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Thursday, May 06, 2010

Home Ownership Financing

I hosted an affordable housing forum a couple of weeks ago with a panel of experts from the State of Maryland Dept. of Housing and Community Development. There was some really exciting information as we try to stabilize the housing market in Salisbury. Barbara Schmidt discussed the mortgage programs offered by the state. They will be great tools, if we can get the word out. There are a number of opportunities and we can engage Realtors, neighborhoods, employers, etc. to match homes for sale with qualified buyers and bring families back. They have fixed rate mortgage products that are very attractive – including 5.25% with no points (30-year fixed). There is also an employer-assisted program that can leverage around $18,000 in match for closing and downpayment. Please encourage all who might be interested to listen to the audio file on the city’s web site. It is labeled below since the link may not work on everyone’s computer. The pertinent discussion begins about 15 minutes into the meeting.

Audio-MDHCD 4-23-10 Session

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How ya gonna buy a house if you don't have a job?
Should be called the State of Maryland department of Bureaucracy. Stupidity, and Government waste.

Anonymous said...

Say what you will, but for those with jobs, especially normal people for whom it has been especially hard to save up a 20% downpayment, or those who are paying high rents and would like to become an owner, this is a great opportunity. There are a couple of homes for sale on my street right now and I plan to make sure that the listing agents know about this article so that they can help to find families for those homes rather than seeing them it empty. Has everyone become so soured that they can't see a good opportunity for Salisbury when they see it. Besides, if you listen to the recording (I was impressed) this is not funded by tax $$. I also know of a an employer who helped one of thier employees to buy a home using this. It really is quite good.

Anonymous said...

"mortgage programs offered by the state"?

That's my tax dollar they are squandering!

Why the heck is the government involved in this business? Everything they touch goes down hill and deteriorates into a morass of bureaucratic buffoonery.

Study the Federal government's role in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack debacle. Is Maryland trying to go down the same road?

The important question is: Will the voters say "Enough it enough!" this November and start to turn our sate and this country around?