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Categories: Rev. Dr. Charles Butler,
Can anyone afford to buy a home in Harlem? This is now a complex question with no obvious, clear, and concise answers. Most prospective home buyers are looking for an affordable home. But, unfortunately, when shopping, they keep experiencing escalating home values and limited home buying opportunities.
So, as a prospective home buyer, you must make a very tough decision regarding your home buying goal. Are you going to quit and dismiss your dream, or will you use all your available resources to accomplish this goal? If you are willing to go forward with the home buying process, you must begin by establishing an extremely aggressive savings plan. As we approach the holiday season, this is an excellent time to start this plan.
You must immediately begin to eliminate all excessive and wasteful spending. It becomes imperative that you save as much as you possibly can towards the purchase of your home. Regardless of your income, you are now faced with a crisis of needing more money. That money is going to have to come from your assets. If necessary, consider using a portion of your retirement account.
Interview several lenders to determine which mortgage product offer is the best one for your financial situation. See who has a first-time home buyer product that will offer financial assistance to offset some of your closing costs. You will find that most of them offer very competitive interest rates. But, the difference will be in their first-time mortgage products and the closing costs assistance. Also, remember not every lender will offer every type of mortgage product. Some will not offer FHA; others will not offer SONYMA, and others will not write mortgages on new construction or HDFC cooperative units.
Another possible option to consider is receiving a gift from a family member or friend. I was recently counseling a young couple planning on becoming first-time homeowners. They informed me that the wife’s father was giving them a gift of $500,000 towards the purchase of their home! Now, most of us do not have wealthy, generous family members like that, but if you could get 10-20 family members to give you $1000 each, that might be attainable. Every little bit will help.
Plan on combining that with other grant programs, which you might be eligible to use during this process. Find out which lenders write mortgages on Housing Development Fund Cooperative units (HDFC). These limited equity units are still the best bargain in Harlem.
It is important for low to moderate-income prospective first-time home buyers to fully comprehend the challenges they encounter in their quest for homeownership. No one said this process would be easy, but if you are successful, homeownership will be well worth the effort.
If you are interested in attending a Harlem Congregations For Community Improvement, Inc. (HCCI) workshop or have questions regarding the home buying process, contact Rev. Dr. Charles Butler at (212) 281 4887 ext. 231 or email cbutler@hcci.org.
