RRAR Housing Opportunity Committee

Housing Opportunity Committee

Enhance your business! The following links are provided to help programs that enhance the opportunities for housing choices within the community; advocate and educate Members and the public on housing programs and opportunities.

Disabled
Center for Universal Design at NCSU: The Center for Universal Design (CUD) is national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products. Our mission is to improve environments and products through design innovation, research, education and design assistance. www.design.ncsu.edu/cud

Insurance
NC Department of Insurance: The Department of Insurance provides valuable services to the people of North Carolina by regulating the insurance industry, licensing insurance professionals and others, educating consumers about different types of insurance, handling consumer complaints, and much, much more. The Department also houses the Office of State Fire Marshal, which is responsible for a host of other services that improve North Carolinians’ daily lives. With some 400 employees and 20 divisions, much of what the Department of Insurance does directly affects you as a citizen, though you may not realize it. http://www.ncdoi.com/

CLUE Reports: The C.L.U.E. ^®Personal Property report provides a five year history of losses associated with an individual and his/her personal property. The following data will be identified for each loss: date of loss, loss type, and amount paid along with general information such as policy number, claim number and insurance company name.http://www.choicetrust.com/servlet/com.kx.cs.servlets.CsServlet?channel=welcome&subchannel=clue#

Flood Insurance:
We are an insurance agency that only sells flood insurance. We are flood insurance specialists and property owners, other insurance agents and mortgage lenders thank us every day for our friendly, knowledgeable, and experienced customer service. http://www.thefloodinsuranceagency.com/

FEMA
The primary mission of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the Nation from all hazards, including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters, by leading and supporting the Nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation. http://www.fema.gov/

Loan programs
Fannie Mae Foundation: The Fannie Mae Foundation creates affordable homeownership and housing opportunities through innovative partnerships and initiatives that build healthy, vibrant communities across the United States. The Foundation is specially committed to improving the quality of life for the people of its hometown, Washington, D.C., and to enhancing the livability of the city's neighborhoods. The Foundation is a private nonprofit organization supported solely by Fannie Mae. http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/

Freddie Mac: Freddie Mac's mission is to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the housing market. http://www.freddiemac.com/

NC Housing Finance Agency: The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting public agency. The Agency’s mission is to create affordable housing opportunities for North Carolinians whose needs are not met by the market. Since its creation in 1973 by the General Assembly, the Agency has financed nearly than 176,000 affordable homes and apartments, totaling more than $10 billion.

The Agency provides financing through the sale of tax-exempt bonds and management of federal and state tax credit programs, the federal HOME Program, the state Housing Trust Fund, and other programs. http://www.nchfa.com

NC Housing Search: The housing locator service allows people to locate available housing that best fits their individual and family needs. The service can be accessed online 24 hours a day and is supported by a toll-free, bilingual call center M-F, 9-6 EST. Individuals can easily search for housing using a wide variety of search criteria with special mapping features and receive apartment listings that provide a multitude of important information about each unit. In addition, the site connects people to other housing resources through website links and provides helpful tools for renters such as an affordability calculator, rental checklist, and renter rights and responsibilities information. http://www.nchousingsearch.org

Housing Assistance
Wake County Human Services: Wake County offers many programs aimed at helping residents provide suitable and affordable housing, whether they are renters, first-time homebuyers, or need assistance with renovations. The County actively partners with other local governments and non-profit agencies to build attractive, safe affordable housing in many communities around Wake County
.http://www.wakegov.com/humanservices/housing/default.htm

Senior Citizens
Who do you call when you don't know who to call? RFS Information Department is a great place to start! Our Information Specialists are trained to know about all the resources for older adults, not just those offered by Resources for Seniors. They can walk you through the options, provide comprehensive resource information, and help you plan your next steps. A phone call to 713-1556 will reach an Information Specialist Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM. www.resourcesforseniors.com

DHIC, Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation
Established in 1974, DHIC, Inc. is a private non-profit housing development company that builds high quality affordable housing in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.

DHIC's work is directed at ensuring that all citizens in our communities have equal access to:a

High quality and affordable housing and services to meet other basic needs;
Opportunities for the creation and building of wealth; and
Support for stable, enriching home lives and families

NACA Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America: The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America ("NACA") is a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization. NACA’s primary goal is to build strong, healthy neighborhoods in urban and rural areas nationwide through affordable homeownership. NACA has made the dream of homeownership a reality for thousands of working people by counseling them honestly and effectively, enabling even those with poor credit to purchase a home or refinance a predatory loan with far better terms than those provided even in the prime market.   www.NACA.com

US Department of Veterans Affairs: Our goal is to provide excellence in patient care, veterans' benefits and customer satisfaction. We have reformed our department internally and are striving for high quality, prompt and seamless service to veterans. Our department's employees continue to offer their dedication and commitment to help veterans get the services they have earned. Our nation's veterans deserve no less.   www.va.gov

USDA United States Department of Agriculture: This site is used to determine eligibility for certain USDA home loan programs. In order to be eligible for many USDA loans, household income must meet certain guidelines. Also, the home to be purchased must be located in an eligible rural area as defined by USDA. http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do

FHA Connection: The FHA Connection provides FHA-approved lenders and business partners with direct, secure, online access to computer systems of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). https://entp.hud.gov/clas/index.cfm

Homes4NC:   North Carolina REALTORS® help individuals and families realize one of the most important dreams of their lifetime – owning a home. Sadly, many citizens are locked out of the “American Dream” because they don’t earn enough to afford a moderately-priced home in their community.
That’s where Homes4NC comes in. This charitable 501(c)(3) organization was created by the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® to help more North Carolinians get into homes. We do this by raising funds and partnering with local REALTOR® associations to provide matching grants to nonprofit organizations that help low-income families with their housing needs. We also provide emergency disaster relief and support educational programs that increase housing opportunities.
Since our inception in 2004, we have made grants totaling more than $180,000 to housing organizations across the state. When you consider that local REALTOR® associations provided matching funds, NC REALTORS® have had an impact of nearly $400,000 in five years!    www.homes4nc.org

NC Housing Coalition: The North Carolina HousingCoalition is a private, non-profit membership organization working for decent, affordable housing that promotes self-determination and stable communities for low- and moderate-income North Carolinians. We work to increase investment in quality affordable homes so that working families and individuals, persons with disabilities, people in crisis, and fixed-income seniors may live with opportunity and dignity. These populations will never be well-served by the private housing market without intervention because of their limited incomes and/or special needs.   www.NCHousing.org

NC Real Estate Commission: The North Carolina Real Estate Commission ("Commission") is an independent state governmental agency. It should not be confused with the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® (or its local Boards) which is a trade organization whose members are known as "REALTORS®".

The Commission’s primary function is to license and regulate real estate agents (persons and firms who sell, lease, etc. real estate for others). North Carolina’s 80,000-plus real estate agents are licensed as brokers.

The Commission registers and regulates sales activities at time share projects, where ownership in a single living unit (usually a resort condominium) is shared by many persons. Time share salespersons must also hold a broker license.

When time and resources permit, members of the Commission staff are available to present informational programs to real estate practitioner and consumer audiences. These programs address issues of special interest and concern to the Commission, real estate licensees and the public.

The Commission is not authorized to give legal advice or answer questions on legal subjects other than the North Carolina Real Estate License Law (G.S. 93A) or rules promulgated by the Real Estate Commission (21 NCAC 58 A, B, C and E). www.ncrec.state.nc.us

NC Appraisal Board: The mission of the North Carolina Appraisal Board is to protect consumers of real estate services provided by its licensees by assuring that these licensees are sufficiently trained and tested to assure competency and independent judgment. In addition, the Board will protect the public interest by enforcing state law and Appraisal Board rules to assure that its licensees act in accordance with professional standards and ethics. http://www.ncappraisalboard.org

City of Raleigh: Type in housing and foreclosure for all documents. www.raleigh-nc.org

National Association of REALTORS®: The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® strives to be the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry. It seeks to be the leading advocate of the right to own, use, and transfer real property; the acknowledged leader in developing standards for efficient, effective, and ethical real estate business practices; and valued by highly skilled real estate professionals and viewed by them as crucial to their success.

Working on behalf of America's property owners, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of information among its members and to the public and government for the purpose of preserving the free enterprise system, and the right to own, use, and transfer real property.

Federal Housing Tax Credit: A tax credit of up to $8,000 is now available for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. Unlike the tax credit enacted in 2008, the new credit does not have to be repaid. www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com

Mortgage Bankers Association: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 370,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., MBA invests in communities across the nation by ensuring the continued strength of the nation's residential and commercial real estate markets; expanding homeownership and extending access to affordable housing to all Americans and supporting financial literacy efforts. www.mortgagebankers.org

Wake CART, Wake Community Area Resource Team, is a voluntary military and civilian partnership program organized to provide support and assistance to ensure Total Force Family Readiness for active duty personnel as well as services for veterans and their families. Wake CART serves three important functions in the area” 1. Information clearinghouse for service members and veterans seeking local services. 2. Advocacy for our local community to fill in identified gaps in local programs and services (i.e. transitional housing) 3. Direct support through services provided by the various member organizations and individuals. CART is not5 a service provider but rather an umbrella organization with a mission to collaborate and coordinate services with local members. 919.332.0901

Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is providing expanded second mortgage assistance in the FirstHome Mortgage Program to help finance the sale of foreclosed homes.
Property Requirements

REO properties must be located in the following 23 counties: Alamance, Brunswick, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cumberland, Dare, Davidson, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsythe, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Pitt, Randolph, Rowan, Union, Vance, Wake
All homes must be foreclosed and for sale buy a bank, bank holding company, government agency, or authorized REO designated entity.
All homes must be single-family detached, condo or townhouse. Note: manufactured housing is not eligible.
Only properties that have no structural repairs or deferred maintenance issues per a home inspection report from a NC licensed inspector will be eligible.
Sales price cannot exceed $210,000.
All properties must be purchases at or below 99% of appraised value. Appraisal must be dates within 60 days of the sales contract date.
All repairs must be made prior to loan closing. We cannot escrow or advance second mortgage funds.

Borrower Requirements

Eligible borrowers must meet the same mortgage financing requirements for the FirstHome Mortgage Program
Income limits vary by county
Borrowers must contribute $1,000 of own funds in to the transaction
Borrowers must complete 8 hours of classroom or one-on-one home buyer counseling from a HUD-approved housing counseling agency prior to loan closing.
Borrowers must meet or exceed figures on the monthly cash flow worksheet (FirstHome 203 Exhibit B).

Financing Requirements

First mortgage financing will be provided by NCHFA; only FHA, VA or USDA are allowed
Second mortgage financing 5 year, 0% interest, deferred, forgivable loans up to $14,900

Contact the Home Ownership Lending Group at 919.877.5700

HOPE for Homeowners
The HOPE for Homeowners act is designed to prevent qualified home owners from defaulting on their loans, and avert foreclosure. This is done through refinancing into affordable, fixed rate mortgages.
www.fha.com/hope_for_homeowners.cfm
www.hopenow.com

Mortgage Foreclosure Project (MFP) is a special, statewide project of Legal Aid of NC. 866.219.5262 or 888.995.4673

SECU- State Employee’s Credit Union. The SECU has developed a no cost mortgage assistance program to provide options for members to stay in their homes. 888.732.8562 or www.ncsedu.org

www.makinghomeaffordable.gov to learn about the making home affordable program.

Fight Foreclosure NC
You may call toll free 1-866-234-4857. HUD-certified counselors will be on hand to provide free assistance to help you avoid foreclosure. More information may be found at www.fightncforeclosure.org. Please see the NC map for foreclosure starts per county and the counseling agencies in your county.

In the event you receive foreclosure papers, you may wish to contact an attorney. Free legal services may be available to you. The following organizations may be able to help: Legal Aid of North Carolina, The North Carolina Justice Center, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, and the Land Loss Prevention Project. You may also consider consulting with a bankruptcy attorney. The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers may be able to refer you to a bankruptcy attorney in your area

Senior Law Project (SLP), The LANC Senior Law Project specifically serves clients that are 60 years of age or older. 877.439.3480

Updated on Site: 11/30/2009