WTOL.com - Toledo's News Leader | Program offers discounts for grads buying homes in Ohio

Program offers discounts for grads buying homes in Ohio

By Lauren Lowrey - bio | email 

Posted by Nick Dutton - email

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTOL) - A new program, Grants for Grads, offers Ohio high school graduates a 2.5 percent break on the purchase of their first home.

Cindy Flaherty, Director of Homeownership at Ohio Housing and Finance Agency, helped develop the program. She says it’s a way for Ohio to keep homegrown talent and bring back graduates that may have gone to college in other states.

To qualify, folks must be a first time homebuyer, an Ohio high school grad and a graduate with an associate, bachelor, masters or doctorate degree within the last 18 months.

"When you first get out of college, you have student loans (and) don't have a lot of savings… but if you have a good job, you may be ready to buy a house (and) just don't have the down payment," said Flaherty.

Folks who qualify for the program can get a zero percent second mortgage to help with a down payment and closing costs. However, they must stay in Ohio for the next five years and are required to pay back part of the grant if they leave before the window is up.

This program makes a home very affordable if financed trough FHA for only 3.5 percent down. Grants for Graduates offers 2.5 percent down, so homebuyers just have to come up with the difference.

Flaherty says folks will be able to get into a first home sooner and start building equity, with less money spent out-of-pocket.

MORE ON WTOL.com: http://www.ohiohome.org/homebuyer/countyinfo_locator.aspx

FAQ's: http://www.ohiohome.org/homebuyer/faqs_grantsforgrads.aspx

To qualify for the Grants for Grads Program, you must:

--Be a first-time homebuyer

--Meet specific income guidelines

--Have graduated from an Ohio high school

--Apply for the grant within 18 months of graduating from an educational institute recognized by the Ohio Board of Regents

--Obtain a mortgage through an OHFA participating lender

In addition, you must either:

--Complete a free home buyer education course offered by any housing counseling agency approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or

--Use the streamlined OHFA home buyer education program.

A survey released this summer by the Washington, D.C.-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute think tank found that 51 percent of in-state students say they'll look elsewhere for jobs after graduation. Of those surveyed, 60 percent said the down-payment help would be an attractive incentive for staying in Ohio.

The agency has put income and purchase price restrictions on the program that vary from county to county. In Wood, Lucas, Fulton and Ottawa Counties, for example, a one- or two-person family can't participate if their annual income is higher than $74,160 while the maximum purchase price for a new or existing home is $258,691.

In Hancock County, a one- or two-person family can't participate if their annual income is higher than $75,240 while the maximum purchase price for a new or existing home is $258,691.

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