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Old 06-02-2009, 10:29 AM
 
45 posts, read 150,404 times
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My husband and I are interested in buying a townhouse in Clay. We currently live in Jacksonville.

We are first time home buyers and we have been pre-qualified for a loan and we have a house in mind.

My question is there anyplace that offers down payment or closing cost assistance?
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Old 06-02-2009, 10:33 AM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL (Mandarin)
2,558 posts, read 6,463,860 times
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Congrats on your future purchase! Depending on the seller's situation, you may be able to have them assist with your closing costs. If you're an FHA borrower, you can put down a minimum of approx 3.5% of the purchase price and the seller is allowed to contribute up to 3%. Ask your Realtor for details.
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Old 06-02-2009, 10:46 AM
 
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Thank you Eric.

The only problem is that we currently don't have any money to put into the deal. We were just married and used all of our cash to pay for our wedding.
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Old 06-02-2009, 11:13 AM
 
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There is also a thing called a nehemaih loan. I don't know if they still have these or not. These loans you can get down payment assistance.
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Old 06-02-2009, 11:51 AM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL (Mandarin)
2,558 posts, read 6,463,860 times
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I've read that the Nehemiah program ended last year. But, the concept is essentially the same, where the seller contributed up to 6% of the purchase price to the Nehemiah Corp, plus a processing fee, then NC gifted the money to the Buyer.
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Old 06-02-2009, 02:13 PM
 
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According to our lender Nehemiah and those kinds of places " (No longer exist) There used to be several different programs available to help 1st time home buyers with down payment assistance. They all went away toward the end of last year."

I'm getting frustrated in the whole process.

This is the reason to me why the economy isn't turning around. Lenders aren't lending even to people will great credit. There isn't any one that can help with down payments or closing costs anymore. So that forces people to wait and save, but while people are waiting the prices go up on houses. Therefor making buying a quality house unaffordable.
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Old 06-02-2009, 05:41 PM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL (Mandarin)
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The normal, long-term rate of return on housing is 2-3 percent increase per year. If you're budgeting right and saving your money, you'll be able to get a house that's priced within your means. While you're saving, take some time to learn how to "buy right", so you don't overspend.
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Old 06-03-2009, 10:51 PM
 
Location: Jax
8,200 posts, read 35,351,105 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Belladonna08 View Post

This is the reason to me why the economy isn't turning around. Lenders aren't lending even to people will great credit. There isn't any one that can help with down payments or closing costs anymore. So that forces people to wait and save, but while people are waiting the prices go up on houses. Therefor making buying a quality house unaffordable.
Well, that's actually how we got into this mess in the first place. Lenders were lending to people and not requiring them to put anything down, the banks were offering 100% loans instead of the traditional 80% loan-to-value. This started a whole slippery slope and here we are .

As Eric said, if you wait to save a bit more, you probably won't be missing out on much. As any homeowner will tell you, affording the mortgage each month is only the beginning of home expenses. If you don't have enough of a cushion in your monthly budget right now to save for the downpayment, it could be worse to be a new homeowner with no cushion each month. There's no landlord to call when the AC system fails or there's a leak in the roof and these things can crop up suddenly and they can cost thousands and thousands of dollars .

Here are a couple of links you might find useful in the meantime:

Common Questions from First-time Homebuyers - HUD

Mortgage Basics: Table of Contents
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Old 06-04-2009, 10:54 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by riveree View Post
Well, that's actually how we got into this mess in the first place. Lenders were lending to people and not requiring them to put anything down, the banks were offering 100% loans instead of the traditional 80% loan-to-value. This started a whole slippery slope and here we are .

As Eric said, if you wait to save a bit more, you probably won't be missing out on much. As any homeowner will tell you, affording the mortgage each month is only the beginning of home expenses. If you don't have enough of a cushion in your monthly budget right now to save for the downpayment, it could be worse to be a new homeowner with no cushion each month. There's no landlord to call when the AC system fails or there's a leak in the roof and these things can crop up suddenly and they can cost thousands and thousands of dollars .

Here are a couple of links you might find useful in the meantime:

Common Questions from First-time Homebuyers - HUD

Mortgage Basics: Table of Contents
Let me clear some things up for you. LTV has nothing to do with down payment. LTV refers to the loan amount vs. the appraised value of real property. In my case even with 100% financing my LTV is 76.58%.

And the amount of our loan is 85k at 6%. That comes to $509, factor in HOI and PT and we're looking at $750. We are currently paying $850 in rent. We would be SAVING $100 a month for those pesky home owner problems.

I do appreciate the "advice" that you've given but everyone needs to stop trying to preach at us about how YOU don't think we are making the smartest decision. You don't know all the details.

With that being said I'll re post my original request for down payment assistant information.
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Old 06-04-2009, 06:38 PM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL (Mandarin)
2,558 posts, read 6,463,860 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Belladonna08 View Post
Let me clear some things up for you. LTV has nothing to do with down payment. LTV refers to the loan amount vs. the appraised value of real property. In my case even with 100% financing my LTV is 76.58%.
Belladonna08,

I see what you're saying about the LTV and it makes sense. But, are you certain your lender looks at it that way? When I worked in mortgage servicing the 'Value' was generally considered to be the Purchase Price, and not the appraised value. Then the LTV would be the difference in what you're paying for the property and what the loan amount would be.

If your lender is going to include the appraisal value as the 'V', then you're in good shape for your financing. But, from what you have just stated, you're still looking for "100% financing", so it doesn't sound like the lender is considering the appraisal value in THEIR Loan-to-Value calculation. If they were using the appraisal value in LTV, then you wouldn't have to put anything down at all. See what I'm saying?

And, I'm not sure who told you that you aren't making a smart decision. We're only responding to what you've posted in this thread, and adding a little extra advice. As a first-time homebuyer, you really should listen to any advice you can get, even if it might not be exactly what you want to hear. Hopefully, your Realtor has guided you and your spouse along the way. He's one of your closest allies right now. Please take no offense to what we're saying.
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