HomePower Initiative to help some 1st-time buyers

HomePower initiative to help some 1st-time buyers Angela Carter, Register Staff 06/26/2006 Email to a friend Printer-friendly -NEW HAVEN — First-time buyers of one- to four-family homes, condominiums or planned unit developments (PUDs) will be able to avert high private mortgage insurance premiums through the new MI HomePower initiative launched by Empower New Haven. Empower New Haven is a nonprofit organization that manages millions in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants to revive impoverished areas in the Dixwell, Dwight, Fair Haven, Hill, Newhallville and West Rock neighborhoods.

Private mortgage insurance kicks in when buyers do not have at least 20 percent toward a down payment.

Althea Marshall Richardson, president/CEO of Empower New Haven, said clients of the agency’s various housing and financial literacy programs get hit with premiums of $150 to $300 per month. "It doesn’t reduce the mortgage principle," she said.

Empower New Haven has budgeted $150,000 for the initial phase, matched by $750,000 from private program partners.

The program provides buyers with a no-interest, 5-year forgivable loan-to-grant up to $10,000 that would eliminate private mortgage insurance upfront and assist with down payment and closing costs. Sponsors estimate savings of $15,000 or more in the first 10½ years of homeownership.

Richardson said Empowerment Zone residents will be able to enjoy the benefits of building wealth, avoiding predatory lenders and insurers and participating in pre- and post-homeownership seminars that educate participants on asset management and financial products and services.

The list of banks that are participating includes Citizens, NewAlliance, People’s and Bank of America. Mortgage insurance providers in the program are PMI, Radian and UGI. "They are to be applauded. They put their money where their mouth is," Richardson said. "We offered every bank with brick and mortar in the city of New Haven the opportunity to participate."

Interested people may access the services through the participating banks, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the Yale Homebuyer program, city loan programs offered through the Livable City Initiative Bureau and city-based community development corporations.

"We want to capture as many people as possible," Richardson said.

Call Empower New Haven at (203) 776-2777, ext. 212, for more information.

Angela Carter can be reached at 789-5614 or mailto: acarter@nhregister.com .

©New Haven Register 2006

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