Posted on June 27, 2017
BOSTON --- June is National Homeownership Month and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s ONE Mortgage Program is celebrating it by highlighting the efforts of key lenders and nonprofit partners.
Today’s spotlight is on East Boston’s Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, more affectionately known as NOAH.
As we said earlier this week in saluting Urban Edge, Boston is lucky to have so many resources for homebuyers. It has larger homebuyer education entities like the City of Boston’s Home Center, and the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance of Dorchester, which helped create the ONE Mortgage Program and has had over 25,000 people takes it classes in the last 30 years.
At the neighborhood level, there are organizations like NOAH, which provides homebuyer education, financial literacy classes and other support services that help give individuals and families the tools they need to build a better future.
So far in FY2017, 24 households that went through NOAH’s homebuyer education programs ended up buying their first home with a ONE Mortgage loan. The average median income of these buyers was $63,870.
Homebuyer education is a requirement of the ONE Mortgage Program. It helps first-time buyers understand what they can afford, and what mortgage program is the best fit for them. NOAH is part of a network of homebuyer educators across the state that is doing a good job making sure first-time homebuyers are on sound financial footing before taking one of the biggest steps of their lives.
Last year, NOAH held 12 bilingual first-time homebuyer classes, as well as online courses. This resulted in 422 graduates, 147 who went onto buy their first home.
Those who bought homes with ONE Mortgage did so in the following communities: Lynn (8), Saugus (6), Revere (3), Everett (2), and Boston, Chelsea, Haverhill, Salem and Worcester (one each).
Despite NOAH’s success, the ratio of graduates to buyers reflects that it’s tough to buy a home in Massachusetts these days. The last time we looked at the data for Massachusetts, state inventory was down 34 percent, prices were up 6 percent and sales were down 3.5 percent.
In this market, ONE Mortgage is more important than ever and we thank NOAH for its continuing dedication to helping low- and moderate-income first-time buyers make the right choice so they stay in their homes for the long run and build wealth that they can pass onto future generations.
ABOUT ONE MORTGAGE: Prosperous families. Stable and secure neighborhoods. Sound, private-sector loans that get repaid. That’s what ONE Mortgage delivers.
Since 1990, ONE Mortgage and its predecessor – the SoftSecond Loan Program – have helped more than 20,000 low- and moderate-income families purchase their first and home and has delivered $3.5 billion in below-market, private mortgage financing.
ONE Mortgage is a 30-year, fixed-rate loan with a minimum 3 percent down payment (5 percent for three-family properties). ONE homebuyers save more each month because they do not have to pay for costly private mortgage insurance.
State interest subsidies are used to reduce monthly payments in the early years of homeownership and then public funds are repaid by borrowers when they successfully sell their home or refinance out of the program.
For more information about ONE Mortgage, go to www.mhp.net/onemortgage.