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this is all about mackin Posted May 21, 2003 -- One of the first things Realtor Gloria Owens asks potential homebuyers is, "How much money are you working with?" Owens says that if the answer is anything below $10,000 -- sometimes it's zero -- "I know I've got to find them a [low down payment] plan." It's a situation that Owens confronts "all the time" as an agent with Black-owned Murrell Realtors, Inc. Just recently, Owens had to devise a down payment strategy for a cash-strapped teacher who wanted to purchase a townhouse just outside of Washington, D.C., where such units go for more than $100,000. Owens used the young single woman's good credit to leverage a loan for the entire cost of the home, avoiding the need for a down payment altogether. Lack of cash at hand for a down payment is the biggest barrier to buying a home, a fact acknowledged by housing experts from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to real estate agents like Owens. Minorities in particular, for a lot of reasons, lack the accumulated wealth and savings that let others make down payments of up to 20 percent. So, private mortgage lenders, state and local housing agencies, the federal government and organizations such as Fannie Mae are coming up with new ways that'll get the average person the keys to a new house with only three or five percent of the purchase price paid up front or, like the teacher who came to Owens for help, nothing at all. Most notable among efforts to help people with little cash or savings to buy a home is the federal government's American Dream Down Payment Fund.
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