Congress passed a bill today to try to deal with the housing - mortgage problems facing the country. Among the many provisions of the bill designed to help home owners avoid foreclosure and shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a provision to end the down payment assistance programs that have become popular with first time buyers over the last several years.
Seller funded down payment assistance programs popped up when someone figured out that the law allows a charity to provide the 3% down payment required when a buyer finances a home with an FHA mortgage. The seller donates the amount of the down payment to the charity along with an additional fee. The charity pays the down payment, and the buyer moves into the home without having to come up with any money out of their own pocket.
President Bush is expected to sign the bill next week and the down payment assistance ban is set to take affect October 1st, 2008. If you're planning on buying a home using one of these programs, there's still time, but you need to hurry!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment