Posted on June 26, 2017
BOSTON --- June is National Homeownership Month and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s ONE Mortgage Program is celebrating it by highlighting the efforts of key lenders and nonprofit partners.
Today’s spotlight is on Boston-based Urban Edge.
Boston is lucky to have so many resources for homebuyers. It has larger homebuyer education entities like the City of Boston’s Home Center, and the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance of Dorchester, which helped create the ONE Mortgage Program and has had over 25,000 people takes it classes in the last 30 years.
At the neighborhood level, there are organizations like Roxbury’s Urban Edge, which provides homebuyer education, financial literacy classes and other support services that help give individuals and families the tools they need to build a better future.
So far in FY2017, 24 households that went through Urban Edge’s homebuyer education programs ended up buying their first home with a ONE Mortgage loan. The median income of these buyers is $65,278.
Homebuyer education is a requirement of the ONE Mortgage Program. It helps first-time buyers understand what they can afford, and what mortgage program is the best fit for them. Urban Edge is part of a network of homebuyer educators across the state that is doing a good job making sure first-time homebuyers are on sound financial footing as they take one of the biggest steps in their lives.
Urban Edge doesn’t stop there. In addition to homebuyer education, Urban Edge offers a variety of financial education courses on credit basics, the costs of maintaining your home and foreclosure prevention. Another novel offering is student loan repayment counseling. In this program, Urban Edge works with students and parents to help them consolidate debt and helps remove a barrier that is often a obstacle to getting financing to buy a home.
These days, buying a home in Massachusetts isn’t easy. Statewide, inventory is down 34 percent, prices are up 6 percent and sales are down 3.5 percent.
In this market, ONE Mortgage is more important than ever and we thank Urban Edge for its continuing dedication to helping low- and moderate-income first-time buyers make the right choice so they stay in their homes for the long run and build wealth that they can pass onto future generations.
ABOUT ONE MORTGAGE: Prosperous families. Stable and secure neighborhoods. Sound, private-sector loans that get repaid. That’s what ONE Mortgage delivers.
Since 1990, ONE Mortgage and its predecessor – the SoftSecond Loan Program – have helped more than 20,000 low- and moderate-income families purchase their first and home and has delivered $3.5 billion in below-market, private mortgage financing.
ONE Mortgage is a 30-year, fixed-rate loan with a minimum 3 percent down payment (5 percent for three-family properties). ONE homebuyers save more each month because they do not have to pay for costly private mortgage insurance.
State interest subsidies are used to reduce monthly payments in the early years of homeownership and then public funds are repaid by borrowers when they successfully sell their home or refinance out of the program.
For more information about ONE Mortgage, go to www.mhp.net/onemortgage.