When you ask people what their version of the American dream is, there are a lot of different things that you may hear.. Things like owning a business, being debt-free,having a a happy family with good kids, and oh yes, a home of your own. And although it may take years for you, as a single mom, to finish paying for your own home, the day your get your keys and sign your mortgage papers is a day you will never forget. Being able to allow your children to grow up in the same house, and knowing that your hard work is going towards something as important as paying that home off is a truly remarkable experience. Knowing that my grandchildren would come visit me in my home, many years from now sounds wonderful.
Even with the current economic situation in this country, there is a lot of financial aid to help you buy a house. Although there are a few grants or loans that have been earmarked specifically for single parents, there area lot more that are geared towards low-income individuals and families. Most states have at least some grants available to you. If you would like to see a list of what your state has available for you, visit here: http://www.hud.gov/buying/localbuying.cfm
Do You Live In a Rural Area?
If you live in one of the more rural areas in the United States, then you might be interested in hearing about http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do. In order to be eligible for this type of loan, your household will need to meet certain criteria, and the home you would like to buy will need to be classified as a rural area. Even if you are pretty sure that the home you’d like to buy is rural, you might want to use that website to double-check. More than one person has been disappointed and surprised to discover that the property they’re trying to get is now classified as a rural property by HUD, even when everyone else in the area is sure that it is.
Habitat For Humanity
Habitat For Humanity is one of the most well-known charities, and their work involves helping qualified people buy homes. In order to qualify, you will need to:
1) Have an income within the stated guidelines, which will vary tremendously based on family size
2) Be able to prove your citizenship status, which will need to be that of either a U.S. Citizen, or a legal resident
3) Have good credit, with steady income that can be proven
4) Be able to maintain a savings account for the required amount of time
5) Make a reasonable down-payment, and an ability to make regular mortgage payments
6) Attend home-owner education classes, prior to actually signing the final paperwork
7) Invest sweat-equity hours
Sweat-equity hours could easily be what Habitat For Humanity is most famous for. This requirement means that before you are allowed to buy your home, you have to spend a certain number of hours building your home, as well as other homes. By doing so, it is often thought that homes are more affordable because contractors are not doing the work. The homes that are purchased are sold at no-profit to the company itself, with the monthly payments going towards the purchase of more humans.
So, You Have a Low-income and Would Like To Buy a House
Doesn’t it seem impossible some times to buy a home, when your income is barely enough to pay your rent? Of course it does. Although you may have heard some not so great things about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but they are both likely to help ensure the availability of loans to people with a very low-income. If you would like to see more information about Freddie Mac, their website can be found at http://www.freddiemac.com/, and information about Fannie Mae can be obtained here: http://www.fanniemae.com/kb/index?page=home&c=aboutus.
Neither of these companies have regular access to clients, so it would be unusual for you to ever come into direct contact with them. However; because they are both founded by the United States government, they have a very distinct role in making loans available to families with an income that would normally not allow them to qualify for loans. They are a third party that insures the loans that other companies set up for you.
So, You Have a Low-income And Would Like To Buy A House…With Free Money
So, you’ve got pretty decent credit, and you’ve found the perfect house, but you don’t have quite the right amount of money that you need for the down-payment. There are several choices when it comes to choosing lenders, but not quite as many when it comes to grant money.
Your best bet will probably involve using a website that uses all of your information to come up with all of the grants that you might be eligible for, and then making the most appropriate choices from there. A popular website that does that can be found at: http://www.buying-a-home-info.com/grants_for_buying_a_home.htm.
211 will also be able to point you in the direction of organizations that can help. By now, you’ve probably seen that http://www.211.org/ is a great source of information for any type of help that you need, and this is no different.
You Bought Your Home, and Now Something Really Expensive Needs To Be Repaired…What Now?
The one thing that seems to be said over and over again as a reason for single moms NOT to buy a home is the fear of something major and expensive breaking down, and not being able to afford repairing it. There are a lot of areas that provide grant money to fix things that are either vital to the health and well-being of the people in the home, or that are an integral part of the home meeting current safety codes for the area.
The first thing to do is either contact 211 ( if they are in your area) or to visit http://www.211.org/. You should be able to find out if your city, county, or state offers grant money for this type of situation, and if so, they will let you know how you can contact them. Another organization that will often help with some or all of the cost of your repairs is HUD. They receive federal funds to help deserving people buy and repair homes, and have a website here: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD.
A Few Things To Keep In Mind, Or Learn From My Mistakes
Several years ago, I decided I wanted to buy a house. And of course, being the liberal, free-thinking, overly communicative type of mother, I told my children. And we proceeded to spend several Saturday afternoons looking for a home, because I thought I knew everything I needed to know to buy a home. Eventually, we found a home that seemed to be utterly perfect. Great ( but not too great) neighborhood, a park nearby, and my kids didn’t even have to change schools.
So, where did I make my mistake? I allowed my kids to get excited about a house that I had not been pre-approved for. It turns out that the amount of money I thought I could afford was no-where near what I could approved for. So, I disappointed my kids, and had to wait quite a while, to get a house. We still talk about that house, and its built-in shoe closets. So, the first thing you need to do is get a pre-approval, unless of course, you just want to spend some really fun afternoons dreaming. And if you see a house with adorable blue shutters and built in shoe-racks in every bedroom, you’ll know what we missed out on.
Buying your first home is wonderful, and scary, and so many other things. It’s worth saving up for, and it’s worth looking forward to. You can do this, it I can be just as simple for single moms to qualify for a mortgage as it is for a two parent household. If you buy a home now, in 20 or 25 years, your home could be completely paid for. If you continue to rent, your landlord’s property will be completely paid for. I’ll bet you know which one seems better to you.
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