Ron Withers ----Retired Mortgage Professional

Orange County Housing and Community Development (SHIP Funds) The purpose of Orange County's Down Payment Assistance program is to provide funds to qualified first time homebuyers for down payment and closing costs associated with purchasing a home.

The program will provide assistance to qualified very low, low and moderate income persons in Orange County on a first come, first ready basis. The program also requires that potential homebuyers complete a pre-purchase and post-purchase education program. The buyer must:

• Meet the income requirements. Annual household income cannot exceed 120% of the area median income. See Footnote below
• Provide the greater of $1,000 or 1% of the sales price.
• Complete a home buyer's education seminar.
• Secure first mortgage financing.
• Fulfill a 1 year residency requirement in the Orlando MSA (Orange, Seminole, Lake, or Osceola Counties)

The property must

• Be new or existing with substantial rehabilitation and located in Orange County, outside the city limits of Orlando.
• Not exceed a sales price of $219,000.
• Receive competitive fixed rate financing.
• Be fee simple ownership.

The assistance

• Ranges from $20,000 to $35,000 depending on household income.
• The County's assistance is provided to the buyer's closing agent at closing in the form of a soft second mortgage at 0% interest which is forgiven after fifteen (15) years if the home remains owner-occupied.
• In addition, the total first mortgage and Orange County's second mortgage may not exceed 105% of appraised value.

Footnote: The FHA 203k Streamline loan is a prime loan product providing up to $35,000 in rehab funds in the purchase transaction. See: FHA Now Allows You to Have Your Cake....and Eat It TOO!

Click here to view/join: Down Payment Assistance Resources Group

* All program information and terms are subject to change without notice. Funds are always subject to eligibility and availability of funds, generally on a first-come, first-served basis. Assistance amount/eligibility is based on household income adjusted for family size. The MRB program has a funds reservation process (requires accepted purchase contract) while SHIP programs may or may not. Generally, completion of a Homebuyer Education Course is required.

Visit Me at www.RonWithers.com to see information on all of the State, County and Local Down Payment Assistance Programs where Town & Country Mortgage/Ron Withers are approved/participating lenders.

Central Florida Resources for Homebuyer Education Classes

State and local (County or City) housing agencies require that first-time homebuyers (not owned a home in the past 3 years) complete an acceptable Homebuyer Education Course and receive a completion certificate to be eligible to receive down payment assistance from their respective agency.

Some agencies by exception requires that homebuyers complete homebuyer education classes that are directly sponsored or conducted by their agency.

Prospective first-time buyers seeking down payment assistance should determine which agency/funds program they will use and check on the specific homebuyer education requirements for that agency.

Generally, homebuyer education certificates of completion are good or acceptable for 1 year in respect to meeting the homebuyer education requirements of these agencies.

Below is contact information for two (2) sources to register for homebuyer education classes. There may be other acceptable sources.

Click here to view/join: Down Payment Assistance Resources Group

Visit Me at www.RonWithers.com to see information on all of the State, County and Local Down Payment Assistance Programs where Town & Country Mortgage/Ron Withers are approved/participating lenders.

Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) programs which are provided through individual States Housing Finance Authority's (HFA's) to assist first-time homebuyers (generally defined as not having owned a home in the past 3 years) with down payment and/or closing costs assistance.

The terms or criteria, conditions, eligibility and amount or availability of funds will vary from one housing agency to the next. As such, I will not elaborate on the indivual agencies but provide the following link for the benefit of real estate and mortgage professionals as well as consumers who may want to research this subject matter.

http://www.ehousing.cc/index.htm

While much of the information contained with the above website is intended for use by participating lenders, real estate and mortgage professional, builders, etc., it also provides information to first-time homebuyers which can be a resource for valuable information regarding down payment assistance that may be available to them in their area.

It also provides information regarding Mortgage Credit Certifcates (MCC's) which may be a financial benefit to some borrowers. The information regarding the States and HFA's should not be construed as all-inclusive. At this time, information for the following States is available.

• Arizona
• California
• Florida
• Minnesota
• New Mexico
• Pennsylvania
• Texas

Click here to view/join: Down Payment Assistance Resources Group

Visit me at: www.RonWithers.com

SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership) Down-Payment Assistance Application(Osceola County, Kissimmee, Saint Cloud, Poinciana and other communities) period will begin on October 6, 2008 and will end on October 31, 2008.

See Footnote below if you are a Realtor or Consumer that is interested in this opportunity.

In order to obtain an application for assistance, the following requirements must be met:

• 12hr - First Time Homebuyer's Education Certificate (provided by Osceola County Extension Services)
• Current Pre-approval Letter from one of Osceola County's Participating Lenders (no more then 60 days old)

Applications can be obtained in person at the Osceola County Human Services Division, located at 108 Park Place Blvd., Kissimmee, FL 34741 or on-line when available. Applications must be hand-delivered to the office with the attached requirements. Have questions? Contact us at 407-742-8400. I can also provide the application and information.

The Osceola County housing assistance program is designed to make affordable housing available to citizens with an income that is classified as moderate or lower. The number of moderate funding is limited to funding restrictions.

The State Housing Initiatives Partnership (S.H.I.P.) program provides funding to local governmentsto assist citizens to become homeowners. Eligible first-time homebuyers will receive financial assistance to help with the costs of buying a home. For more information on this program, please click here.

S.H.I.P. partners in Osceola County include lending institutions, housing developers, community based housing, service organizations and affordable housing professionals.

Applications are processed on a first-come, first ready, first served basis.

Maximum financial assistance is:

• Very low income = $69,900.00
• Low income = $59,900.00
• Moderate = $39,900.00

S.H.I.P. Loan Terms

• Must be secured with a second (soft) recorded mortgage, if additional public funding is obtain, SHIP mortgage will go into 3rd position.
• Required maximum 10-year loan with deferred payments and a 20% penalty if refinanced with cash out.
• SHIP loan is forgiven after 10 years of owner occupancy. Repayment of the loan becomes due if:
  • Borrower defaults on the first mortgage.
  • The house is sold refinanced with equity cashed out.
  • The house is rented, leased, subleased or ceases to be owner-occupied prior to the end of the loan period.
  • No Home Equity Line of Credit borrowed against the property.

Footnote: The application period is a very short window of opportunity. From experience, getting scheduled into the required homebuyer education class can be a somewhat difficult task due to limited seating, demand and volume of calls into the housing office. If you are a Realtor or potential homebuyer that want to maximize the opportunity for enrollment, please call or email me.

Additionally,if you are an ActiveRain member, particularly a Real Estate or Mortgage Professional, and want to expand your knowledge and expertise in DPA programs and opportunities I cordially invite you to join a new ActiveRain Group: http://activerain.com/groups/DownPaymentAssistance

* All program information and terms are subject to change without notice. Funds are always subject to eligibility and availability of funds, generally on a first-come, first-served basis. Assistance amount/eligibility is based on household income adjusted for family size. The MRB program has a funds reservation process (requires accepted purchase contract) while SHIP programs may or may not. Generally, completion of a Homebuyer Education Course is required.

Visit Me at www.RonWithers.com to see information on all of the State, County and Local Down Payment Assistance Programs where Town & Country Mortgage/Ron Withers are approved/participating lenders.

Please indulge me if you will....this is just a short rant over something that I find very important in building and maintaining relationships! Over the span of my professional mortgage career I have always maintained a focus on setting the appropriate level of expectations with Realtors and Clients that I work with. In my opinion, both personal and professional, these phrases should excluded from use by anyone that has any "lick of sense."

My inspiration or motivation for this post is tied to 2 things: Firstly, sort of a re-post or re-blog variation of one of my early posts on ActiveRain (more later) and secondly, a fundamental skill that every mortgage professional must possess.....that of providing a quality mortgage pre-qualification or pre-approval to their clients. While this fundamental skill has not been an issue for most mortgage professionals in times past.....it can be a bit of an issue or concern these days!. Times are changing, things are changing, it seems as though almost every day. What may be available today in the way of mortgage products and guidelines may have disappeared as of yesterday, or maybe will be gone tomorrow!

As a mortgage professional, I must admit that I do find it a little more difficult to stay abreast of these changes on a day to day basis. It is not a problem of understanding or comprehending these changes but that of staying on top of a myriad of information flow from investors, government sponsored entities (GSE's) and a host of professional publications. Consquently this causes me to be just a little more diligent in my actions and choice of words. There is no substitute for telling a client what they need to know and understand as opposed to what you think that they want to hear! All to often, when these phrases are used there may be an underlying thought process that is saying "I'll just slap this up against the wall and see if it sticks!"

If I have learned any one thing in my travel through life it is that I can only control one thing and that one thing is..........MY ACTIONS! My words are integral to my actions and consequently they set expectations, whether real or perceived. Advice...choose them wisely, precisely and concisely.

Although I abhor the "taste of crow", more-so, I detest the necessity of having to salvage my relationship with clients and industry professionals, as well as my reputation. All to often, these phrases "drip like saliva" from the tongues of professionals. Generally, whenever I hear these phrases used my suspicion is aroused and I drift into a "cautionary mode". There are many ways to convey a message to another party without having to use these phrases.

I believe that it is safe to state that the Nazi's prior to and during WWII were the masters of propaganda (a false conveyance of belief/truth or expectations). The above image struck a real chord with me about 25 years ago as it relates to setting expectations (although extreme). While serving on active military duty in Europe I had to the opportunity to tour some of the Nazi Concentration Camps. This was a very sobering experience for me and while there are numerous images that will be embedded in my memory forever, this one stood out to me. This inscription was on virtually every iron gate when entering the concentration camps. It could not be further from the truth!

If you are not familiar with the German phrase contained in the above image or its English translation then I invite you to check out my post from the past. You Are Approved...Arbeit Macht Frei!...Oops Not Really!

Please visit me at www.RonWithers.com

Copyright 2008, Ron Withers. All Rights Reserved.