How to Get a $20,000 Loan You May Not Have to Pay Back in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County

Leave a reply

I'm not sure if this made the local news and I just missed it, or if it's been flying under the radar, but there's a program in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County to help folks buy foreclosed properties.  Back in January I got an email from Sen. Burr's office about North Carolina receiving over $52 million for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, but didn't really hear much after that.  Then today the following item from FindForeclosureProperties.com (nice URL huh?) showed up in my Google Reader:

Housing officials in Forsyth County and Winston-Salem, North Carolina have partnered with the Center for Homeownership and financial institutions to help eligible buyers purchase bank foreclosures for sale for less than the properties’ appraised value.

Under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), eligible homebuyers will be able to receive a maximum of $20,000 as deferred forgivable loan. The funds will be used by the eligible buyer as down payment for buying foreclosure houses, provided that the mortgage holders are willing to sell the properties for less than their assessed value…

Furthermore, the home buying assistance initiative is open to first time property buyers and families or individuals who have not purchased or owned a house for three years.

Eligible borrowers will not be required to pay back the loan under the NSP program if they opt to stay and live in the property for not less than 20 years. Additionally, homebuyers should have the properties under sales contract on or before July 18, 2010 in order to become eligible for the program.

Prospective buyers should have household earnings of equal to or not more than Forsyth County’s 120 percent median income which for a four-member family is $71,640. The median income restriction varies with the family size.

I'm not sold on this being a good idea.  Will this prompt people who may not be financially ready to buy a house and then, a year or two down the road, be in over their heads and threatened with foreclosure themselves?  Normally you might say that the banks wouldn't lend to risky buyers, but given what we've learned over the last two years do we really want to trust the banks with their own due diligence?

I appreciate what the program is aiming to do, but like I said I'm not sold on it's merits.

Here's the link to the county's page dedicated to the NSP.

 

links for 2009-08-21

1 Reply
  • Vie de Malchance: Renting Foreclosures
    Fec links to a piece advocating for changes in the foreclosure process to give owners the right to stay in their homes and rent them at market rates for an extended (7-10 years) time.
    (tags: economics realestate)
  • A defense industry blog scandal? – The DEW Line
    Not cool: "Boeing [BA] is conducting an internal investigation into a nascent social media effort after a company spokesman posed as an independent blogger and sat in on several briefings of archrival Northrop Grumman [NOC] at a trade show last week." h/t to Arik Johnson for the lead.
    (tags: blog ethics)
  • Biz Journal: Greensboro Home Sales Slip in July
    From the article: "Sales of existing single-family homes fell 12 percent in July compared to a year ago…The average sale price was $164,945 in July, down from $173,422 a year earlier. It was up slightly from $161,973 in June."
    (tags: realestate greensboro)

WSFCS Getting Off to a Rip-Roaring Start

5 Replies

Ah, school.  On this day last year I went on a bit of a rant about the school textbook situation.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough personal time to devote to looking into that situation as I wanted to, but maybe at some point in the future I will.  This year I'm not feeling too good about the whole schedule thing, but before I get into it I want to emphasize that I'm really not trying to give the folks at school who are dealing with this mess a hard time.  I can only imagine how complex this whole process is and I'm certain they've been burning the midnight oil trying to get it all figured out. 

Here's the deal: the school system has decided that they want all the schools on the same kind of schedule, so our kids' high school had to change how classes are scheduled.  I'd provide details if I understood them, but let's just say the change has caused some problems.  To wit:

  • Last spring when my oldest did his schedule with his counselor he signed up for an economics class at the Career Center.  A week or two ago he got a call from his counselor saying that with the new scheduling system his econ class was impossible to fit into his schedule so he needed to pick another class.  From the limited options he was able to get…Shakespeare. If you're looking for an association between the two I guess you could say that one's the dismal science and the other's the dismal art.  Even worse, that's just for one semester.  The other semester he's going to be doing something like assisting people in the office just so he can get a credit. 
  • We got a letter from the school system saying that because of the scheduling headaches the kids wouldn't get their schedules until they showed up at the open house tonight.  Given what we've already seen happen to our son's schedule I'm interested to see what happens to our daughter's schedule.  I will NOT be surprised if we have a nasty surprise or two.
  • Speaking of surprises, I just got this email alert from West Forsyth H.S.: "This message is to the parents of students who have classes at West Forsyth and the Career Center.  Students should be aware that the schedules they picked up at the Career Center's Open House last night may not be accurate. We are asking our students to pick up their West Forsyth schedule at tonight's Open House before questioning their assigned classes. Thank you!"  In a way I guess you could say our son losing his one Career Center class was a lucky break.
  • On the other hand the booster club is on top of things.  The same day we got the letter about the schedule snafu we also received a fundraising solicitation for all things athletic at the school.  I have no problem with that, but it's a little ironic that while all the students are wandering around thinking they might end up in underwater basket weaving the jocks can rest assured that the uniforms will be shiny and the grass extra green.

You know what? Maybe this isn't so bad after all. The kids are getting a glimpse at how the real world works. You know, the mid-managers (principals, counselors and teachers) get to implement the super-duper plan handed down by upper management (school administrators) and then deal with the customers (students and parents) screaming at them for screwing everything up.  Another lesson is that no matter how well you plan, something invariably goes wrong and you have to adjust.   Finally, unless you want to pony up for private school or go the home schooling route then you have to pretty much abide by what "the man" (government/school) tells you to do. If that means trading in Keynes for the Bard then that's what you have to do. Welcome to life, kids.

links for 2009-08-20

Leave a reply

And We Wonder Why the Banks Are in Trouble

Leave a reply

So one of my employees and her husband just closed on their first house last night, but only after their mortgage company put them through the ringer on Monday and Tuesday.  They'd submitted all their paperwork in early July and had been assured that everything was in order.  On Monday they called just to make sure everything was cool and that's when the mortgage company pulled the "well we don't have everything we need from you" routine even though everything had been submitted and receipt had been confirmed weeks earlier. 

One of the things that the mortgage company said was missing was verification of my employee's employment so she gave them my direct number and they said they would call right away. That was mid-day on Monday and by five they hadn't called so she called back and the woman she was dealing with said that she'd talked to me and everything was okay.  In other words the mortgage company's rep lied or had a conversation in her head that she confused with a phone call to me.

Cut to this morning. I received a call from the mortgage company to confirm my employee's employment.  Like I said, they closed last night so really the horse was out of the barn.  I guess if she had lied the mortgage company could have taken possession of the house as a recourse, but I can't imagine there are many banks out there that would want to take possession of another house in this day and age. 

Sheesh.

Only at Wal Mart

2 Replies

OnlyAtWalMart I tried to post this from my Blackberry last night, but for some reason Typepad's mobile function ain't working for me right now.  Anyway, I took this picture at Wal Mart on Hanes Mall Blvd last night.  Those who know me well know that I rarely shop and I only go to Wal Mart under extreme duress, so let's just say that I had to do a little searching to find what I needed: table leg levelers and table cloths for work.  While searching for the levelers I found myself in the hardware aisle and stumbled on the display in the picture.  Only in Wal Mart would you find a jockstrap, golf tees, golf head covers and batting gloves displayed next to the furniture gliders and other various and sundry hardware items.  And yes, they were supposed to be there according to the price labels on the hangers.

BTW, did you know it's damn near impossible to find a plain white table cloth?  I tried, desperately, to find them at any place but Wal Mart last night and I struck out.  Damn you, Target.  I did find two ivory table cloths at Wal Mart fresh off the boat from China, but unfortunately when I unpacked them this morning they were stained.  As in big, gigantic coffee looking stains.  Had to happen at the manufacturer because the plastic containers they came in were sealed (not opened and returned). 

On a positive note the lady at the check out aisle was very nice to me.  She was ready to close down but saw me in the next line with my two items and said she'd take care of me before she closed down. 

Always lookin' for that glimmer of positive, I am.

links for 2009-08-19

Leave a reply
  • Association Inc.: When “A-ha!” Meets “Well, Duh”
    My favorite part of this post: "If you define membership as entrance into a community, then you’ve just commoditized your membership — and if you don’t have higher aspirations than “bringing people together” then you will find yourself struggling with a steep uphill battle over the next several years. Connections are just too easy. Leveraging connections (whether made through you or someone else) to provide real value and influence? Now, that’s hard, and a lot more fun."
    (tags: association)

links for 2009-08-18

Leave a reply

links for 2009-08-17

Leave a reply
  • The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do " blog maverick
    According to Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, the most patriotic thing you can do is: "Bust your ass and get rich.

    Make a boatload of money. Pay your taxes. Lots of taxes. Hire people. Train people. Pay people. Spend money on rent, equipment, services. Pay more taxes."

    He also says:
    "I’m not saying that the government’s use of tax money is the most efficient use of our hard earned capital. It obviously is not. In a perfect world, there would be a better option. We don’t live in a perfect world. We don’t live in a perfect time. We live in a time where the government plays a big role in an effort to help lead us out this Great Recession. That’s reality.

    So I will repeat my point. Get out there and make a boatload of money. Enjoy the shit out your money. Pay your taxes.

    Its the most Patriotic thing you can do."

    (tags: entrepreneurship entrepreneur economics business politics taxes money innovation)

  • NY Times: Believers Invest in the Gospel of Getting Rich

    I truly don't know how these people sleep at night.

    (tags: religion)

  • Vie de Malchance: FHA Continues Subprime Lending

    Just when I started seeing light at the end of the tunnel Fec goes and screams "Train!"

    (tags: economics)

  • Cool Business Card Idea

    Guerrilla Marketing has a cool biz card idea.

    (tags: marketing)

  • Health Care Stats for 2009

    Some interesting health care stats for the developed world. Two numbers that grabbed my attention: US spends higher percentage of GDP (16%) on healthcare than other countries, yet has fewer doctors per capita than the others (2.4 per 1,000 vs. the 3.1 per 1,000 that is average in rest of developed world).

    (tags: healthcare)

  • NY Times: Why We Need Health Care Reform by Barack Obama

    The President submits an op-ed to the Grey Lady. He states his case for health care reform. His final paragraph: "In the end, this isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives and livelihoods. This is about people’s businesses. This is about America’s future, and whether we will be able to look back years from now and say that this was the moment when we made the changes we needed, and gave our children a better life. I believe we can, and I believe we will."
    On a side note I must say that I'm fairly certain that the President engaged his staff to help write this piece, but at the same time I'm also fairly certain that he has the ability to pen the piece on his own if he so desires. Can't say I think the same about his predecessor's writing ability.

    (tags: healthcare government)