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You want to purchase a home in the Norman, Moore or Oklahoma City metro area, but don't have enough for a down payment? The government wants to help.
If you are planning on purchasing a house as your primary residence, there are programs through which you can get FREE MONEY -- and that is no joke.
1) NCRC (Norman Community Reinvestment Council Program)
Through the NCRC Grant program, you could receive up to $5,000 per household to help offset the cost of purchasing a home. To qualify, your income must be under the limits below:
| Number of Family Members | Income Limit |
| 1 | $30,150 |
| 2 | $34,500 |
| 3 | $38,800 |
| 4 | $43,100 |
| 5 | $46,550 |
| 6 | $50,000 |
You must also:
Be able to provide up to 1% of the purchase price of the house. For example, if you were to purchase a $100,000 house, estimated closing costs on an FHA loan would be approximately $6,500. All you would be required to bring to the table would be $1,000, the Grant would provide $5,000, and you could ask the seller to pay the rest!
Must be able to qualify for a mortgage through a NCRC member bank
Cannot presently own property or have owned property in the last 3 years
Must occupy the home as principle residence for five years
Must attend a homebuyer orientation class prior to closing. These classes are held once every other Saturday.
Must be purchasing a home within the Norman city limits.
Example 1: Joe wants to purchase a $100,000 home and his income is below $30,150. He doesn't have enough to pay for all of the closing costs, so when he makes an offer on a house he asks the seller to pay $2,000 towards his closing costs, and applies for the NCRC grant. His closing costs will be approximately $6,500, of which he will have to pay $1,000, and the seller will pay $2,000. The grant will pay for the remaining $3,500 with the other $1,500 going directly to the principle of the loan!
Example 2: Joe and Janet have a daughter and want to purchase a $100,000 home, and both of their incomes total less than $38,800. They have saved up enough for all of the closing costs, but would like the money to help reduce their monthly payment, so the $5,000 goes directly towards the principle of their loan. At 6%, this saves them $300 / year!
Interested in this program? Just contact me at (405) 290-1345, or call Lisa Krieg with the City of Norman at (405) 366-5464
2) OHFA (Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency)
Similar to the NCRC grant above, but with two distinct differences: they, not the bank set your mortgage rate, and through this program you have an option to either get a lower rate (Market best program), OR up to 3% to help with closing costs (1st gold program). The income limit for 1-2 person household is a little higher at $53,900, and for a 3 or more person household, $61,985. The APR that you will receive on loans through this program is set, so regardless of which bank you go through, your loan APR will be the same. To receive the 3% money through this program, often times you will have a higher APR than if you were to get normal financing. Consult your mortgage lender to see what the best option is for your circumstance.
For more information on the Market Best Program, click here
For more information on the 1st Gold Program, click here
For current interest rates for both programs, click here
3) MCC (Mortgage Credit Certificate)
This is probably one of the more confusing of the assistance programs, and unlike the other assistance programs, which primarily focus on the initial cost of purchasing, this helps with the on-going expense. To enroll in this program, there is a significant application fee, but it nearly pays for itself in the first year, and continues to pay year-after-year. The federal government will actually give you a TAX CREDIT up to $2000 per year. A tax credit is different from a tax deduction, in that it allows you to subtract the full amount from what you owe to the IRS every year, whereas a tax deduction will only reduce your taxable income, and is based on the tax bracket you are in.
This tax credit is based on HALF of the interest that you pay on the first $40,000 of your mortgage. Multiply the first $40,000 of your mortgage by the interest rate that you have qualified for through your lending institution, and divide by 2, and there you have it -- the amount of the tax credit that you can receive per year. For example, if you have a $100,000 mortgage, your tax credit would be based off of the initial $40,000, and at an interest rate of 6.00%, that would give you a tax credit of $1,200 per year (40,000 x .06 = 2400, 2400 / 2 = 1200). This is $100 per payment! On a 30 year mortgage, you will not reduce the principle amount of your loan to less than $40,000 until year 23, so through this example, you would qualify for the full $1200 per year for 23 years (23 x $1,200 = $27,600).
To qualify for this program, your income must be within the following:
| Targeted Area | Non-Targeted Area |
| Family of 2 or less | $66,360 | $55,300 |
| Family of 3 or more | $77,420 | $63,595 |
Additionally,
The house purchase price must be under $189,607
You must live in the home as your primary residence
Must not have owned a home for the past 3 years
As you can see, if you plan on living in the house for longer than 6 years and have enough to cover the closing costs and down payment required to make the initial purchase of a home, this may be a great option for you!
Caveat: If you sell the home within NINE years and make a profit and also have a substantial salary increase in the year you sell the home, you may have to repay some of the tax credit.
For more information about the Mortgage Credit Certificate, feel free to contact me, Rob@dillardgroup.com, or call the MCC Administration Corporation directly at (405) 364-6565.
If you are interested in purchasing a home, feel free to utilize my many resources that I have available on my web site, http://www.OklaHomeSeller.com, including the home search tool which will pull for-sale and sold home information directly from the Norman multi list, home purchasing walk-through to familiarize yourself with the home purchasing process, and much more!
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OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma, February 13, 2008 - Home values in Oklahoma increased in 2007 for the seventh consecutive year, according to a report released today by the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS®.
The average sale price for an existing home in Oklahoma rose by 4.24 percent last year, from $143,669 in 2006 to $149,758 in 2007. In 2007, there were 52,170 sales of existing homes in Oklahoma. While that figure represents a decrease of 3.16 percent from the state's record home sales figure in 2006, the 2007 sales number reflects the third highest year on record for home sales in Oklahoma.
"While the housing industry in some parts of the country is facing some serious challenges, today's report underscores the fact that home ownership in Oklahoma continues to be an affordable, stable and secure investment," said Tammy McCullar, OAR president. "Homeowners across the state should be confident about the value of their homes, given that 2007 marked the seventh year in a row in which home values in Oklahoma appreciated."
Since 2000, the average sale price of an existing home in Oklahoma has risen by an average of 4.88 percent per year. The median price for an existing home in Oklahoma in 2007 reflects almost a 40 percent increase from the 2000 median price for an existing home of $107,303. The increase in Oklahoma home values in 2007 is in sharp contrast to the national home real estate picture. The National Association of REALTORS® recently reported that the national median existing home price for all housing types decreased by 1.4 percent in 2007, from $221,900 in 2006 to $218,900 last year.
"Comparing our statewide report to the national picture is a great reminder that real estate is local," said McCullar. "It's also a reinforcement of the Association's belief that Oklahoma is one of the most affordable states to live and work in and that our outlook for the coming year should be as positive as ever." The 2007 Oklahoma statewide annual sales total of 52,170 homes is the state's third highest sales total, ranking behind annual sales in 2006 (53,873) and 2005 (52,216). The average annual sales total of existing homes in Oklahoma over the three year period of 2005 through 2007 is 21.61 percent higher than the average sales total in the three previous years of 2002 through 2004 (52,753 homes sold per year from 2005 - 2007 compared to 43,378 homes sold per year between 2002 and 2004). "Although 2007 may not have been a record year in terms of the number of homes sold, there was still a high level of vibrancy and activity in our state's housing market," said Lisa Yates, OAR chief executive officer. "We expect that level of activity to continue throughout the coming year in what we believe to be a balanced market in which buyers and sellers each have great reasons to be confident about buying or selling a home."
OAR released its annual sales and home values report during its Membership Conference in Oklahoma City. The Association will be releasing sales and home value data for each of the 21 MLS (multiple listing service) markets in Oklahoma next week. The Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® is a professional trade association that represents nearly 11,000 of Oklahoma's real estate professionals involved in all aspects of the real estate industry. The term REALTORS® is a registered trademark, which identifies real estate professionals who subscribe and adhere to a strict code of ethics as members of the National Association of REALTORS®. These REALTORS® are also members of OAR as well as their local board or association of REALTORS®.
Provided by the Oklahoma Association of Realtors
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