Many households are mortgage-ready but don’t try to buy a home because they can’t come up with a down payment, according to Rob Crane, CEO of Down Payment Resource in Atlanta.
And yet there are hundreds of down payment assistance programs around the country that many households could tap if they only knew about them.
To be sure, many households won’t qualify for down payment assistance, because they simply earn too much money. But many of the programs are more accommodating than people generally realize.
For example, in Nevada, the state housing agency administers a program called Home is Possible that makes down payment assistance available to households earning up to $98,500. And that’s not unusual. In many markets, the allowable income level is relatively high, sometimes imore than 120 percent of area median income. Some programs go up to 150 percent of the area median.
Of course, each program is unique, with its own eligibility requirements, home-price limits, and resale restrictions. But the programs also share many features.
The disconnect between the millions of households who could buy if they only had down payment money and the availability of so many programs to help them creates an opportunity for real estate professional, says Brenda Small, GRI, associate broker at Keller Williams Capital Properties in Washington, D.C. “No one is in a better position to connect households with assistance programs than real estate professionals,” she says.
It’s because of this opportunity for real estate pros to expand their markets that REALTOR® Magazine is hosting a live webcast on April 20. The goal is to let practitioners know how they can help their cash-strapped customers find out instantly what programs are available for households in their area.
Both Crane, of Down Payment Resource, and Small, of Keller Williams, will be presenting.
They’ll walk practitioners through the programs available, what they have in common with one another, and how agents and their clients can tap into resources in their market. They’ll debunk myths about the programs and answer questions in real time.
The live webcast is on Thursday, April 20, at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Register and get more info.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4baeaa22a1fd0-expand
—Robert Freedman, REALTOR® Magazine
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