Proud Ground Celebrates Reaching 150 Homeowners
By Jeff Kennel
Nov. 12, 2011
On November 30th Proud Ground will celebrate achieving 150 Proud Ground homeowners. This Portland non-profit has been helping low-income individuals and families with stable incomes get into homes and keep them since 2000.
"I had no clue what I was doing and I was terrified," said Christin, a new Proud Ground homeowner and single mom with 2 children. "Proud Ground helped educate me, walked me through the steps so I felt really secure when I went into my home ownership. And with the assistance they gave me, allowed me to get into a home that was safe and secure and really nice. I still wake up six months later and can't believe that I own this! I am so grateful to Proud Ground for that."
Proud Ground buys down the price of existing homes, refurbishes older homes and builds new homes that are $60,000 to $100,000 less than market-rate homes. Homeowners get regular mortgages with a bank at fixed rates, they accumulate equity, pay property taxes, can remodel as they wish. Their children or family members can also inherit their home. A big hurdle for low-income individuals and families to homeownership is the 20% down payment needed to purchase a home. Proud Ground, working with banks, helps get over this hurdle by only requiring 500 down, plus some closing costs.
So what's the catch, you might be asking? The catch is that you can't "flip" your home for big profits if it appreciates. To ensure that future buyers have a chance to afford a home Proud Ground homeowners enter into a legal agreement, called an Affordability Covenant, that basically says they can't sell their home for much more than they purchased it for. Thus, even if housing prices go up, Proud Ground homes will still be affordable for future generations.
To find out more about Proud Ground and their upcoming celebration go to www.proudground.org.
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