Re: Home Purchasing Credits
From: Mariana Almeida (missmgrrlyahoo.com)
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:26:19 -0700 (PDT)
I think we learned that assessing risk and keeping standards tight for lending 
is important. Some of that assessment is related to having skin in the game aka 
having some sort of down payment. 

Having zero downpayment is certainly riskier, but it wasn't the only cause of 
the mortgage meltdown. 

I say this in defense of all the people who live in expensive real estate 
areas, like SF Bay Area. For some it would take 20 years to save 10% down for a 
home. 
Most of us don't have relatives giving us a down payment of any sort. 

Zero down made our cohousing apartment purchase possible. We still needed to 
have a chunk of money to put down in fees (our skin in the game). It felt like 
a lot. 
 
Mariana
Berkeley, Calif
 
From: Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net>
>To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> 
>Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 9:16 AM
>Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Home Purchasing Credits
> 
>
>Hello all --
>
>Let me just intervene here in re: the affordability program under which Takoma 
>Village Cohousing in Washington, DC was built.
>
>The take out mortgages for those who qualified under the affordability 
>guidelines were of two types:
>
>A below market interest rate of 6.4%
>
>OR
>
>A higher rate of 7.2 or 7.4 (can't quite remember) AND up to $6,000 towards 
>your downpayment.  (I took this option because I didn't want to commit all my 
>cash.)
>
>As far as I know ... everyone made a downpayment on their homes here at TVC.   
>ALL TVC members committed non-fundable money during the development phases 
>that was applied to their downpayment.   That may have been only part of the 
>total downpayment but people did commit money for use at closing.
>
>Part of the sentiment that perhaps I'm hearing here is that 100% loans (no 
>downpayment) coupled with buying too much house is what got us into this 
>housing foreclosure debacle. A 100% loan means you have no equity in your 
>house therefore no wiggle room for resales when sales are depressed.  We look 
>back now and think "how irresponsible!"  Let's not do this again!
>
>At the same time we now face the challenge of having to put 20% down which is 
>a very high hurdle.  On a $200K home which is nothing here in DC, that's $20K 
>in cash that the prospective homeowner has to pony up.  
>
>Best --
>
>Ann Zabaldo
>
>
>
>
>

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