JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Fifteen-million dollars in Single Family Mortgage Revenue bonds has been issued by the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority to help lower costs to Jacksonville families in need of affordable housing.
The new initiative is part of the Obama Administration’s comprehensive plan to stabilize the U.S. housing market. The program will allow the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority to help support low mortgage rates and expand resources for low and middle income borrowers to purchase that are affordable over the long term. The program offers a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 5.20 percent with down payment and closing cost assistance.Currently, nine local lending institutions are participating in this program including: Bank of America, BB&T, DHI Mortgage, First Bank Mortgage, MFC Mortgage, Prime Lending, Ryland Mortgage, Universal American Mortgage Company, LLC and Watson Mortgage Corporation.According to the City of Jacksonville, the goal of the program is to provide affordable mortgages for working families. This is at no cost to the taxpayer, as it is paid for by the housing finance authorities (HFA) themselves. A news release put out by the city of Jacksonville says since it is a temporary program, it incentivizes HFAs to transition back to market sources of capital as quickly as possible.To qualify, an individual or family must meet specific income guidelines and standard credit underwriting requirements. The home must be a primary residence and located within Duval County. Qualified participants include first-time homebuyers (have not owned a principal residence in the past three years), honorably-discharged veterans (First Key Home Loan Program only) or persons refinancing a predatory loan product. The first-time homebuyer requirement will be waived for borrowers refinancing “Qualified Subprime Loans,” which are adjustable rate, single-family residential mortgage loans that closed Jan. 1, 2002 – Dec. 31, 2007, and that the HFA determines would be reasonably likely to cause financial hardship to the borrower if not refinanced. Participating lenders will provide pertinent information on the borrower’s circumstances to the HFA and upon approval; the lender will reserve program funds for the homeowners. The market value of a residence that is refinanced cannot be more than $250,000 at the time of the refinancing.
