Great news for El Dorado County’s First Time Homebuyers!
With mortgage interest rates below five percent and housing prices at record lows, local first time house hunters with modest family incomes may benefit from El Dorado County’s First Time Homebuyer Loan Program.
The El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency’s Housing Program has received approval for $800,000 from the State’s Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) fund to provide low-interest rate deferred payment loans to eligible homebuyers to help with the purchase of a home in the unincorporated areas of El Dorado County. Funding for this program is provided through the California Department of Housing and Community Development HOME Program and the County’s revolving housing loan fund.
Eligible applicants must provide a down payment, the greater of $2,500 or two percent based on the purchase price of a home. Individuals must also qualify for a fixed-rate 30-year first mortgage through a commercial lender and have a total household income at or below 80% of the area median income based on household size. With a few exceptions, eligible applicants cannot have owned a home or been on title to real property within the last three years. Current annual maximum household income limits are: one person, $42,650; two persons, $48,750; three persons, $54,850; four persons, $60,900; five persons, $65,800; six persons, $70,650; seven persons, $75,550; eight persons, $80,400.
The County’s First Time Homebuyer Loan Program is designed as a gap financing program for applicants who would not qualify for a bank loan sufficient to purchase a home due to limited income. The loan program includes loan amounts up to $80,000 at three percent interest with payments deferred for 30 years. Loans are available while funding lasts to eligible buyers on a first-come, first-served basis after completing an application process.
For more information about this program, visit the El Dorado County web site at www.edcgov.us or call the El Dorado County Housing, Community and Economic Development Block Grant Programs at (530) 642-4864.
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Last Quarter 2010-Home Sales Rise
WASHINGTON — New U.S. single-family home sales soared in December, rising faster than expected to their highest level in eight months.
Early Wednesday, the Commerce Department said sales jumped 17.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted 329,000 unit annual rate after a downwardly revised 280,000-unit pace in November. Prices in December were the highest since April 2008, raising cautious optimism for a housing market recovery.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales rising to a 300,000-unit pace in December from a previously reported 290,000 unit rate.
Compared to December last year, sales were down 7.6 percent. Overall 2010 sales dropped 14.4 percent to a record low 321,000 units.
Data last week showed a surge in sales of previously owned homes in December, but progress could be frustrated by a glut of homes from an unrelenting wave of foreclosures. The housing market has remained on the margins even as the broader economy shows signs of gaining strength and broadening out.
At December’s home sales pace, the supply of new homes on the market fell to 6.9 months’ worth, the lowest since April, from 8.4 months’ worth in November. There were 190,000 new homes available for sale in December, the lowest in 43 years.
The median sales price for a new home increased 12.1 percent last month from November to $241,500, the highest since April 2008. Compared with December last year, the median price was 8.5 percent, the biggest increase since August.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
Housing Market Improving-Video
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New Home Construction Up
Home construction increased last month and applications for building permits also grew. The gains were driven mainly by apartment and condominium construction, not the much larger single-family homes sector.Construction of new homes and apartments rose 10.5 percent in August from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That’s the highest level since April.Pulling the figures up was a 32 percent monthly increase in the condominium and apartment market, a small portion of the market. Single-family homes, which represented about 73 percent of the market in August, grew more than 4 percent.Housing starts are up 25 percent from their bottom in April 2009. But they remain 74 percent below their peak in January 2006. Single-family housing starts are up 11 percent from their low point in January 2009, but down 78 percent from their peak in January 2006.Builders are struggling with weak demand for new homes caused by high unemployment and a glut of foreclosed homes on the market. They benefited in the spring from federal tax credits, but those expired in April.Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics, said the high number of vacant homes, mounting expectations of renewed price falls and economic constraints on households will continue to weigh on the industry.”Homebuilding activity remains at an astoundingly weak level,” Dales said, adding that construction has to be more than double current levels for the market to be considered healthy.Building permit applications, a sign of future activity, grew by nearly 2 percent to an annual rate of 569,000.Lennar Corp., a major builder based in Miami, said Monday the number of buyers signing agreements to purchase its homes fell 15 percent from a year ago in the three months ended August 31.”It’s been a tough summer,” said Stuart Miller, Lennar’s chief executive. on a conference call with investors Monday. “As we’ve gone into September, we’re seeing a little bit of pickup in our traffic, but that shouldn’t be cause to have a sigh of relief at this point.”Construction activity rose 34 percent in the West and was up 22 percent in the Midwest and 7 percent in the South. However, construction fell by 24 percent in the Northeast.On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders said its monthly index of builders’ sentiment was unchanged in September at 13. The index has now been at the lowest level since March 2009 for two straight months.
