St. Johns Housing Partnership: Building Quality, Affordable Housing in St. Augustine, Florida St. Johns Housing Partnership: Building Quality, Affordable Housing in St. Augustine, Florida
St. Johns Housing Partnership: Building Quality, Affordable Housing in St. Augustine, Florida P.O. Box 1086 · St. Augustine, FL 32085 · 904-824-0902 · info@sjhp.org
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Credit Counseling Services

The St. Johns Housing Partnership has a program to provide credit counseling services. Those taking the classes are assigned a volunteer mentor who is knowledgeable in the credit field.

To get a clear vision of the house that fits your needs, these questions can help define your options:

  1. How much total monthly housing costs can you afford?
  2. How much can you afford for a downpayment?
  3. What square footage do you need to live comfortably?
  4. How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you need?
  5. Is having a yard important and/or a garage?
  6. What distance do you want to be from your contacts?
  7. Do you know about the neighborhood schools and stores?
  8. If you commute, what's the farthest you want to travel?

The housing market is potentially lucrative for unscrupulous lenders. Predatory lenders can be recognized by the kind of loans they offer. Some characteristics are: balloon payments, prepayment penalties, interest rates that rise over the life of the loan (or loan flipping), deceptive marketing, and continually refinancing a loan to maximize fees. Other signs of potential problems can help you determine whether a loan is being offered by a predatory lender:

  1. Did you feel pressure to sign without enough time to understand the agreement?
  2. Do the fees total more than 4 percent?
  3. Were the loans in excess of 100% of the property value?
  4. Did they change the loan terms at closing?

Sometimes people who have good credit are charged higher "subprime" rates and fees for loans, because they don't know that their credit is good. You can request your credit "score" for a fee from credit bureaus, or a lender can give you a free copy when you apply for a loan. Your credit score is a number that lenders use to decide how good a credit risk you are. Most credit scores range from 300 to 850, and the higher the score, the better your credit. Most lenders consider scores over 700 as "good" to "excellent" scores. Avoid lenders who won't give your score to you. Get your credit report from the three credit bureaus below.

Equifax: (800) 685-1111, www.equifax.com
Experian: (888) 397-3742, www.experian.com/consumr
TransUnion: (800) 888-4213, www.transunion.com

Always assume that any paper you sign is a contract. Before you sign the loan papers, ask a lawyer or trusted friend to go over them with you. Don't sign a document with blank spaces. Realistic homebuyers do the math first.

Sale Price / Loan P&I1 Interest Rate Escrows2 PMI3 Total Closing Costs
$ 100,000 $ 632.07 6.5 % $ 141.67 $ 79.17 $ 852.91 $ 3,674.63
$ 110,000 $ 695.27 6.5 % $ 158.34 $ 87.08 $ 940.69 $ 3,852.19
$ 125,000 $ 790.09 6.5 % $ 185.42 $ 98.96 $ 1,074.47 $ 4,124.74
1 P&I = Principal & Interest. 2  Escrows = Housing Insurance & Property Taxes. 3  PMI = Private Mortgage Insurance.
The St. Johns Housing Partnership: Hancock Place