(Editors note: Reporter Richard Luken is a member of LaHarpe PRIDE, the primary organizer of the upcoming LaHarpe Home Fair.)
LAHARPE More affordable housing.
Its on pretty much every communitys wish list, but a confluence of factors have traditionally stood in the way.
Working class folks are often limited by what types of homes they can afford, particularly with exorbitant down payments needed just to get their feet in the door.
As such, builders are just as resistant to build houses on the mere speculation somebody may be in the market for a home months or years later.
The LaHarpe PRIDE Committee is hoping to tip the scales in both instances.
PRIDE is teaming up with the United States Department of Agriculture, city officials and area lenders and builders for the LaHarpe Home Fair at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at LaHarpe City Hall.
All are invited.
The Home Fairs centerpiece focuses on a pair of USDA initiatives, the Direct Rural Home Loans and the Guaranteed Rural Housing programs.
Each allows borrowers to finance new, energy-efficient homes with minimal interest rates hovering currently in the 3% range and with no down payment.
Combine those programs with incentives available in LaHarpe free utility extensions to within the foot of a new homes foundation, and property tax abatements for the first 10 years of owning the home and suddenly youve pared thousands of dollars off the cost of buying a new home.
How enticing is such a program?
Putting pen to paper, a Direct Rural Home Loan borrower can suddenly find himself in a $100,000-plus home with a monthly mortgage payment (including insurance costs and escrowed taxes) at a cost of under $600 a month.
