Who is eligible?
All Habitat home buyers must meet three qualifications:
- Income
- Need for simple, decent, affordable housing
- Willingness to partner with Habitat
Additional Home-Ownership Requirements:
- Must be a U.S. citizen with a valid Social Security card or a legal permanent resident with a valid green card.
- Must be unable to qualify for a conventional mortgage for reasons such as bad credit or being unable to secure enough funding for a down payment.
- Must have lived and/or worked in Durham for six months.
- Steady employment with no more than two months gap between jobs or school, OR a regular income for the past two years (income must be $16,550 per year). Sources of income include: your job, Social Security, SSI, AFDC, alimony and regular child support payments.
- Must have no unpaid judgments, no wages being garnished for bankruptcy. Non-Medical collections must be less than $1,500.
- Must be willing to do between 250 and 350 hours of "Sweat Equity" labor. This means to partner with Habitat and its volunteers to help build your home and other future Habitat homeowners' homes. This includes most SATURDAYS.
- Must be willing to attend budgeting classes and Homeowners Association Meetings.
- Must provide for your closing costs (1% of the total cost of your house; about $1300).
- Must allow Habitat to verify the information on your applications, pull a credit report and contact your references (landlord, employer, credit, criminal and personal).
- Must allow 2 home visits by members of Habitat's Family Selection Committee.
