Misconceptions = Missed Opportunities

Maybe you have heard the news, maybe you have not...Seller funded Down Payment Assistance is scheduled to "exit stage left"on October 1st of this year. Depending on your market, you may think this may not affect you. Guess again. This travesty will continue to effect the downward spiral in the housing market for several reasons, including reducing FHA loans by nearly 40% (approximately that many loans or 50,000 families per month), locking out families from homeownership & keeping them in the renting cycle.

As many real estate professionals will tell you, homeownership promotes social stability, financial independence, less crime, a sense of community & personal achievement & many other intangible benefits. The elimination will unfairly target the most vunerable: minorities, first-time homeowners & women-headed households.

Now I know some of you are thinking (but may not say it) - well, they need to save more money for a down payment or their credit should be better. To you I say this: You've been listening to the wrong people. They would have you believe the many (& I mean there's a ton) misconceptions of seller-funded DPA. Nehemiah, Ameridream & other similar DPAs are NOT for dead-beats. They are for credit-worthy borrowers who want to save their reserves instead of spending it all on the down payment. It is not wrong or ill-conceived to want to have a rainy-day fund instead of having $0.00 in the bank, especially in this economy as it stands today. In fact its pretty smart. Most financial savvy people making 6 figures or more have much more in reserves than that. Why should we think those with less to work with should have nothing to fall back on?

Another misconception: "Why should I have people use my tax dollars to buy a house?"Guess what - tax dollars aren't used at all! Seller-funded DPAs, such as Nehemiah, are private non-profit corporations. In fact, more revenue (via taxes) is generated for state & local governments instead of less (or none) for areas that may not have as strong a tax base, thereby increasing value in lower-income communities.

Maybe you still don't buy it. Maybe you've been told, "Oh, so many people foreclose when they get DPA."

Sorry. Wrong Answer. Buy another vowel...

Let's check with the General Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington: "Better than nine out of 10 Americans who purchased their homes with DPA are succeeding in meeting their payments."

Sounds like pretty good numbers to me, Pat. I'd like to solve the puzzle!!

Well, unfortunately, we won't be going to the prize round if Seller-Funded DPA takes a powder.

There will be just less people in the housing market. Those numbers don't sound so good.

If you'd like to help keep DPA go to http://www.getdownpayment.com/ for more on what you can do.