Where to get Home Buyer Counseling in Baltimore City October 23, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Events, First Time Home Buyers, Local News, Mortgage News.add a comment
So the fantastic ADDI (American Dream Downpayment Initiative) Program is back and buyer’s can get $10,000 towards closing costs, but, you need to take a home buyer education class BEFORE going under contract, and the class must be from an approved housing counseling organization.
I suggest getting pre-approved for a mortgage before signing up for the class. That way, you know before you go to the class that you qualify for the program and for a mortgage and what price house you should be looking at.
Here’s a quick list of some places where you can counseling that are on the Baltimore CIty approved classes list. Most providers offer classes once or twice a month, to complete the program and get your counseling certificate it is required you go to the classroom class and a one on one session:
Tri-Churches Housing
815 Scott Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
410-385-1463
Southeast CDC
3700 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224
410-342-3234 ext. 24
Druid Heights CDC
2140 McCulloh Street
Baltimore, MD 21217
410-523-1350
See a few more after the page break
(more…)
Home Buyer Programs Around the Country October 23, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
I help people get home loans mostly in Maryland, I also work in Pennsylvania, DC, Virginia, and Deleware. The great thing about this blog is that so many different people from all over the country can find some great info here.
So in the interest of helping out first time home buyers all over the country, I want to post some info that I frequently get emailed questions about. Assistance programs outside the area I serve. First of all, the Maryland CDA program is administering the Community Development Act, a Federal Act. It’s just the way Maryland does it. So if you search in your state you should find similar programs.
The FHLB First Time Home Buyer program is through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, they just happen to serve the states I work in. But there are other branches of the FHLB, and you can find your local one and find their first time home buyer programs. Then you need to find a member bank of the FHLB system (I’m helpful, but you do need to do some of this legwork yourself!).
For New York, New Jersey (where I seem to get the most inquiries outside of my area from), and Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands: http://www.fhlbny.com/community/housing.htm
You can find all the Federal Home Loan Bank’s website on my fave wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Home_Loan_Bank
So good luck people outside of my service area!
What’s going on? October 23, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Uncategorized.add a comment
Marvin Gaye may have written that song about war, but it’s lyrics could also be talking about the financial crisis our world is experiencing right now.
So, I picked a really bad time to go on vacation, as quite a lot has been going on in our economy at large.
A quick run down of what’s happened in the economy in the last month or so:
- Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac collapse, government takes them over
- Many large banks & financial institutions start to fail
- $700 billion bail out plan passes
- The US stock market plunges and makes Patti very sad
- Stock markets around the world plummet
- Interest rates spike to highs for the year, Patti wants to cry
- Interest rates start to come back down
So, with all this, what’s different for buyer’s trying to buy a house?
The answer: Really, not a whole lot. Many of the changes in mortgage world have been instituted over the last 2 years. In the housing market, we are seeing people able to get some good deals and bank-owned properties, to me seem to be selling a lot easier than they were a year ago.
There have been some major changes going on with FHA, but I will address that with it’s own post.
More on this crisis after the page jump
