Homestead’s New Acquisition Rehab Program
Homestead is very excited to announce that we have received funding to launch an acquisition rehab program for Land Trust buyers in 2012. This program provides opportunities for 20 families to purchase a bank-owned, high-quality remodeled home in the Seattle area, at a significantly discounted price. This program was launched with support from the Wells Fargo Foundation Priority Markets initiative and the Chase Foundation. The City of Seattle has committed additional funding to bring these homes into the Homestead Community Land Trust and help ensure that the homes remain affordable for current and future families.
We have seen many industry changes through this bank and mortgage crisis. Although house prices in our area have declined, lenders have tightened their underwriting guidelines making the mortgage qualification criteria more difficult for people to meet. Everywhere you look in Seattle there seem to be bank-owned homes languishing on the market while their low prices continue to be a drag on overall real estate prices. With lenders more strictly scrutinizing the property condition before approving a home loan, many of these bank-owned homes will not qualify for conventional financing due to being in disrepair or not being able to meet HUD health & safety guidelines. To overcome these challenges, Homestead will bring these homes into good condition and give our buyers the opportunity to purchase quality low-cost homes that they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to in the market.
Habitat for Humanity of Seattle-South King County is partnering with us on 10 of these homes. If buyers do not have savings to make a down payment, there may be the opportunity to complete sweat equity hours with Habitat for Humanity staff and volunteers giving the training and tools while working along side to complete the rehab of the home. This is a great option for buyers that are credit qualified but have limited resources to make a down payment, opening up homeownership opportunities for a wider range of applicants.
If you or someone you know is looking for a quality remodeled home in Seattle at an affordable price, call Lindsey Sargent, Homestead’s Homeownership Program Director, at 206-323-1227 x111 to get the details on this exciting new program.
