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Employers Hold Key to Expanding Homeownership By Alice Martin,RCE, CAE, AAR EVP |
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June was National Homeownership Month, and it reminds us to let our
members know that the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR) is
committed more than ever to providing opportunities for Arizona’s
working families to become homeowners in today’s housing market. Homeownership is the dream of most every American. Owning a home is the primary way families can build equity wealth for their future. The benefits of homeownership go even further, impacting entire communities. Neighborhoods that consist predominantly of homeowners tend to thrive. Such neighborhoods can offer a safer, healthier life for families and are more likely to result in greater wealth creation for families that reside there. However, not all working families can afford to buy a home. In December 2004, the median price for a resale home in Arizona was $190,000, up 22 percent from 2003. At the same time, the median price for a new home was $211,640, up 19 percent. What does this mean for Arizona’s average worker? A dental technician making $22,000 a year, for example, can qualify for a mortgage of roughly $70,000. That’s not nearly enough to purchase a home in our rising-cost market. To qualify for a $200,000 mortgage, a borrower must make more than $65,000. Yet the median household income in Arizona is only $40,558. Simply put, working families are seeing the doors to homeownership close on them. One way we can help open those doors is by encouraging employers across the state to offer housing assistance to their employees. The AAR is doing just that by offering $5,000 in downpayment and closing cost assistance to our own employees. Plus, AAR is the first state REALTOR® association in the nation to offer this assistance — Employer-Assisted Housing (EAH) — to employees of local associations in addition to our own. Funded by the Arizona REALTORS® Housing Needs Foundation, this critical financial assistance can help office staff afford to buy their first home. This statewide effort by local businesses, the AAR, lenders and Fannie Mae is called the Housing Arizona’s Workforce (HAW) initiative. HAW aims to increase homeownership among workforce families by encouraging area employers to offer homeownership education and financial assistance to their employees, and seeks low-cost financing options from participating lenders for these borrowers. As part of the HAW initiative, AAR is training our members in a step-by-step process for working with employers, lenders and Fannie Mae to conduct home-buying workshops with employers. This strategy, of encouraging employers to offer housing assistance to their employees, can be a win-win for everyone. EAH benefits serve as a valuable recruitment and retention tool for employers. For the employees, it can help them overcome the two largest barriers to homeownership: understanding the home-buying process and obtaining funds for the downpayment. Employer-Assisted Housing plans can vary based on business and housing needs that range from home-buying workshops to financial benefits, offering a loan or grant to help fund downpayments, closing costs or interest rate buy-downs. AAR is committed to helping our members understand the importance of working families achieving the American dream of homeownership, and to finding innovative ways REALTORS® and local employers can help them reach this goal. AAR, ARHNF and the Housing Arizona’s Workforce partners are working together to make sure every Arizonan who wants to own a home and can handle the mortgage payments should have that opportunity. No one should be overlooked, underserved or overcharged in their pursuit of the American dream. For details on Housing Arizona’s Workforce, see www.aarhnf.com/HAW/. For information on other available housing programs, see the Arizona REALTORS® Housing Needs Foundation website, www.aarhnf.com. |
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