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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In recent weeks, mortgage rates have gotten to their lowest level in about a year, according to mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac.
“I never thought I would be able to afford a home,” Michelle Senghore said, but now she owns a two-bedroom house.
“I love the environment. It’s a quiet community, and it’s a small house. It’s cozy, it’s warm and I feel secure and safe here,” Senghore said.
She went through a program called NACA. It’s a nonprofit that allows qualified buyers to purchase a home with no downpayment and no closing costs.
NACA also has financial counseling, which can help with the homebuying process.
“There’s just so much information thrown at us every day, online, that I think it just becomes overwhelming in that case. If you’ve got a person to help you and guide you, has done this a time or two, that’s the best thing to do,” says Stacy Kinsey, a senior loan officer at Townebank Mortgage.
Kinsey says there are many different federal, state and local homebuying assistance programs.
“A lot of times you can pair those together and kind of layer and take advantage of all of that,” Kinsey said.
There’s an FHA loan, where buyers pay as little as 3.5% of the purchase price.
There’s also a program through the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency that provides $15,000 in downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
“A lot of people assume you’re only a first-time homebuyer once, but the way that we prove that you’re a first-time homebuyer is by collecting the last three years of tax returns to show that there’s mortgage interest,” Kinsey said. “So if you haven’t owned a home in three years, then you’re considered a first time homebuyer.”
No matter what program you take advantage of, at the end of the day, Senghore says this help is important.
“Everybody deserves to be a homeowner, to have a certain level of security. You feel at home in your own house,” Senghore said.
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Arin Cotel-Altman
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