Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Home Purchasing Credits

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

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
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church VA
703-688-2646

On Aug 17, 2012, at 11:53 AM, Sharon Villines wrote:

> 
> 
> On Aug 17, 2012, at 11:44 AM, joyce <jcthorn [at] earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Buying a home with no down payment is irresponsible.  If you can't save 
>> enough money for a down payment you should not take on the responsibility of 
>> owning.
> 
> Well, that is certainly a biased opinion. As if everyone in the world had 
> extra money sitting around.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines, Washington DC
> "It is harder to be kind than clever. KIndness is a choice and hard. 
> Cleverness is a gift and seductive." Jeff Bezos' Grandfather
> 
> 
> 
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