$135,000 Homes – IN – Sandpoint
New, single family homes in the Sandpoint area at $135,000-$165,000 may become a reality if reluctant banks will partner with BCHA and Planet Construction owners Michelle and Sean Hefley.
BCHA (Bonner Community Housing Agency) and Seven Sisters (a development in Kootenai) will host a town hall meeting on Tuesday, July 28, at 6:00 pm in the Sandpoint Community Hall on First Avenue across from the Courthouse. Floor plans, home renderings and plat maps will be on display and the latest information about the USDA loan program and other home financing options will be available.
Bank financing is needed to complete infrastructure provisions for the housing that will use Dept of Ag Rural Development funds derived from its Section 502 loans that specifically target rural areas and are designed for lower-income families that do not qualify for traditional loans.
Is it doable?
Joe Cool, USDA Rural Development Specialist, said that they did 700 loans just like this in the Coeur d Alene area and that by the end of 2009 it will be 
an even bigger number.
Michelle Hefley says that investors put up a million bucks for the land and they need about another million to complete infrastructure and that is where they will need the banks partnership.
With the USDA financing, Michelle and Sean are estimating that a family with an income of $31,000 a year would pay around $785 per month for a 1,350 sqft Rancher with attached garage.
They believe a family making $26,000 a year would pay about $665 for a 1,150 sqft Cottage with a carport.
This is the type of partnership and effort that can be successful and used as a model for similar endeavors. We are nearing the end of the 7th month of 2009 with our economic recovery trying to gain yardage while dragging the twin tacklers of rising unemployment and additional foreclosures down the field. What’s being done? Is it effective? Is it enough?
The Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) insist they have been hard at work developing systems and procedures to support HARP and HAMP. Harp is the Home Affordable Refinance Program and HAMP is the Home Affordable Modification Program.
Both programs brought to us by the current Administration in Washington D.C. and designed to aid homeowners in Washington State and across the country. How does it work?
MICA is working in coordination with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to combine their efforts with loan servicers to modify or refinance troubled mortgages.
This teamwork has opened up a consolation bracket for homeowners that have been turned down for a loan modification by developing a back-up underwriting capability and a standardized reporting system that essentially provides homeowners a second look.
Back to the question of does it work?
According to Kevin Schnieder, MICA President, “In 2008 alone, mortgage insurers, working with servicers, were able to save almost 100,000 people from losing their homes. The total sum of those mortgage workouts was nearly $18 billion.”
Tags: BCHA, Seven Sisters, USDR Rural Development
