The Prince George’s County Department of Housing and Community Development and the Redevelopment Authority recently launched a new home ownership program. “Pathway to Purchase,” offers first-time homebuyers up to $10,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance.
The County’s new home buying program can help several families become home owners. (Courtesy photo)
Pathway to Purchase is a 0 percent interest loan program that must be paid back when the home is sold, transferred, or ceases to be the primary residence of the buyer(s). However, the loan repayment has a 10 percent decrease per year, and after 10 years, it is forgiven and the lien is released. Home buyers can purchase residential properties, including new construction, resales, short sales, and foreclosures anywhere in Prince George’s County.
“We are excited about this new opportunity,” said Eric C. Brown, director of the Prince George’s County Department of Housing and Community Development. “We have dedicated $750,000 for this program to help people get on the path to home ownership.”
The purchase incentives also encourage Blacks in the County, whose wealth, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, dipped to century-old lows following the recession and accompanying high rate of foreclosures, to invest in homeownership again.
“Seeing that rate of foreclosure in Prince George’s does represent a problem for the whole nation,” Bill Sermons, research director at the Center for Responsible Lending told National Public Radio in 2011. “It’s one of the few counties in the country where it’s become more affluent as it’s become Blacker . . . There were a lot of communities within that community that were very solid, middle-class communities.”
The Redevelopment Authority of Prince George’s County will administer the program, and began accepting applications Jan. 9. “Home buyers must work with an approved mortgage lender to submit an application. We are eager to continue our progress in helping families begin their pursuit of the American Dream,” Howard Ways, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, said in a release.
The maximum purchase price of homes utilizing Pathway to Purchase assistance is $313,000. Home buyers may use one of the following loan programs with Pathway to Purchase: FHA, Maryland Mortgage Program, VA or conventional loans, and the the home must pass a Housing Quality Standards (HQS) Inspection as part of the application process.
Since 2012, the Redevelopment Authority has assisted over 600 home buyers purchase their first home in Prince George’s County through various home buyer assistance programs.