We could say 20 years of Welcome Home Loans looks like 1,874 loans, totaling more than $95 million. Or we could say it looks like 928 first-time homebuyers or 968 homeowners with low incomes, most of whom otherwise would not have been able to own a home.
But do numbers really describe the impact of our mortgage lending?
Most of us share a dream of a safe and affordable place to live and raise our families. Twenty years ago, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund began offering fair, fixed-rate mortgages on manufactured homes in resident-owned communities (ROCs).
We had heard over and over again the need for this type of financing. Previously, if you wanted to buy a home in a manufactured-home community, your options were mostly limited to cash advances on credit cards or draining your retirement savings.
After successfully making loans on homes in ROCs for about 10 years, we found another need. We extended our mortgage loans to people buying homes on land they owned or were buying.
Still, many potential borrowers faced a common barrier: They could afford the monthly mortgage payments but didn’t have several thousand dollars in savings for their down payments and closing costs. For more than 200 buyers, our Homeowner Assistance Loans have made the difference between buying a home and continuing to pay rent to a landlord.
We have also lent to homeowners to consolidate high-rate consumer debt and to make needed home repairs.
Getting borrowers over the barriers
Our loans are the most visible and quantifiable element of our work. Less known, but just as important, is the coaching our team provides to get people to the finish line.
Not everyone is ready to buy a home right away. Some individuals need advice on how to deal with credit issues or how to build savings.
Our originators have pre-qualified more than 2,600 potential applicants in just the past four years. This gives our borrowers an advantage in the tight housing market by enabling them to put offers on homes faster and more competitively.
The impact continues after the loan closes. Welcome Home Loan borrowers have access to a unique benefit. Our Borrower Easy Assistance Program—the same benefit available to Community Loan Fund employees—is available to help them through challenges that life throws at them. An entire suite of services, ranging from legal consults to crafting a resume, is a phone call or web click away.
It’s just as important to keep borrowers financially healthy as it is to get them into safe and affordable housing. So, during the recent pandemic, we worked with our servicer to help borrowers navigate job furloughs and severe illnesses by providing payment deferments. We continue to help by directing them to assistance that will help get their loans current.
So, what has our impact been for the last 20 years? Here is just a sample:
- Cathy B. had purchased her home with credit cards. We helped her refinance her loan and save $287 a month.
- Peter G., a homeless Veteran, bought a new energy-efficient home under our Veterans First program.
- Keri-Ann rehabbed her home into safe affordable housing for her and her two children.
- John C., a single dad, bought a brand-new home and placed it in a ROC. His combined down-payment and closing-costs assistance of $35,000 meant he and his daughter now have a stable home. No more couch surfing or sleeping in the car.
- Juanita and Kevin had always wondered when it would be their turn to buy a home. After working with us on their credit, their vision became reality.
What will the Community Loan Fund do next? We’re always looking for lending gaps we can step in to fill. The next 20 years will be more of the same.
Kathi Paradis is the Community Loan Fund's Vice President of Residential Lending and Compliance.
