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It was for low income first time homeowners. 26 years ago, DH and I had just finished college and had one child and figured we might be able to buy a house in 10 years.
Then a man who worked with my mother and dabbled in real estate told her about a federal loan program where HUD subsidized the mortgages. Reagan was president and wanted to end the program so we were encouraged to apply before the funds were gone. Carter had put extra funding into the program and Reagan opposed it. So we applied and were accepted. We applied for a traditional mortgage and HUD determined what portion of that mortgage payment we could afford to pay every month. HUD paid the difference. Every year, we had to send our tax returns in to HUD and they determined what our house payment would be. And when we sold the house, we were allowed to deduct any money we had spent on improvements and then split the profit with HUD.
It was a fabulous program that put us into a brand new house many years before we thought we would become homeowners. And as our income grew, and the payment went up, we eventually sold that house and bought another. We would likely not be living in the home we live in today had we not been helped to become homeowners 26 years ago.
This is the kind of low income home mortgage program the Republicans want to end and they are blaming the economic crisis on these types of mortgages. I just realized the other day that we had benefited from the federal government's involvement in mortgages.
Our son is the same age I was when we bought our first house and I don't see home ownership in his future anytime soon.
And this is one more reason I really hate Republicans.
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