Kansas First Time Homebuyer Assistance

2010-12-25T13:44:00.000-08:00

There is a program for first time home buyers in Kansas. It’s called The first time homes buyers program or FTHB. Not as well know as the first time home buyer tax credit of recent history, it’s still a powerful and helpful tool.

One of if not the biggest obstacles to homeownership for first time buyers is lack of cash. This incentive solves that problem but first one must qualify with a participating lender. Once qualified a new buyer has plenty of help for a first real estate purchase.

To qualify the buyer or buyers must have incomes at or below 80 percent of the median for their area. The loan can be from 15-20 percent of the purchase price of the home depending on the applicants income level.
The first time home buyer is expected to come up with $500 or 2 percent of the purchase price, which ever is greater.

Some other conditions are that the home being sought is $150,000 or less, cannot be in a flood zone, must be occupied by the qualified buyer and , this is tough one, cannot be within the City limits of Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, Lawrence or Johnson County.

If cash on hand has been holding you back from moving into your first home you now may have an answer.

Call me with questions or to see if you qualify.

Joel Weihe
joelw@rwwichita.com
316 833-2677

Why Not Own Your Home and Stop Renting!!

2009-07-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Are you still throwing your money away on rent? Really, think about it. Every month you write that check and give to the landlord, never to be seen again as it disappears into his pocket. It's time to own your own home and stop renting.

Being a land lord has got to be one of the easiest jobs there is. He buys a house, just like you could, then lets someone live there while he builds equity and makes profit. Sure once in while he may have to fix something, or paint or whatever, but overall it's a very stress free and profitable existence.

I'm not suggesting you should become a landlord, although if you did you could be taking some other poor saps money, what I am suggesting is that you look into buying. Did you know that it's very possible, likely even, that you could be laying out less cash every month on a Mortgage than on rent.

When you own a home you in essence have a place to live for free. Every month when you make a payment on your house your building equity. Equity is money. That doesn't even include the improvements you make. More money.

Then there's the tax benefits. Every year when you file your tax returns for the money the Government has been holding for you, you can write off your house. Not the whole house of course, but things like mortgage interest and real estate taxes. There are write offs for making your home more energy efficient. First time home buyer write offs. In fact,this year, 2009, the Government will even give you $8000 to buy a house.

I have a story about a young man who used to work for me. He and his girlfriend rented. Every month throwing that money away, and every month complaining about it. Every month I told him “then stop it, go find a house to buy. It's really not that difficult. Doesn't have to be a dream house, just STOP paying rent! Later you can sell it when you want to move up, and make money instead of throwing it away!.”

Well, he did. Him and the girlfriend went out, found a small house with a nice yard, went to the bank and now they are proud homeowners investing their money in their future rather than wasting it. He is so happy. When I see him now he's bragging about his latest remodel project, or his garden or what he's doing with the money he's saving. It's really nice to see him so happy as opposed to complaining about being broke all the time. The whole process took less than a month, and he even broke his old lease because the numbers worked in his favor.

Here is an open question posted by a renter on a real estate site that asked

“I pay $800/mo. for 1 bed apt., should I just find a home for rent and hope there's an option to buy?”

Here is the answer,

“In all honesty you should try and buy a home and quit enriching your landlord, start building some equity for yourself and become a proud home owner. Often times in that price range, $800, you will lay out less cash every month for a nicer place that is your own. It's also a great way to hold on to your money and even grow it. Now is a good time too as economic indicators are pointing to an improvement in the economy which will mean higher prices and interest rates in the near future.”

Right now in Wichita Kansas it's a perfect time to get out of the rent trap and buy your own home.

So why are you still renting?

Click here to enlarge the cartoon!!

Wichitas Home Site

Kansas First Time Homebuyer Assistance

Why Not Own Your Home and Stop Renting!!