Dekalb County Georgia Offers up to 5% toward Buyers Down Payment

WE DeKalb Program Overview

Approved homebuyers will receive a 30-year fixed-rate fully amortized first mortgage and a non-repayable down payment assistance (DPA) grant equal to 4% or 5% of the initial principal balance of the mortgage. The amount of assistance depends on the selected mortgage rate. The grant can be used for down payment and/or closing cost assistance. General program guidelines are provided below.

General Guidelines: o Mortgage rates for the program will be the same or slightly above the market mortgage rates depending on the selected DPA grant option. Rates will change periodically. o Maximum qualifying income - $81,900 (families of 2 or less) and $95,600 (families of 3 or more); o Eligible VA and FHA loans; o FHA mortgage limit is $342,700; o VA mortgage limit is $417,000; o Minimum FICO score of 660; o 45% debt-to-income (DTI) ratio; o No first-time homebuyer requirement; o Residential property; o Owner-occupied;  o Property must be located in DeKalb County; o New or existing 1-4 units detached or attached, condos, town homes, and homes that meet service/guarantor requirements are eligible; o No prepayment penalty; and o Standard agency guidelines still apply.   Non-eligible: o Recreational, seasonal, or other types of vacation or non-permanent homes; o Buy downs are not permitted; o Cosigners are not permitted; and o Construction to perm is not permitted.

Gwinnett County Georgia NSP Program

Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP)

About the Program

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program makes affordable housing available for purchase for eligible low-to moderate-income homebuyers.  The County utilizes NSP funds to purchase vacant foreclosed homes throughout the County, make necessary repairs on the homes, and resell these properties to income eligible homebuyers. This program does not provide foreclosure prevention assistance.

Eligibility Requirements 

In order to qualify for this program, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Must earn below 120% of Area Median
• Must not own or will not own residential property at the time of closing
• Qualify for a 30-year fixed mortgage
• Complete an 8 hour HUD-approved homebuyer’s course

 

If you are interested in applying for this program please click here for the pre-application.

NSP Financial Assistance

Eligible applicants can receive homebuyer's assistance for the purchase of their new NSP home.  This assistance can be utilized to help with the cost of purchasing the home and be applied to the first mortgage to reduce the monthly payments. We offer financial assistance as a soft-second mortgage that is a deferred payment loan with 0% interest and now payments which reduces annually at the anniversary date of the closing.

Applicants are required to maintain the NSP home as their primary residency for a period of five or ten years depending on the amount of assistance they select.

The program currently offers the Soft-Second Mortgage in two options:

1. $14,500 for five years with no interest and no payments, reduced annually at a 20% rate.
2. $22,500 for ten years with no interest and no payments, reduced annually at a 10% rate.

If the homebuyer is unable to remain in the home for the residency requirements then the pro-rated loan amount shall be due back.

All buyers must meet certain eligibility requirements for financial assistance. To see if you qualify, visit the Qualifications page.

How to Get Started

Contact a mortgage lender or a real estate agent, who will assist you in qualifying for a loan and selecting a home. If you or your lender/agent has any questions, contact NSP at nsp@gwinnettcounty.com or (678) 518-6008.

Probate is not as scary as you think!

Through the years I have helped many of my clients through the oftentimes tangled web of working through Probate issues.

I am writing this post to hopefully give you some valuable information that you can use to maneuver through the sometimes tangled web. 

If money were no object and you would afford a probate attorney then everyone one would do that. Unfortunately I have heard (after the fact of course) of people losing their inheritance to probate court or foreclosure because the property was tangled up in a probate issue that the heir was unable to resolve.

If you have a relative that you know owned property and they did not have a will... if the heirs do not come forward then the property can become owned by the State. This is called "intestate".  In Georgia this is the case. If a person dies without a will then their estate will eventually go to the State of Georgia.

Now, do not fret, we do have Probate courts in each county and there is a way to work through the courts to rightfully claim your property if you are the next of kin.

The first thing that you will be required to do is to complete a "chain of heirs" form.  You can obtain the form from the respective county.  Complete the form and submit to the probate court with required payment.  In addition you should complete the form requesting to because the Executor/Administrator of the Estate.  If there are other heirs, you are required to notify them and to place an add in the local paper for notices.  After the required amount of time has passed you may have a court date to explain to the Probate Judge your claim on the estate and request for Administrative papers. If the Judge Agrees to your claim then you will take an oath and receive the proper paperwork to be able to transfer title of the property held in the estate.

Yes this sounds easy but it does take some time.  It can get complicated if there are many potential heirs especially if they want a claim as well.  The chain of Heirs from will typically also have a percentage of ownership that the Judge can go by if potential heirs are not able to agree how the estate shall be split.

I am not an attorney and do not claim to provide legal advise here, I am simply offering you some information on what I have helped to walk my clients through in a multitude of Probate situations.  I honestly suggest taking the time and patience because the rewards can be great.  

I recently had a situation where my client was the conservator over a family member that became elderly and was unable to care for herself.  My client lived out of state and the Attorney that was administering the conservatorship told her to just let the property go for taxes!!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  My client received calls from investors telling her the property was worthless and let them have it for $20k.  Lucky for her she called me and I sold the home for $130,000! So it was worth a little paperwork and advertisement in the paper to get that money that otherwise would have been wasted!

I had another situation of a client that became the Administrator over a family members estate and the property in the estate was worth less than the loan amount and there were many liens including tax liens on the property.  Well you may ask.. why even bother?  The answer to that question is that in the estate you have assets and liability.  In order to claim the assets, you have to pay off or resolve the liability. I was able to short sale the property in the estate, remove the IRS lien and other various liens off the property and clear all those issues up so the heir could receive the assets unencumbered from the estate including insurance policies.

So before you just give up... don't!  A little time and paperwork will allow you to claim your rightful inheritance!  Thank you for reading and if you are in the Metro Atlanta area I am happy to help you get your property listed and SOLD!

Gwinnett County Housing Rehabilitation Program/ Repair and replace program for health and safety issues

Homeowner Housing Rehabilitation Program

NOTE: The Homeowner Housing Rehabilitation Program is currently not accepting any applications.

The Gwinnett County Community Development Program Office operates a Homeowner Housing Rehabilitation Program that offers a five-year deferred payment loan to qualifying homeowners with 0% interest. Eligible participants must own and occupy a single-family detached home as their principal residence in Gwinnett County. The program is intended to assist qualifying homeowners make essential repairs to their homes.

Gwinnett County Housing Homeowner Rehabilitation Program is a repair and replace program. The replacement products are mid-grade and equivalent to the product being replaced in the home for this project. The emphasis of this program is to address health and safety issues for qualifying homeowners. This program will also focus on the vital life systems of a home, which include, but are not limited to, Electrical, Roof, Plumbing, HVAC, and Environmental Mitigation (Lead-Based Paint and Asbestos).

To qualify for the Homeowner Rehabilitation Program:

• Homeowner must be at or below the income threshold (See chart below)
•  Homeowner must be current on Mortgage and Tax payments
• Bankruptcies must be at least two years since the date of discharge
• Homeowner cannot have any liens on the home
  

Family/Household Size	Program Income  Limits Effective 6/1/18
1	$41,900
2	$47,900
3	$53,900
4	$59,850
5	$64,650
6	$69,450
7	$74,250
8	$79,050

For more information, call (678) 518-6008 or e-mail rehab@gwinnettcounty.com.

Updated Guidelines and Information for Georgia Dream 2019

FACT SHEET:  NEW HHF DPA PROGRAM 
 

At Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs, we are focused on creating  “communities with opportunities” – thinking out of the box about how to help build communities where life has the possibility of being better and richer and fuller.  Owning a home means having a vested interest in where you live.  We work hard to increase home ownership across our state.  This is the  “American Dream”.  And nowhere is that more important than in our hardest hit communities, where many families continue to be impacted by the adverse effects of the housing market collapse and economic downturn. 

MAKING THE DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP A REALITY
The Georgia Dream Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) was created to reduce obstacles for homeownership and to stabilize those counties that have been the hardest hit with serious delinquency, negative equity, distressed sales and foreclosures. The funds utilized are an allocation of federal dollars received by the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority from the U.S. Treasury. This new program – the HHF Down Payment Assistance Program (HHF DPA) – provides $15,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance to eligible borrowers purchasing an existing home in seven of Georgia’s hardest hit counties. Funds are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Funds will be secured in the form of a second lien on the property with no interest and no monthly payments. The lien is forgiven and released 5 years after the closing date.

Program Highlights

Funds available: $ 15 million 

Counties: Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Muscogee, Douglas, Chatham and Bibb
  
Property eligibility: Must be existing; new construction is not eligible 

Amount:   $15,000 per household (no PEN or CHOICE upgrades) 

Form: Recorded second mortgage lien with 0% interest, no monthly payment and forgivable after five years First mortgage:  
Must be a Georgia Dream first lien (FHA, VA, USDA or conventional 80% LTV or less) 

Rate: First mortgage must be Georgia Dream published rate  

Income: Same requirements as current Georgia Dream Program; 
1-2 persons – $60,500 statewide, $74,000 Atlanta MSA; 3 or more persons – $69,500 statewide, $84,500 Atlanta MSA (all members of household included)

Purchase price: Same limits as current Georgia Dream Program; $200,000 statewide, $250,000 Atlanta MSA 

Credit score:  Minimum credit score of 640 required 

Additional: Dodd-Frank Certification [the borrower(s) cannot have been convicted within the last 10 years of (a) felony larceny, theft, fraud, or forgery (b) money laundering or (c) tax evasion]



Georgia Dream Down Payment Assistance Brochure

Contact me for additional details and to help you search for a local property!

Dekalb County is giving up to $10,000 to Seniors for Home Repairs! Deadline Feb 1st 2019! Hurry!

Special Purpose Home Repair Program (SPHRP) DeKalb County Community Development Department

The Special Purpose Home Repair Program is made possible through Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The DeKalb County Community Development Department will provide deferred payment forgivable loans for DeKalb County homeowners who meet all eligibility requirements. The deferred payment forgivable loans are designed to assist with the cost of critical home repairs to address imminent threats to health or safety due to dangerous, hazardous and/or unsanitary conditions.

Enclosed a pre-application card for you to complete in order to be considered for participation in the Special Purpose Home Repair Program. The pre-application cards will be processed in the order in which they are received in our office. It is imperative that your Card be accurate and complete. Any pre-application card received in this office that is incomplete will not be reviewed.

Homeowner Eligibility

1. DeKalb County homeowner, age 62 or over or legally disabled (age 21) or over, must own and occupy the property to be repaired as their principal place of residence. 2. Homeowner must be listed on the title for the most recent twelve (12) months prior to applying for home repair assistance. 3. Homeowner must not currently hold title to or have financed more than one (1) residential property. 4. Total Household income cannot exceed 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) based on the number of people living in the home. HUD’s Household income guideline are as follows:

Current HUD Income Guidelines

Household Size
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Maximum Income 60%

$31,440

$35,940

$40,440

$44,880

$48,480

$52,080

$55,680

$59,280

Property Eligibility

1. Property must be located in the DeKalb County, Georgia jurisdiction. Properties located in the incorporated City of Atlanta areas within DeKalb County boundaries are not eligible. 2. Property must be a single family detached home. Townhomes, duplexes, condominiums, cooperatives and mobile homes are not eligible.
3. The property condition must be able to pass the legally-required building permit process. 4. Must be current on DeKalb County real estate taxes, Federal and State taxes. 5. Requested repairs must not be a part of an existing homeowner’s insurance claim, or repair/rehabilitation project.

Eligible Repairs

Heating/Cooling Systems: Failure of the Main Source of Heating and Cooling

✓ Heat Pump, HVAC Unit

Plumbing: Plumbing Leaks or Failure of Water Supply Components

✓ Waterlines, Water Pumps and Hot Water Heaters

Electrical: Damaged or Non-Working Electrical System or Wiring

✓ Electrical Boxes (Breaker/Fuse), Basic Wiring

Roofing: Roof replacement or Failure of Roofing Components

✓ Shingles, Gutters, Flashing

Additional Special Purpose Home Repair Program Requirements

Homeowners must submit a complete pre-application card for repair prior to deadline.

The program provides assistance up to $10,000 in the form of a Deferred Payment Forgivable Loan with no installment payments and a 5 year affordable period.

Homeowner must continuously occupy the property as their primary residence for a five (5) year period following the execution date on the loan documents. After (5) years, 100% of the loan balance will be forgiven.

All eligible repairs will be completed by contractors that have been pre-qualified by DeKalb County.

Pre-applications will be reviewed for eligibility upon receipt by the Community Development Department.

Applications are subject to additional underwriting requirements to receive final approval.

Homeowners will execute loan documents including a Loan Agreement, Deed to Secure
Debt and Promissory Note. The deferred payment forgivable loan will be placed as a lien against your property.

No waiting list will be maintained. Applications not approved during the open application period due to lack of funds may be re-submitted during subsequent open application periods.

How to Apply

On or before February 1, 2019, between the hours of 11:00 AM and 3 PM, deliver the completed pre-application form to the address below: DeKalb County Community Development Department 750 Commerce Drive, Suite 401 Decatur, GA 30030

The Community Development Department will randomly select 100 applications for review. After review is complete and eligibility is determined, we will notify eligible applicants so that they can complete a formal application for final eligibility determination. Applicants that are not accepted during this period will receive written notification. If you are not selected during this application period, you may re-apply during our next open application period.

Open Application Period January 17, 2019 thru February 1, 2019 By 3:00 PM”

https://www.dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/users/user2778/PRE-APP%20CARD.pdf