So often, when you buy Whitby homes in Ontario, or homes anywhere, really, you take what you get when it comes to neighbors. A nice couple with well behaved children is about the best you can hope for, with drug dealers at the bottom of the scale and all manner of people who mow their lawns at 3am or park rusted cars in the yard in between. But what if there was a way to entice competent, well-behaved people into your neighborhood? Would you not want the city to do everything it could? Well in Hialeah, Florida, it has. It's called the Good Neighbor Next Door Program.
The Good Neighbor Next Door Program is actually a national initiative put forth by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (sorry, owners of Central Toronto homes, there's no participation in Canada). The purpose of the program is to promote responsible people such as teachers, firefighters, police officers, and paramedics and their families to move into neighborhoods that are in need of great neighbors. It serves the dual purpose of revitalizing communities and of helping these people become homeowners.
This program can be a tremendous boom for you if your profession falls into the covered category, especially if you're just starting out in your career. Why? Because the Department of Housing and Human Development will subsidize your home purchase. If you bought Mississauga townhouses you'd have to pay for it all yourself, but if you want to move to Hialeah you could find yourself getting a 50% discount off the listed price! How's that for incentive?
There are some conditions that come with using the program, of course, that you wouldn't have to adhere to if you were simply financing the purchase of a home yourself. For one thing, you're limited to areas that are being revitalized. Fancy, well-established neighborhoods like Edmonton real estate wouldn't qualify. Additionally you have to agree to live in the house yourself for no less than three years. You'll also have to make your choice of single family house from a list the program compiles.
If you're interested in selling your High Park Toronto real estate and helping an American community revitalize, you can visit the Department of Housing and Urban Development's website at www.hud.gov. The department can also help you obtain loans and financing for your portion of the home's mortgage through the FHA Rehabilitation mortgage program.
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