Real LI

In what might be the lowest loan rate around, 2 percent fixed-rate mortgages are being offered to Section 8 voucher recipients.

New York state and federal officials hope their new program will not only allow low-income renters to buy homes but free up resources of nonprofits that give out home-buying grants. Section 8 is the government program that helps pay housing costs that exceed 30 percent of recipients’ household income.

“Our new voucher homeownership mortgage initiative will promote sustainable affordable home ownership, which is our agency’s mission,” said Priscilla Almodovar, president and chief executive of the State of New York Mortgage Agency. “It helps voucher recipients transition into home ownership. And it enables public housing authorities and nonprofits to help more Section 8 recipients achieve the American dream of homeownership.”

Under the "SONYMA Section 8 Voucher Homeownership Mortgage Program,” the rent vouchers will be turned into homeownership vouchers, which would go toward paying off a SONYMA-approved mortgage lender. That voucher money will be combined with nonprofits’ grants to help Section 8 participants buy homes.

SONYMA will finance up to 99 percent of a home sale and offer loans without purchases of points and a $400 limit on bank fees.

"Our families are hard workers who contribute to the local economy,” said Marianne Garvin, president of the Community Development Corp. of Long Island. “They have the financial skills to achieve healthy homeownership, but they need an appropriate mortgage to turn the dream into a reality.”

There’s also the option of borrowing up to $5,000 to pay for closing costs or 5 percent of the SONYMA mortgage, whichever is higher – but certain homeowners won’t have to pay back such aid. There are no monthly bills for the closing cost loan, and those who keep up with mortgage payments will have their closing cost loan “forgiven” after 10 years. Payments on closing costs kick in if the home owner falls behind on mortgages or lives in the house less than 10 years.

In high-cost areas such as Long Island, loans on closing cost could go up to $10,000.

SONYMA-approved nonprofits and housing agencies determine whether the applicants are financially self-sufficient enough to keep homes for the long term. The applicants must also complete home owner counseling courses and meet credit criteria.

The homeownership voucher program is also being sponsored by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Details are available at nyhomes.org or 1-800-382-HOME (4663).

Time flies when you’re working toward a common goal: The Long Island Housing Partnership is hosting its 20th anniversary June 23 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Westbury. There will be honorees, and those knowledgable about the agency won’t be surprised to hear they are Robert McMillian, founder of LIHP and former head, Jim Morgo.

The speaker — and apologies to Yankee fans — is former baseball player, Mo Vaughn, who played for rivals, the Boston Red Sox (MVP 1995) and New York Mets. But what Yankee fans can appreciate is Vaughn’s dedication to affordable housing issues.

Vaughn owns and operates OMNI New York, which has purchased and rehabbed 1,142 units of distressed housing in the New York metropolitan area. Now he's tackling projects in Nassau County.

House hunters last year didn’t have to earn as much to qualify for a loan to buy a median priced home on Long Island. They just had to make about $147,004, according to the The Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the Washington, D.C.-based National Housing Conference.

But that’s 4.6 percent down from the $154,155 in household income required in 2006, according to this month’s “Paycheck to Paycheck” report.

Because mortgage interest rates went down over last year, it costs less to buy on credit.

Continue reading "How much do you have to earn to buy a house on LI?" »

Stablizing the Long Island economy is mostly about maintaining a strong workforce. So said Matthew Crosson, president of the Long Island Association, to members of the Long Island Builders Institute yesterday morning in Hauppauge.

Crosson says the declining population of Long Island -- and he had the stats to back up his claim -- means there will be even greater demand for affordable housing over the next decade. The Long Island population, Crosson said, is declining about five times faster than the rest of the United States.

While young people (ages 25-44) are leaving in waves, baby-boomers are starting their retirement process. Studies by the American Community Survey say more aging baby-boomers and more immigrant families will be looking for housing on Long Island in upcoming years. But that housing needs to be more affordable. Revitalizing run-down urban areas is crucial to the process, he said.

"The big thing is the baby-boomer retirement process," Crosson said. "This process is already starting, and we're seeing that fewer and fewer people are there to replace them in the workforce.The people are just not there."

A declining workforce means a declining economy, he told builders. Without workers filling good-paying jobs, who buys the houses? Who pumps money into the economy?

With affordable housing, preferably near transportation and downtown businesses, there is a chance for a future workforce. And if it does materialize, it will need affordable recreation, cultural improvements and ways to keep the educated young person on Long Island.

Crosson said that in previous periods of economic downturn, the theory has always been that Long Island will rebound -- that it will continue as it always has.

This time, the numbers say: "That's not true," Crosson said.

Students from Huntington and Hauppauge high schools will join forces with Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk County tomorrow to start construction on an East Patchogue home for a single mother and her two sets of twin sons.

Work on exterior walls is expected to begin by 9 a.m., says Les Scheinfeld, Habitat's associate director for development. Along with the labor donated by the high school students, the home is being sponsored by Astoria Federal Savings Bank and Habitat.

The recipient will be Denise Nicotri, a single mother with two sets of twin boys. Josh and Jonathan, 18, and Jared and Jordan, 13. “I feel truly blessed to have this opportunity," Nicotri, a shop manager for Cancos Tile
, says. "We have been residing with my parents in Holbrook for many years. Without Habitat and the sponsors and many volunteers, this would not be possible. "

Habitat for Humanity has affiliates in more than 2,250 communities nationwide, including the Suffolk branch, and more than 100 nations. The nonprofit has built more than 250,000 homes to partner families with no-profit, zero-interest mortgages.

Long Island housing advocate Marge Rogatz has been tapped to sit on the board of directors of the State of New York Mortgage Agency.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli picked Rogatz, longtime president and chief executive officer of Community Advocates, to be his representative on the board.

Continue reading "Long Island housing advocate picked for board" »

It costs a bundle to live on Long Island, and housing price drops caused by the subprime collapse haven’t changed that.

Out of 201 metro areas, Nassau-Suffolk has the 15th most expensive home ownership market, with median home prices hovering at $450,000, according to The Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the Washington, D.C.-based National Housing Conference.

In the rental market, Long Island is the seventh most expensive out of 210 metro regions, according to the center's study. It based its research on rent for two-bedroom apartments and found that they went for $1,356 on Long Island.

New York City is the seventh most expensive in terms of home ownership, with the median price at $525,000, the data showed. But it actually did better than Long Island in the rent rankings -- No. 16 -- with a two-bedroom apartment going for $1,189, the study found.

The research was done on 2007 housing prices from the third quarter, just when the subprime mortage market collapsed. San Francisco topped both lists, showing a median home price of $770,000 and two-bedroom rental at $1,551.

Another study from the center, Paycheck to Paycheck, took the five highest-growth occupations projected for 2006-2016 and looked at the number of metro area markets that were affordable for salaries earned in those occupations.

For example, food preparation workers were priced out of home ownership and two-bedroom rentals in all the markets; they could afford one-bedrooms in only a few metro areas.

On the other end of the scale, nurses could rent without problems in all the markets on the list but owning a home was affordable in about half the areas, the study said.

Hamptons.com reports on the latest discussion over affordable housing at what will become a luxury condo complex at the former Bulova watch factory in Sag Harbor.

The owner of a Hamptons Bay cape code is in trouble with the town again for renting out her basement, this time to three tenants. Click here to find out what will happen to her this time. In the meantime, Wilson Milord -- the landlord who continued to rent out a West Babylon house after the town tried to shut the place down (three tenants would later die of carbon monoxide poisoning) -- is in trouble over another property in Brentwood with code violations.Get the latest on that story here.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer outlined in his State of the State address today several housing proposals to keep younger New Yorkers from moving out-of-state.

Calling it "the biggest housing initiative in a generation," the governor proposed a $400 million Housing Opportunity Fund to build homes that teachers and police officers can afford. Some of the money would also go to developing housing for people with disabilities and special needs that enables them to live independently.

He is also calling for legislation to enhance anti-mortgage fraud laws and to amend foreclosure law to protect homeowners. For more information about Spitzer's mortgage initiatives, check out the story in Tuesday's Newsday.