Mortgage Protection Program for First-Time Homebuyers!!
Great news for California home buyers! As if the $8000 tax credit, historically low interest rates, and affordable home prices were not enough, the California Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Fund (C.A.R.H.A.F.) is making the pot even sweeter by offering a mortgage protection program for first-time home buyers. Wow!
Back in January, I posted a blog on my personal blogsite (http://budurl.com/5vpd) about the Hyundai Assurance Program (if you lose your job or have another hardship within 12 months, you can give your new car back) and commented that it would be an interesting idea if we could have the same sort of thing for buying homes. The basic idea – buy a new home, and if you lose your job, you can give the home back without penalty. Well, it seems that someone out there was reading my blog…okay, maybe not, but this new program is not too far from the same line of thinking. So what does it entail exactly?
This is the information, according to C.A.R.’s latest newsletter:
Through the Housing Affordability Fund’s Mortgage Protection Program, first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month for up to six months to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, for a monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months. Program benefits also include coverage for accidental disability and a $10,000 death benefit. C.A.R.’s Housing Affordability Fund is dedicating $1 million toward its Mortgage Protection Program this year, and estimates that up to 3,000 families will benefit from the program throughout 2009.
If you want to qualify for this program, you must:
- Be a first-time home buyer – someone who has not owned a home in the last three years
- Open escrow April 2, 2009, or later, and close on or before Dec. 31, 2009
- Use a California REALTOR® (me!) in the transaction
- Purchase the property in California
- Be a W-2 employee (cannot be self-employed or military personnel)
First-time home buyers must request an application for the H.A.F. Mortgage Protection Program from their REALTOR® (that’s me again!). For applications and other information on this exciting new program, go to http://budurl.com/g8p5.
