Baltimore County’s office of Community Conservation has come up with a new program that both helps home buyer’s get much needed money for closing cost and down payment assistance and reduces the number of vacant houses on the market.  The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (or NSP) gets home buyer’s up to $50,000.  Money becomes available in May, and prospective home buyers MUST complete an approved home buyer education class BEFORE going under contract.

Right now there are 2 approved counseling agencies that are doing home buyer counseling Diversified Housing and Harbel, and the classes are getting booked quick!  In addition, Baltimore County is holding some classes of their own due to the high demand, and if you drop me a line, I can get you set up with this class. 

Some great points about this program:

• You don’t have to be a first time home buyer
• Income limits are higher for this program than many other assistance programs
• The money is forgivable, a little bit is forgiven each year over 15 years
• The funds count as your own funds for FHA…this means you don’t necessarily need 3.5% of your funds!
• The program is only in specific zip codes