These are a few articles which we believe may be of interest to bay area homebuyers in addition to recent press coverage of myhomegateway.com and our events.
An Oakland community group is working erase blight in neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures, and they began the process Monday.
The Oakland Community Land Trust was established in April, 2009 and given $5 million in seed money to start buying homes, fixing them up, and selling them to low and moderate income people.
Cobbling together funds is one of the biggest challenges in buying a house.
But ironically, some government programs to provide down payment help can't find enough folks to take their largesse.
"People aren't aware they can come and get this," said Walter Zhovreboff, administrative director of the Bay Area Home Buyer Agency, a joint-powers authority between Contra Costa and Alameda counties that promotes homeownership. "Many cities have adequate funding to assist families here (with down payments) and we're not running out of money. It's phenomenally frustrating."
Though the dominant real estate story of the past two years has been foreclosures, there are still ways for moderate- and low-income earners to get into homes they can afford: With help from local first-time buyer programs.
"Our biggest challenge is that people just don't believe," said Walter Zhovreboff, director of the Bay Area HomeBuyer Agency, which administers down payment assistance programs for Antioch and seven other Contra Costa and Alameda County cities.
The drop in housing prices has made this a good time for buyers with moderate budgets who had been priced out of the market, officials say.
Are you a potential first-time home buyer who wants to capitalize on falling home prices and interest rates, but you don't have the cash you need to make that down payment? Well, the City of Alameda has a program that could help make your American Dream come true.
The city has a down payment assistance program that offers loans of up to $80,000 to local home buyers whose incomes are 120 percent or less of the area median. If you think you qualify and you're interested in finding out more, the city and First Home Inc. are holding a seminar.
The seminar is 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Oct. 24, in the cafeteria at Encinal High School, 210 Central Ave.
"We cover the A to Zs of what it takes to be a homeowner in today's market," said Walter Zhovreboff, administrative director of the Bay Area HomeBuyer Agency, which runs First Home.
