Program puts dream in reach

Friday, April 7, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.

Dreams can come true, but they sometimes require some driving.

For 32-year-old Las Vegas resident Ramona Ward, a single mother of two boys, 11 and 14, the dream was owning her own home after a life of living in apartments.

An office specialist for the Clark County School District, Ward had worked with a nonprofit organization, Housing for Nevada, to obtain a home under a government-financed home-buyer program.

Ward, whose annual income is about $35,000, was excited to be eligible for down payment assistance of $20,000 to $35,000 that she would not have to repay. But she also found that the $150,000 to $165,000 mortgage for which she qualified would be enough for only a run-down home in Las Vegas.

Believing her dream would have to remain just that, Ward planned to remain in the home that she and her two sons were renting.

"It was depressing because like any person, you want to provide for your family and have decent housing," Ward said.

Ward's despair lifted, however, when she was referred to a little-known home-buyer program under which she could get a new 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom home in the Las Vegas Valley that otherwise would have been beyond her financial reach.

But there was a catch: Ward and her sons would have to move out of Las Vegas to qualify for the rural housing program loan from the Agriculture Department. That meant commuting to her job in Las Vegas.

So Ward decided to build a home in Pahrump with a $135,000 Agriculture Department loan, after receiving a $60,000 discount by agreeing to help build it through a program operated by Citizens for Affordable Homes, a nonprofit group with a mission similar to Habitat for Humanity.

"Never in a million years did I think this was possible. It's going to be wonderful," Ward said. "I wouldn't be able to get into anything without the program. I would still be in an apartment."

Administrators of the federal loan program - primarily for first-time home buyers and those who currently do not own a home - are looking for more people like Ward.

In 2005 only $1.07 million out of $2.8 million available for Nevada was lent by the Agriculture Department for its rural housing program.

Only 17 people were served, but that number could have more than doubled if there had been more Nevada applicants. As it was, the unspent $1.7 million returned to a pool from which other states could draw, said Kevin McAllister, the rural development manager of the Agriculture Department's Las Vegas office.

"This program has been around since 1949, but the problem is, a lot of people don't know about it," McAllister said. "Nobody can touch what we do. We have a lack of affordable housing in Las Vegas, but there are options if you want to commute. When it comes to owning a home, it is a very small sacrifice."

Communities outside of Las Vegas eligible for the loans include Jean, Primm, Pahrump, Overton, Mesquite, Searchlight, Moapa and Boulder City.

The Agriculture Department finances 100 percent of the 33- to 38-year loans, which have interest rates ranging from 1 percent to 5.75 percent and require no mortgage insurance. The only fee is $35 for a credit report.

To qualify, a family of three can earn no more than $42,550 a year; the annual income ceiling for a family of five is $51,050. The maximum loan amounts are $247,994 in Clark County and $214,588 in Nye County.

The Agriculture Department also seeks down payment assistance from nonprofit organizations to enable buyers to purchase more expensive homes.

A second Agriculture Department rural housing program - in which the agency will guarantee 90 percent of a bank's loan for those with higher incomes - also is underused, McAllister said. In 2005 only eight loans were guaranteed in Nevada, using $1.05 million out of $5.9 million available.

Those loans, which have no maximum purchase prices, are 30-year fixed rate loans. The income caps for that program are $47,700 for a single person, $61,300 for a family of three and $73,600 for a family of five, McAllister said.

Although Las Vegas Valley cities also offer first-time home-buyer programs with the same income levels, they do not have sufficient funds to match the Agriculture Department's program, said Skeet Fitzgerald, Henderson's Neighborhood Services Department director. The city offers down payment assistance of up to $10,000 as well as up to $20,000 for rehabilitation, he said.

Most cities give $10,000 to $15,000 for down payment assistance and some additional funds for rehabilitation, said Housing for Nevada President John Smith, whose group administers some housing programs for Clark County and Henderson. It referred Ward to the Agriculture Department.

North Las Vegas provides up to $22,000 in down payment assistance for nurses and teachers.

The Agriculture Department's partnership with Citizens for Affordable Homes adds a twist to the rural housing program for first-time home buyers willing to sweat for a discounted home.

The program requires 35 hours a week of work during the house's construction period, typically about six months. Home buyers can get help from friends and family members to comply with that requirement, said Cassandra Selbach, Citizens for Affordable Homes' marketing director.

Selbach expects Ward to be the first of many Las Vegas Valley residents willing to commute to their jobs to take advantage of the Agriculture Department's programs.

"I am already starting to see the interest," said Selbach, whose group has started monthly seminars with the Agriculture Department. "There are a lot of people in Pahrump commuting already, and there are a lot of people in Vegas willing to commute if it meant they could own their home."

Construction on Ward's home, expected to begin within the next week, will take about five to six months, Selbach said.

Ward said she is more than willing to drive 70 minutes a day to and from her own home. Her sons also do not mind moving, she said, preferring the added privacy - and the chance to put up a basketball hoop and freely ride their bikes - afforded by their new home.

"I had to weigh the benefits of owning my own property with having to commute, but I thought it's worth it," Ward said.