't happen next month, but let people know that they CAN own a home, and empower them so they can realize that dream.
Comments (9)Subscribe to CommentsComment