Urban Discoveries Baltimore

We’d all like a house, wouldn’t we?   Somewhere nice and cozy to come home to at the end of the day; somewhere where the heat is always set just right and the décor is just so us; somewhere where we can put out feet up on the coffee table because it’s our damn coffee table, all right?  Somewhere like that.   And that’s what buying a home is all about; having your own little corner of the world.  But even with the recent downturn in the housing market, it is still awfully expensive (and a little intimidating) to buy.  Thankfully, though, housing is an issue that governments – from federal to local – get behind, so there’s a plethora of incentive programs designed to help homebuyers afford that first place of their own.

Perhaps the biggest fish in the home-buying incentive pond right now is the Federal Homebuyer Tax Credit (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) (find the bill itself here), an $8,000 tax credit for taxpayers looking to purchase their first home.  There are a couple caveats: you must purchase a house between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009; single people applying for the credit must make $75,000 or less, married couples, $150,000 or less; and if your home is resold within three years you must repay the credit (you know, to prevent speculation from driving the market again).  If you’ve got questions of a more specific nature about this credit you might want to stop by the National Association of Realtors website, as you may imagine, they’re plenty happy to help.

If you’ve found yourself inspired by our rowhouse interviews (and really, who hasn’t?), you’ll be happy to know that there are governmental rehab loans available.  HUD’s 203K rehabilitation loan program is designed for the rehabilitation and repair of single family properties.  Instead of multiple loans for multiple aspects of a rehabilitation project, a 203K loan is one all-encompassing mortgage loan, at a long-term fixed rate, to finance both the acquisition and the rehabilitation of the property.  So you may be able to buy a new nail gun with government money.

Finally, you may qualify for special programs depending on where you work or what you do.  For example, if you’re a police officer, a pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade teacher, or a firefighter/EMT, you probably qualify for HUD’s Good Neighbor Next Door program.  There are rules and requirements for taking part in the program, of course, but if you agree to those, HUD can offer a discount of 50 percent from the list price of a home.  Seriously.

Also, if you work for Baltimore City, Johns Hopkins, or a host of other employers, there are housing benefits available through a number of city programs.  Check out a bunch of those here.
Actually, there are so many programs that we don’t have enough space to list them all.  Head on over to LiveBaltimore – a fantastic resource if you’re at all considering living in Baltimore– they know about so many incentive programs for potential homebuyers that your head’ll spin.

And if you’re in the market, make sure to get in touch — we’ve got all the resources you need to make buying a home a delightful experience.

Posted in: Baltimore User's Guide, City Living, Real Estate - Buying, Selling, Talking About It.No Comments