ATLANTA — As the latest figures show mortgage rates hitting a 20-year high -- at 7% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage -- one organization is promising a much lower rate for those looking to buy a home with low to moderate incomes.
The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA, is also able to cover the down payment, closing costs and private mortgage insurance. Usually, the process to buy a home can take months, and that's before one comes up with the right amount of money to take action.
NACA is holding its Achieve the Dream event, where thousands are expected to take part by attending workshops, submitting necessary documents and working one-on-one with counselors in the hopes of getting one step closer to the dream of owning a home. Work that typically takes weeks can be completed in a day at the event per NACA officials.
Samir Ben Sabir, a truck driver, just qualified to buy a home Thursday after working more closely with NACA. He will soon meet with a real estate agent to find the right house for him to buy. He said the long process, up to this point, was well worth it.
"I’m going to be able to get my family their first home," Ben Sabir said. "That means a lot to me. That means I’m moving forward. I had to build an income first. When I got started, my income was kind of low. After that, I had to work out my taxes, make everything straight.”
Bruce Marks, the founder and CEO of NACA, said hundreds of staff are on hand to help people with whatever they need. They focus on the last 12 months of payment, and Marks said people in Section 8 housing can own a home by using their past payments. NACA has $20 billion through HUD funding and other fees paid to them through people making on-time payments.
"We overcome the barriers that prevent minority homebuyers from purchasing homes," Marks said. “There's no down payment, no closing costs, at a below market fixed rate, without consideration of one’s credit score. It generates wealth, but it generates neighborhood stabilization. Because who is the best crime fighter? It’s a homeowner.”
Mayors from Augusta and Hobson City, Ala., made the drive to Atlanta for the event, hopeful they can work with NACA to get assistance for rural homebuyers and those living outside Metro Atlanta.
“Twenty-percent of the folks who are here are from the Augusta area," Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. said. "NACA is probably the most significant organization helping people achieve that American dream largely through affordable housing options. Every community is largely trying to address housing affordability, whether that’s single family or multi-family. How do we make sure we’re putting our residents, citizens in the best place possible toward that possibility of homeownership?”
Adelekan Adetunji, an immigrant from Nigeria, qualified Thursday to buy a home. He told 11Alive he's had a dream to own a home since childhood.
"When I grow old, I want to have somewhere I can lay my head, somewhere I can sleep, somewhere I can call home," Adetunji said. "It’s like my future is secure if I get this house. Saving money is not a joke. One way or the other, your savings always deplete. It’s been tough, so with NACA it makes it a lot easier.”
Registration is required for the Achieve the Dream event, along with some fees. For more information on NACA's program, click here.