I was talking to my neighbor earlier today and he told me his daughter was buying a house. The house, a brand new 3 bedroom/2 bath built to Energy Star standards, has been for sale for over a year. It was built by a local low to moderate income housing organization funded with a mix of public/private dollars. It had been listed for $145,000. The organization, desperate to move their excess stock, ran an advertisement saying they would bend over backwards to get people into their own homes so my neighbor's daughter, who works a part time job, decided to check it out.
For starters she is a single mom which knocked off a few grand. She is also part, a small part, Native American. Knock off a few more thousand. Her child's father, who is tragically a deadbeat dad, is African American so that knocked off another chunk. She is a first time home buyer so the price was dropped some more. A grant here, another grant there - here a program, there a program...bottom line move in price $62,500. The monthly payment including taxes and insurance is under $400 a month. How sweet is that! A new house with over $80,000 in paper equity built in for $400 a month. I asked her if she was excited and she said she didn't know if she was doing the right thing buying it. I felt like shaking her...hard. She has had some troubles in the past with drugging and drinking but has been sober for 3 years (gave up partying when she got pregnant) and has been making an effort to get her act together. What a great opportunity for her to really add some stability in her life. She closes in 3 weeks.