News
BOTHANDS Approved for Mortgage Revenue Bond Funds
BOTHANDS, Inc. has been approved to utilize state mortgage revenue bond money with our down-payment and closing cost programs – reducing the interest our buyers will pay for their primary mortgages and increasing the amount of mortgage they can qualify for at the time of purchase.
Essentially, this program will allow buyers in our program to identify higher mortgages and still keep them within our program limits. For example, a family earning $50,000 annually would qualify for a mortgage of $187,000 with a 6.25% interest rate. With Mortgage Revenue Bonds, that same family could qualify for a mortgage of $222,600 with a 5.25% interest rate. The only difference between the two loan amounts is the interest!
The Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) program provides an attractive 30-year fixed rate mortgage at approximately 1% below market for homebuyers with qualifications similar to VA and FHA. The buyer must not have owned a home in the past three years and must qualify to borrow from a participating lender. The home, whether new or previously owned, must become the family’s primary residence. An MRB loan can be combined with BOTHANDS down-payment and closing cost assistance program. Families must have a total income of no more than 115% of the area median income, based on household size.
There are three local lenders who are utilizing MRB funds. Through our program, we’ll not only provide you with education and counseling, but help to make sure you identify the loan that’s right for you. For more information about the MRB program or our BOTHANDS programs to help first-time homebuyers, please contact Cindy at ccarnes@bothands.org.
Task Force Recommendations for Affordable Housing
Increasing the supply of affordable housing in our Flagstaff community is a definite challenge and it takes our entire community working together to make it a reality. The Housing Policy Task Force, comprised of community members and building experts, was charged with creating recommendations to make housing more affordable in our community.
The mission of the Task Force was to make progressive and practical recommendations to the City Council to improve, streamline and facilitate the development of policies, procedures and regulations in order to maximize the ability of the working population to live in Flagstaff.
The results are now in and recommendations have been presented to the Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission Dec. 21, 2005. These recommendations will be presented to the Flagstaff City Council Jan. 9, 2006.
The first of three main recommendations from the Task Force is for the City of Flagstaff to implement an education campaign to increase community awareness and understanding of the need for affordable housing. This will not only help to reduce opposition to affordable housing projects, but will help to increase momentum in the city to continue to focus on this issue.
The second recommendation is to begin a revision of the existing Land Development Code. There are many places in the code that prohibit or do not successfully encourage affordability in new development projects. Through incentives in the Land Development Code, the private sector can become a key partner to increase the supply of affordable housing.
The third recommendation is that policies and incentives be tied to owner-occupancy, or rental units inhabited by full-time community residents with, wherever possible, permanent affordability ensured by a legally-sound mechanism. This helps ensure that affordable units are occupied by working families in our community and that the supply of these units is not reduced by investors or second-home buyers.
To read the entire Task Force Final Report, click here [pdf] click here [word].
To view pdf files, Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed. Click here for download [20MB].
