Mortgage money remains available, veterans programs

Mortgage money remains available, veterans programs

By Steve Jones - sjones@thesunnews.com
E-Mail
Print
Comments (1)
Recommend (0)
Text Size: tool nameclose
tool goes here
SHALLOTTE, N.C. -- Organizers of a home buyers' fair in Bolivia, N.C., know how some people will react when they hear promotions of the event.

"It sounds crazy," said Brian Smith, president of WB Properties in Calabash, N.C., and chairman of Brunswick Housing Opportunities, the nonprofit sponsoring Saturday's fair.

With the stock market seemingly in a freefall and some experts predicting a deep recession, at least, the thought of gathering Realtors, bankers, credit raters and others to advise people on buying homes seems a pastime for the desperate or the idle rich, if any are left.

If you go What | Fall Homebuyer's Fair Where | Brunswick Housing Opportunities, 3972 Old Ocean Highway, Bolivia, N.C. When | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
But the heavy, falling foot of Wall Street has yet to plant itself squarely on Main Street, some say. There's plenty of mortgage money for people whose finances are solid and help from the organization to prepare others for home ownership.

"We have had no problem lending to anyone who qualifies incomewise and creditwise," said Doug Pratt, a mortgage banker with First Citizens Bank in Brunswick County.

In fact, with average sales prices down about $70,000 in the last year or so and interest rates hovering around 6 percent, Pratt said a family with an income of $38,000, little or no credit debt and about $9,000 for a down payment could buy an average-priced home - now about $233,000 in Brunswick - for a payment around $1,500 a month.

Need to hear it again?

"Life as we know it has not changed just because some big corporations have made some big mistakes over the years," said Gary Staley, a mortgage banker in Brunswick County for Charleston's First Federal Savings and Loan. "There's still money around."

Staley said there are still 100 percent loans available from the Veterans Administration, 97 percent loans through the Federal Housing Authority and 95 percent loans from a bank.

First Federal, Staley said, has launched an advertising campaign to spread the word about the availability of credit to those who qualify.

The reason that regional banks such as First Citizens and First Federal have money to lend, Staley and Pratt said, is that they didn't buy toxic securities as did larger banks, and they didn't lower their loan standards in the bubble days.

Smith and Grady Watkins, president of the Brunswick County Association of Realtors, said buyers-in-waiting from markets hit much harder by the housing bubble than Brunswick County are telling them that homes in those markets are beginning to move. That is translating to a small, but hopeful pickup in sales for at least some Brunswick Realtors and developers.

Smith, whose company is the developer of Crow Creek in Brunswick County, said his company sold six existing homes and two condominiums in the last couple of weeks. He's cautiously optimistic that a new, upward trend has begun.

Nationally, pending home sales showed an unexpected 7.4 percent uptick in September.

All the news is not good.

Brunswick County led in the number of foreclosures among 14 N.C. counties that recorded more mortgage failures through August this year than all of 2007. There are a lot of unsold homes waiting for buyers, meaning at least some of those who thrived in construction work during the boom days are likely scraping by now.

One Brunswick County builder said he is keeping his company going by concentrating on renovations. Watkins, who owns a construction company, said he has continued building new homes only.

Pratt said the Federal Home Loan Bank in Atlanta notified regional banks early this week that it no longer had the funds to offer $10,000-down payment assistance grants to help lower-income families. At the same time, though, Pratt said the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, a creation of state government, will still give $7,000-down payment assistance to low-income families who can qualify for a home loan.

Those who are struggling but want to buy a home can get help on the path from Brunswick Housing Opportunities, which works with clients for a one-time $20 file maintenance fee to get their credit to the point that banks will welcome them.

"Are we in a financial crisis? Of course, it's all over the news," said Resea Willis, the agency's executive director and the sparkplug behind Brunswick County's organized efforts to build affordable housing. "Are there still loans available for first-time homebuyers? Yes."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you go
What | Fall Homebuyer's Fair

Where | Brunswick Housing Opportunities, 3972 Old Ocean Highway, Bolivia, N.C.

When | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday



Contact STEVE JONES at 910-754-9855.

Sphere: Related Content