Maryland Real Estate Center

Follow the Money: A Guide to Area Assistance Programs
Sunday, September 30, 2007

Eligibility for homeownership assistance programs varies widely by jurisdiction and from program to program. For more details on programs in your area, contact the appropriate agency.

MARYLAND
Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
Phone: 410-514-7530 or 800-638-7781         Web site: http://www.dhcd.state.md.us

• More House 4 Less (administered by the Community Development Administration): Fixed-rate loans available through approved lenders. Terms range from 30 to 40 years, and some have interest-only payments for the first five or seven years.
• Down Payment and Settlement Expense Loan Program: Provides borrowers with an interest-free loan of up to $3,000 for closing costs.
• House Keys 4 Employees: Gives additional down-payment and closing-cost assistance. Borrowers who receive a contribution from eligible employers can receive up to $5,000.

• Homeownership Counseling Program: Free to people planning to buy a home in the county. Teaches what it takes to be a homeowner.
• Mortgage Assistance Program: Provides an interest-free loan of up to $30,000 to help first-time home buyers with down payments and closing costs, or to reduce the amount of their first mortgage. Loans must be repaid when the house is sold, the title is transferred or after 30 years, whichever comes first.
• Workforce Housing Initiative: Provides an interest-free loan of up to $10,000 to help county employees purchase a home in Anne Arundel. Loans must be repaid when the house is sold, the title is transferred or after 30 years, whichever comes first.

• First Time Home Buyers Settlement Expense Loan Program: Provides up to $4,000 to help qualified low- and moderate-income buyers with settlement expenses associated with a home purchase in designated areas of Charles County.

• Homebuyer Assistance Program: Provides an interest-free deferred loan of up to $5,000 for qualified buyers purchasing eligible homes in the county.

Howard County
Department of Housing and Community Development
Phone: 410-313-6320         Web site: http://www.co.ho.md.us/DH/DH_Homepage.htm

• Howard County Settlement Downpayment Loan Program: Provides loans to first-time buyers of up to $6,000 amortized for at least 15 years at below-market interest rates to be used for settlement or down payment.

• Mortgage Purchase Program: Offers first-time home buyers below-market mortgages. Loans have no points and may be fixed-rate or step-rate.
• Closing Cost Assistance Loans: Provides a loan of 5 percent of the home's purchase price (up to $10,000) for closing costs for first-time buyers. The loan has an interest rate of 5 percent for 10 years. At least one borrower must work in Montgomery County.
• Housing Opportunities Commission Homeownership Program: Helps prepare residents served by the Housing Opportunities Commission to become homeowners through education, below-market loans and closing-cost assistance.
• Homeownership Assistance Loan Fund: Provides Housing Opportunities Commission residents with 5-year loans of up to $3,000 for closing costs. Rates vary based on household size and income.

• American Dream Downpayment Initiative: Provides low-income first-time home buyers with loans of $1,000 to $5,000 to be used for down payment and closing costs.
• Homeownership Initiative: Provides education and financing programs to help more county residents own homes.

• House Keys 4 St. Mary's County: Matches state Keys 4 Employees funds to help eligible county employees with down payments and closing costs. Provides up to $5,000, which can be combined with state match and other programs for a total of up to $13,500.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Department of Housing and Community Development
Phone: 202-442-7200 Web site: http://www.dhcd.dc.gov

• Home Purchase Assistance Program: Provides up to $70,000 to help with down payment and up to $7,000 or 4 percent of the home's purchase price, whichever is less, for closing costs.
• Employer Assisted Housing Program: Provides eligible employees of D.C. government agencies who are buying their first home in the District with matching funds of up to $1,500 for a down payment, and deferred loans of up to $10,000.
• Metropolitan Police Housing Assistance Program: Provides D.C. police officers with assistance in becoming a first-time homeowner in the city -- up to $1,500 matching down-payment funds, deferred-payment loans of up to $10,000, an income tax credit of $2,000 a year for five years, and a property tax credit for five years based on a sliding scale.
• First Right Purchase Assistance Program: Provides low- and moderate-income District residents and tenant groups with low-interest loans to help them exercise their rights under the District's right of first refusal law.

Other organizations with housing programs in the District:

• Greater Washington Urban League: 202-265-8200, Ext. 228, http://www.gwul.org
• Housing Counseling Services: 202-667-7006, http://www.housingetc.org
• Latino Economic Development Corp.: 202-588-5102, http://www.ledcdc.org
• Lydia's House: 202-373-1052, http://www.lydiashousendc.org
• Marshall Heights Community Development Organization: 202-396-1200, http://www.mhcdo.org
• University Legal Services: 202-547-4747 (Northeast), 202-645-7175 (Southeast), http://www.uls-dc.org

• Sponsoring Partnerships and Revitalizing Communities: Provides below-market-rate funding to home buyers through local governments and housing organizations.
• HomeStride: Provides a second mortgage of up to $25,000 to help with the purchase of a home in an identified high-cost market. The 30-year loan has no interest and no payments for the first three years and 5 percent interest for the remainder of the loan term.
• Conventional fixed loan: Offers a below-market loan with fixed payments to first-time home buyers with good credit and employment histories. A no-down-payment option is available.
• Federal Housing Administration-insured loans: Offers a below-market, fixed-rate loan with low fixed payments and liberal credit qualifications to first-time home buyers.
• FHA Plus: Offers first-time buyers a fixed-rate loan with a second loan to assist with down payment and closing costs.
• Flexible Alternative programs: Offer first-time and repeat home buyers a variety of flexible, low- or no-down-payment loan options.
• VA loans: Offer low, fixed-rate and no-down-payment loans to eligible veterans.
• Step Rate Program: Assist home buyers who expect their incomes to increase. Payments gradually increase in the second and third years of the loan.

• Homeownership Assistance: Provides a loan of up to $50,000 for down payment and closing costs to low-income home buyers. Loan repayment is deferred for 99 years or until the property is sold, whichever comes first. Home buyers must have lived or worked in Alexandria for at least six months.
• Moderate Income Homeownership: Provides moderate-income home buyers with loans of up to $30,000 for down payment and closing costs. Home buyers must have lived or worked in Alexandria for at least six months and must contribute at least $3,000 of their own money toward the down payment or settlement costs.
• Law Enforcement Moderate Income Homeownership: Provides moderate-income City of Alexandria law enforcement officers with loans of up to $50,000 for down payment and closing costs. Homes must be purchased in designated areas of the city, and buyers must contribute at least $3,000 of their own money toward the down payment or settlement costs.

• Moderate Income Purchase Assistance Program: Provides first-time home buyers with a loan of up to $25,000 for down payment and closing costs.

• First-Time Homebuyers Program: Offers affordably priced ($70,000-$160,000) townhouses and condominiums.

• Affordable Dwelling Units: Provides low- and moderate-income, first-time home buyers the chance to purchase homes for $105,000 to $150,000.
• Downpayment and Closing Cost Assistance: Provides up to $20,000 in the form of a deferred second mortgage.

• Homebuyers Opportunity Sales Program: Opportunities to purchase new condominiums and townhouses at below-market cost.
• Downpayment/Closing Cost Assistance Program: First-time home buyers can borrow up to $10,000 at 3 percent.

• Homeownership Assistance Program: Provides up to $75,000 for a down payment and up to 6 percent of the sale price for closing costs as a 30-year, interest-free, deferred loan.
• American Dream Downpayment Initiative: Provides a 30-year, interest-free, deferred loan of up to 6 percent of the sale price (up to $10,000) for the down payment on a single-family housing unit.
• Rehabilitation Acquisition Program: Provides assistance to purchase and fix up a home. The property must require a minimum of $2,000 worth of repairs. Maximum loans are $25,000 for a down payment and $50,000 for rehabilitation costs.
• HomeStride: Provides 5 percent, fixed-interest loans of 10 percent of the sales price (up to $25,000) for buyers who work in the county.

-- Compiled by Brooke Howell