Program lets families ease into home ownership
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Thursday, September 18, 2008 11:05 AM CDT
For the Herald
There’s more than one-way to buy a home… at least in Chippewa County. Chippewa County Housing Authority has been operating a successful Lease to Purchase Program for the past eight years. The Authority is taking applications for four homes available right now.
Chippewa County Housing Authority purchases homes on the open market that are in need of repairs. The homes are then repaired and rented to income eligible families for one year. During the rental phase families work on their assigned goals such as repairing their credit, extending their length of employment, paying off debts and saving for the balance of the required $1,000 down payment (their security deposit is applied to the down payment at the time of purchase).
“We created the program when we realized that there were so many families who were being turned down by conventional lenders“, states Ruth Rosenow, Executive Director of the Housing Authority. “Some of them needed help to clean up their credit, others needed to learn how to budget their money more effectively, some needed to extend their length of employment to be approved by a lender. We design the housing counseling based on the needs of each particular family.” The Authority can offer a loan at 5 percent interest.
Upon successful completion of the rent phase, they purchase the home using a financing package that includes some financing from AnchorBank and some financing from the Housing Authority.
“We use a number of funding sources to help keep the payments affordable for our families. Our goal is to make the mortgage/interest and property tax payments about the same amount that the rent has been so there is no ‘purchase shock’ for our families,” Rosenow said.
The program also provides them with a home where the major repairs have been completed so the family will not be burdened with expensive repairs during their first years of ownership.
The four homes available through the program:
- Two-bedroom home in the city of Chippewa Falls for $84,900. On the east hill, this home has a beautiful wrap-around porch, all new kitchen and all new flooring.
- Four-bedroom home in the city of Cornell for $80,000. Large, one and a half story home with large deck, big yard, two bathrooms, many updates, tuck under garage and full basement.
- Three-bedroom home in the city of Cornell for $87,000. Ranch-style home with covered porch to large garage, open floor plan and full basement.
- Three-bedroom home in the city of Chippewa Falls for $93,000. Cute bungalow with a one-car garage, quiet neighborhood, close to schools, full basement and many updates.
Eligible applicants must meet the income limits based on the number of people in their household.
In addition, applicants must have at least one year of employment history. Exceptions can be made for applicants where the head or spouse is receiving long-term disability payments. Applicants must not have gone through a bankruptcy or foreclosure in the last two years.
For more information about the Lease to Purchase program contact the Housing Authority at (715) 726-7933.
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