How to get a house for cheap(er). A guide to assistance programs.
Tuesday night Jill, Sabrina and I kicked off Inertia's free school with a class about homebuyer assistance programs available to median income residents in Duval County. There were about 7 people in attendance, including two couples who are looking at homes. It was nice to see the information we provide in action--those two couples will probably end up getting some help from one program or another.
There's a lot of help out there for first time buyers who make under $40K. Check out this wizard on the Florida Housing Finance Corporation website. It also links to a calculator from Fannie Mae that tells you how much house you can afford.
Unfortunately, as I've long been suspecting, my Americorps stipend will not get me a house in this neighborhood anytime soon. Unless, that is, these guys are right about the market. Even with my very low existing debt, the Fannie Mae calculator says I can only afford a $76,000 home, and in Riverside/Avondale that means I can, um, leave.
Now, if I were more handy, and could get RADO's prices on neglected houses to rehab into lovely dwellings, like my favorite of our properties on Ralph Street, then I might be in business...and in my neighborhood. I think they acquired this property for under $90K.
There she is! 703 Ralph Street (still undergoing cosmetic surgery). Ya wanna house? This is your house. Soon to have new, Florida Friendly landscaping courtesy of the Native Plant Society.
Until then I'll hum my favorite Airport Factory song, the one that references the 1661 Riverside development.
There's a lot of help out there for first time buyers who make under $40K. Check out this wizard on the Florida Housing Finance Corporation website. It also links to a calculator from Fannie Mae that tells you how much house you can afford.
Unfortunately, as I've long been suspecting, my Americorps stipend will not get me a house in this neighborhood anytime soon. Unless, that is, these guys are right about the market. Even with my very low existing debt, the Fannie Mae calculator says I can only afford a $76,000 home, and in Riverside/Avondale that means I can, um, leave.
Now, if I were more handy, and could get RADO's prices on neglected houses to rehab into lovely dwellings, like my favorite of our properties on Ralph Street, then I might be in business...and in my neighborhood. I think they acquired this property for under $90K.
There she is! 703 Ralph Street (still undergoing cosmetic surgery). Ya wanna house? This is your house. Soon to have new, Florida Friendly landscaping courtesy of the Native Plant Society.
Until then I'll hum my favorite Airport Factory song, the one that references the 1661 Riverside development.
posted by Jennifer McCharen @ 6:43 AM
2 Comments:
At November 25, 2007 at 6:41 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Jennifer, so glad to see you posted about the Wizard on the Florida Housing website. I tried it for the first time and it's very informative and user-friendly.
Perhaps this is not the proper forum, but I have to mention that one of the reasons I havne't fully pursued a RADO home is the drug deals that occur on and near Ralph street, in the daylight hours. As a native of the Beaches area, I've driven around the RADO neighborhoods on the weekend and weekdays so I can become more familiar with Riverside. On several occasions, young men tried to flag me down to sell me drugs on Ralph street. It's the same young men, rain or shine, each time I drive past the area to check on the housing rehab activity. Once I thought I was going to end up with a living hood ornament because the guy was so eager, he jumped out in front of my car. Are there any plans to address the overt drug dealing in the area? I love the historic bungalows, but I'm not sure I'd feel safe coming home from my job at midnight.
At November 26, 2007 at 5:43 AM ,
Jennifer McCharen said...
There's this little pocket of folks who hang out all day every day on the corner of Ralph and Green Streets. I've actually never heard our homeowners complain about overt drug deals, although I did get followed a few blocks last time I walked over to Ali's house for a meeting.
They have reported break-ins and robberies, thankfully no muggings or attacks.
It's funny, I look at Riverside as a part of this city with relatively few problems, it certainly has far less crime than many other neighborhoods, but in our little pocket of development we do have some iffy behavior going on.
We just spoke last week about organizing our homeowners and their neighbors into an ad hoc neighborhood watch group, to make sure they have the resources and know they're looking out for one another. Specifically to tackle that Ralph Street corner.
But I've never gone over to talk to the folks who stand there all day. They're human beings too.
Honestly, this is the first I've heard of overt drug deals, if that makes you feel any better.
Me and my friends come home at all hours of the night, and we've never been unsafe over here.
We are aware of the perception of those areas, and we're trying to figure out the best way to stabilize the block. Getting another good owner in 703 Ralph would be a nice next step.
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