Faced with two mortgage payments for over 12 months, Mike, a homeowner in Central Florida took my advice and offered an aggressive seller concession this past summer on an investment property he had been trying to sell since it's completion in 2005.
Mike agreed to offer buyers 3% of the purchase price towards their down payment and 3% towards their closings costs as a seller paid concession as part of the sales price, the house sold soon after.
I told Mike about the Rally in Downtown Orlando for Down Payment Assistance and he said that he still can't believe that the opportunity for home buyers and sellers to use this program was ever taken off the table...
Mike said - "Down Payment Assistance Programs are a Win-Win for the buyer and the seller and I don't think I could have sold my home without the offer to contribute towards the buyers down payment and closing costs."
It's that simple...
Down Payment Assistance Makes Buying and Selling Homes Possible!
If you want to tell Florida Senator Bill Nelson that Down Payment Assistance Matters To You and Home Owners and Buyers in Florida please let your voice be heard at The Rally for Down Payment Assistance on December 17th @ 12 noon in downtown Orlando...
Please visit this previous post for details...
Has Down Payment Assistance Helped A Buyer or Seller that you have worked with? I would love to know...
Orlando & Lake Mary Florida Real Estate
Debbie Summers, ALHS, ePRO / The Summers Team
407 758-1020 or Debbie@MoveToLakeMary.com
Search for Homes in Lake Mary, Florida
Hi Debbie. It certainly seems like they will become a growing part of our businesses.
Informative, clean post. Looks good.
Thanks for writing,
Ken
Debbie, keep spreading the word. Maybe if we get buyers and sellers to apply some pressure rather than just industry professionals, someone will see the light!
I will be there if you want to do lunch after at city fish Im done for it. You will have to come up and see our living sushi and place.
Ken - Thanks... I want to spread the word!
Colleen - Real people use these programs (at no cost to the government)... I can't tell you how happy Mike was to help a really great family achieve their goal of home ownership...
Heather - I'm in! I've been wanting to try out City Fish for a while now and I'd love to see your "real" sushi!
I agree, I could not believe that they got rid of them, many of my buyers were using them and had to hurry to find homes before they were gone a couple of them got lost in the shuffle and can't buy now..
Down payment assistance is a great way to atract buyers. Ever since it was taken away we've been forced to only buy homes in neighborhoods where FHA sales are minimal. Granted not everyone that goes FHA needs down payment assistance but if your trying to flip a house today being in a neighborhood with lots of FHA sales is a tad bit risky.
Konnie - I had several "very qualified" buyers use the seller assisted down payment program with great success... The new law has higher credit requirements and I believe that it is a step in the right direction!
Justin - You are exactly right... Down Payment Assistance from the seller is a great way to attract buyers and a great way to help sellers get their homes sold.
Debbie- I agree that Seller-Funded DPA programs are really great. Some people in the industry don't understand them, though, so are just opposed to them out of principle, claiming that if a Buyer can't at least come up with their own down payment, they shouldn't be buying a house anyway. AND, for some Buyers, that is true. But for other Buyers, the down payment is the one/only obstacle standing in their way of homeownership. So, to take away SF DPA totally and across the board is a short-sighted and uneducated thing to do. Okay, so maybe some of the restrictions could be tightened up a bit and that's fine--but SF DPA needs to be brought back. :)
When one considers closing costs, earnest, loan costs and the costs of move-in... these things add-up. Anything that can cut that price down is welcome.