Houston's H.O.P.E Program-Help (Pasadena, Seabrook: leasing, condos, loan)

[sensei616]

This is my first post here at City-Data and figured someone here would be able to give me some good advice.

I'm a young adult looking to move out of my parents place in Seabrook/Clear Lake. I'm dead set on not renting and as such have been looking at condos in the area, particularly the ones on Bay Area Blvd and in Kemah and the surrounding areas. The units I'm looking at are in the 30k-50k range. Yes, I know its abit on the cheap side but its all I can afford at the moment.

While searching online I was made aware of Houston's H.O.P.E program. If I read it right you can get up to 30k if one qualifies and purchases a house in certain designated areas. I understand that these areas are in less desirable neighborhoods. When I was growing up my parent's first house was in Pasadena for 40k with burgular bars and such, so that kind of area is familiar to me.

Has anyone had any experience with H.O.P.E? Is the money provided a zero percent loan that has to be paid back or is it free money in that regard? Or should I just stick with buying a condo around here? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[elnina]

You can get tons of useful info here:
Houston Affordable Housing Programs - HAR.com
http://www.houstontx.gov/houstonhope/

[predatorprey]

A nightmare to obtain, if you can obtain it.

It is a 0% loan, and typically forgiven if live in the house for at least 10 years. Otherwise you have to pay it back.

Also only certain people are licensed (lack of a better term) to work with the city program.

[Texascrude]

Not sure why you'd be "dead set on not renting". Sounds to me like at some point in time, you got some bad advice and decided to stick with it.

[cheryjohns]

I would rent at first and save enough to get a small house. Condos sound cheap, until you figure in the monthly maintenance fee. They don't appreciate well - which means that when it's time to move up into something larger, you'll find that they are hard to sell (in most areas - Galleria and Inner Loop not nearly as bad) and they will be roughly the same value as when you bought.

What if you continued to stay at home - and socked away the amount of the monthly payment and maintenance fee in savings?

I would abandon all hope on H.O.P.E - have heard it's not working well - and it will put you into an area where whatever I said about condos just doubled.

[sensei616]

Thanks for the tips, I guess I'll be scrapping any plans regarding H.O.P.E.

To cheryjohns, I already have about 9k in savings which continues to grow for as long as I live here so in short I have been 'socking' away money.

As for why I'm even considering a condo, it's mainly for the simplicity. I understand that all condos have maintainence fee's, but I'd probably pay a similar amount over time for maintaining a house, although theres no possible way to know how much a new roof or ac might cost, etc. And I do plan on trying my hand at leasing out my property at some point, and these types of condos tend to be used for such purposes moreso than the actual owner residing there.

Regarding HAR, they've been a great help looking for properties online, much more effective than individual realtor sites.

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by sensei616

Thanks for the tips, I guess I'll be scrapping any plans regarding H.O.P.E.

To cheryjohns, I already have about 9k in savings which continues to grow for as long as I live here so in short I have been 'socking' away money.

As for why I'm even considering a condo, it's mainly for the simplicity. I understand that all condos have maintainence fee's, but I'd probably pay a similar amount over time for maintaining a house, although theres no possible way to know how much a new roof or ac might cost, etc. And I do plan on trying my hand at leasing out my property at some point, and these types of condos tend to be used for such purposes moreso than the actual owner residing there.

Regarding HAR, they've been a great help looking for properties online, much more effective than individual realtor sites.

That's another problem with condo communities - unless that particular community has a certain owner occupancy rate, you can't get a loan for one. FHA has the most lax at 52%.

Good for you on the savings.

As to maintenance on a home - just put away about half of what you would pay in a condo fee every month, make sure everything is in good condition when you buy, and you will have a repair fund if needed. Don't forget that a large portion of the condo fee is for management.

Some people have said they pick a condo because they aren't handy. In a condo, you still have to take care of all things interior. I live in a house and I am certainly far from handy, but I have phone numbers of people I can pay to be handy!