Posted on December 19, 2012
LAWRENCE, Dec. 19, 2012 ---The Massachusetts Housing Partnership's SoftSecond Loan Program has honored Sovereign Bank with a HomeSafe Award for its outstanding success making loans to lower-income first-time homebuyers in the City of Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley.
Sovereign Bank was SoftSecond's top lender in the Merrimack Valley, making 104 loans. Forty-eight of those loans were made in Lawrence. Statewide, Sovereign made 589 SoftSecond loans, making it one of the program's top three lenders in the state.
"At a time when many lenders were pulling back, Sovereign continued its long-standing commitment of helping first-time homebuyers fulfill their dream of homeownership across the state and in the Merrimack Valley," said Clark Ziegler, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. "Sovereign's support has not only helped first-time homebuyers, it has helped promote owner-occupied homeownership and neighborhood stability in the City of Lawrence and throughout the Merrimack Valley."
"Sovereign is dedicated to serving the needs of all our communities and the SoftSecond Loan Program has been important in our success helping first-time homebuyers realize the dream of homeownership and helping neighborhoods remain strong and vibrant," said Steve Powers, Regional Vice President at Sovereign Bank.
In the Merrimack Valley area, Sovereign helped lower-income and minority first-time homebuyers purchase homes in Amesbury, Billerica, Dracut, Haverhill, Lawrence Lowell, Merrimac, Methuen, North Andover, Pepperell, Tewksbury and Westford. With SoftSecond, Sovereign served Merrimack Valley homebuyers with an average annual household income of $47,000. In Lawrence, first-time homebuyers used SoftSecond financing through Sovereign to buy five condominiums, 14 single-family homes, 13 two-family homes and 16 three-family homes. The average household income of these buyers was $40,000 per year.
Sovereign was recognized at a ceremony at the bank's main downtown Lawrence office on Dec. 19. Joining MHP Executive Director Clark Ziegler and Homewonership Manager Gina Govoni in recognizing the bank were Lawrence Community Works homeownership counselors Lissette Caraballo, Iris Matias and Joseph DeJesus; Ana Camargo and Evelyn Urena from the City of Lawrence's Community Development Dept.; and Hillary Pizer from the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance. Sovereign was represented by Regional Vice President Steve Powers, Vice President/CRA and Foundation Manager Sonya L. Alleyne, Regional Sales Manager Michelle LaFlamme and loan officers Mike Pantaleo, Joseph Lussier, Jason Dubois and Rebecca Fantini
About Sovereign: Sovereign Bank is a $60 billion financial institution with more than 650 community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and approximately 9,500 team members in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. In addition to full-service retail banking, Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and products including business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, trust and wealth management and insurance. For more information on Sovereign Bank, call 1-877-SOV-BANK.
About SoftSecond: SoftSecond is the state's most affordable and effective mortgage for lower-income and minority first-time homebuyers who make less than the area median income. Created in 1991, it has helped over 16,000 homebuyers purchase their first home and has provided over $2.6 billion in private mortgage financing. The average total household income of a SoftSecond homebuyer is $50,000 and the program has maintained a remarkably low record of delinquencies and foreclosures, performs equal or better than prime mortgage loans in Massachusetts that are made to borrowers with substantially higher incomes.
Beside low, fixed-rate financing and a state-backed reserve fund that relieves homebuyers from the cost of paying private mortgage insurance, SoftSecond's success is due to its rigorous pre-purchase education and post-purchase services it provides through the HomeSafe program. SoftSecond requires that homebuyers take pre-purchase education and offers post-purchase counseling to help borrowers anticipate issues, stay current on their payments and avoid foreclosure. Customized pre-purchase counseling is mandatory for buyers of three-family properties and is also offered to buyers of two-families. For more information, go to www.mhp.net/homewonership.