Home Buying Programs

The Spring time is not all just about chirping birds and the renewal of life back to the earth.  There is also another rebirth, and that is of the housing market.  Chances are, the next time you will be looking for a home (whether it be your first or seventh), it will be in the Spring.  There are a 101 different aspects of your home you need to think of before you buy, but allow me to suggest one you may not have thought of: buyer programs.

Most people are not aware of this, but many towns and municipalities offer home buying programs to incent enterprising families to move in their districts.  The long term goal is to reap the benefits of their income and property taxes.  When making your home buying decision, try looking at the different towns in your area and see if they offer any kind of incentives.  The easiest way to find out this information is to go to each town's website and doing some simple digging around.  If that doesn't turn anything up, try calling the town office and talk to someone who might know.  You'd be surprised of the many programs available.  In one of my neighboring towns, there are home buying programs that offer big discounts and incentives on buying a home.  In this particular case, it had some stipulations that you had to remodel a dilapidated home and then live in it for at least 10 years.  It also had to be your primary residence.  For some enterprising families, this would be a great idea.

If the town or city you live in does not provide a good incentive, then usually a community bank of creit union offers home buying programs; especially if you meet certain income requirements.  For my Wife and I, we met one of these requirements and through our bank, were able to get a free $7,500 with a pro-rated 5 year live-in requirement.  This money was more than enough for all the closing costs, and really helped us get situated.  All we had to do was attend a couple basic personal finance classes. 

If you're not taking advantage of your area's home buying programs then you could be leaving money on the table.  Do you due diligence and research all your possibilities, and you should come out ahead.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: 70 degrees and sunny!