The road to home ownership can be a challenging one, but thanks to a newly expanded program teachers and first responders now have additional help to achieve that dream.
“It’s that darned down payment,” Valley teacher Lance Long said.
Long on Tuesday shared what’s standing between him and his desire to own a home: coming up with the thousands of dollars needed for a down payment.
“Many people pay in rent what they would pay for a whole mortgage or house payment,” Long said.
That can make it hard to save money, especially on a first responder or teacher salary. Recently, Arizona was ranked near the bottom for what we pay our educators. The new program is offering hope, however.
“We are helping to make home ownership a reality for our hardest working residents, first responders and teachers,” Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said.
The City of Phoenix and Maricopa County announced Tuesday an expansion of their Home in Five Program, which helps first-time home buyers who qualify.
“We are expanding the program to further help our first responders and teachers, who will now be eligible for an additional 1 percent grant for down payment and closing cost assistance,” Stanton said.
That means eligible teachers, police officers and firefighters can now get up to a 5 percent grant, which can translate to hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
“It allowed me, first of all, to get the house that I wanted in the area that I actually wanted. It was an awesome opportunity because I didn’t have my down payment,” teacher Koran Hardimon said.
Hardimon is now a strong proponent of the program, saying Home in Five made his dreams of owning a home a reality, and it can do the same for his fellow teachers and public servants.
“It is a dream of every person to own their own home,” Long said.
For more information about the program, click here.
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