Live Where You Work Program

[lisas84]

I just heard that Councilman Schnurr went to Trenton to meet with State Officials to put the finishing touches on the Live Where You Work Program. This holds tremendous promise in building a strong resident population that over time will decrease rentals and increase property values.

There will be much more information and details forthcoming. I find it exciting because I think with the town pride that many people have, it will be a huge success.

[Mike Rosseel]

IMHO, George is one of the hardest working people on council. He is involved with so many things. I hope people see how lucky we are to have someone working on issues to help this town. Newman, sent his list of things he is working on too and I applaud him for all he is doing but George does it without press or anything, just for the best of Freehold!

[BrianSullivan]

Lisa,

Thank you for sending us this bit of info. It is good to see and nice to hear about progress. I look forward to hearing more about this program in the future.

[admin]

newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2010-03-31/Front_Page/State_housing_program_draws_councils_interest.html

State housing program draws council’s interest

BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Buying a home in Freehold Borough may get a bit easier if an individual also makes the town his or her place of employment.

The Live Where You Work Program was discussed at the March 15 meeting of the Borough Council.

The program, presented by Councilman George Schnurr, is a special home mortgage incentive program that provides low-interest mortgages to people who work in Freehold Borough and who are looking to purchase a home in the community.

“The benefits to the borough of implementing this program include strengthening our neighborhoods and increasing community involvement through home ownership, attracting individuals who work in Freehold Borough to also live in Freehold Borough, and developing positive relationships between Freehold Borough and members of the local business communities,” Schnurr said.

He said the Live Where You Work Program would provide low-interest mortgages to homebuyers and would allow for more flexible underwriting criteria for the loan qualification process.

He said that in consideration of the anticipated savings in an individual’s commuting costs, the underwriting guidelines will be expanded by 3 percent over the usual agency underwriting limits, giving borrowers significantly more buying power.

Schnurr said the program will also subsidize down payments and closing cost assistance of up to 5 percent of the home’s mortgage. He said the assistance does not have to be repaid if the buyer lives in the home for seven years. Purchasers do not have to be first-time homebuyers.

Corporations and partnerships are not permitted to act as borrowers and the buyer must live in the house. According to Schnurr, the Live Where You Work Program is not available for investors who would be purchasing the properties as rentals.

He said the program is underwritten by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Financing Agency.




“As such it is not affected by state budget,” Schnurr said. “We discussed the program with them on several occasions last year. (Borough Administrator) Joe Bellina and I met with them last week in Trenton.”

Schnurr said 28 municipalities around New Jersey are enrolled in the program.

“I found out about the program from Neptune Councilman Randy Bishop, who told me that Neptune had signed up for the program and he thought it would be a beneficial program to us as well,” the councilman explained.

In order to qualify for the program, the borough will have to meet several requirements, including passing a resolution that states that officials have endorsed the program.

“We also have to create a housing fair where we would bring area real estate professionals and approved lending institutions together to educate the public about this program. There also needs to be an outreach program developed for the business community in Freehold Borough to educate them about the program as well,” Schnurr said.

Council members appeared to be in favor of participating in the Live Where You Work Program. Action on the matter may be taken at the governing body’s April 5 meeting.

Councilman John Newman said, “Given possible federal incentives and our unique location as a county seat, I think this program has the potential to increase home ownership in Freehold Borough.”

Newman said he would like to partner with local businesses on this program in order to increase their exposure and to attract new customers. He said he might ask business owners to consider offering discounts to new homebuyers.

“This program seems like a win-win for Freehold Borough,” he said. “It may also bring in more businesses in the future when employers see that there is a work force here. It is a major incentive for employers to see people wanting to live where they work.

“Increased quality of life, lower cost of living, reduced traffic congestion, improving our overall tax base, increased home ownership and promoting strong neighborhoods are just a few of the benefits this program may afford,” he added.

[lisas84]

I'm so excited about this program. It just makes so much sense. I was wondering when the housing fair will get going. The CIC is ready to act.



Councilman Schnurr made a great presentation at the council meeting. I didn't write down the numbers, but I recall him saying also that interested couples/individuals or families don't have to be first-time homebuyers.

[adefonzo]

Here I go again...being the apparent voice of negativity...but I have to ask a few questions...

First, I have to say that I believe the concept of the idea is a fantastic one....I just have to wonder who will pay the bill (there is always a bill).

I will read through this again tomorrow, and look for other info online...but let me see if I have this straight...

Buy a home in Freehold Boro, while having your work place in Freehold Boro, and you will be eligible for some sort of lower rate mortgage. Am I missing anything so far?

Alright...get ready to kill me...

First of all...I am really interested in knowing what type of government program is (on the surface) forcing banks to lower their interest rates based on where someone works. This seems like a government take-over (slowly at first) of mortgages as well......being of the old school of smaller government, I would lean towards a lower tax rate for those who live and work in the Boro. But I think we all see the problem there...who's going to make up the difference in the taxes???

I really have to look into this some more...because as I said, I think the overall concept is sound...I am just concerned about the details (you know me and those pesky details).

[lisas84]

Great questions, Andrew! You do the research and post your results with the full sources/citations.

It will be great to read what you find!

[richardkelsey]

Apr 7, 2010 13:27:33 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

Here I go again...being the apparent voice of negativity...but I have to ask a few questions...

First, I have to say that I believe the concept of the idea is a fantastic one....I just have to wonder who will pay the bill (there is always a bill).

I will read through this again tomorrow, and look for other info online...but let me see if I have this straight...

Buy a home in Freehold Boro, while having your work place in Freehold Boro, and you will be eligible for some sort of lower rate mortgage. Am I missing anything so far?

Alright...get ready to kill me...

First of all...I am really interested in knowing what type of government program is (on the surface) forcing banks to lower their interest rates based on where someone works. This seems like a government take-over (slowly at first) of mortgages as well......being of the old school of smaller government, I would lean towards a lower tax rate for those who live and work in the Boro. But I think we all see the problem there...who's going to make up the difference in the taxes???

I really have to look into this some more...because as I said, I think the overall concept is sound...I am just concerned about the details (you know me and those pesky details).

In theory, where you have lower property tax rates, you have higher values. Higher values mean more tax collection. (Assuming the values are high enough to make up for the lower rates.)

The article says the state budget does not affect the program. That does beg the question -- who is subsidizing this? Is it federal money?

I don't have a problem with the program, assuming the subsidies are not from taxpayers. (Again, just another ponzi scheme.) Yes, it is better to have some other jurisdiction subsidize your program than you -- but one must assume that we likewise subsidize programs like this elsewhere, and all it does is grow government.

Having said that, economic development -- the process of providing incentives that are really costs to taxpayers is not inherently evil -- assuming the benefits outweigh the costs.

Therein lies the questions I have.

Of the 28 communities using the program, what have the results been? Are they reversing trends of rising rental property percentages in their respective home portfolios? Are program participants more or less likely to be foreclosed upon. Foreclosure of properties hurts residential values dramatically, and an increase in foreclosures would eliminate any benefit of increased home ownership.

Let's be clear here -- the joint effort of the Republicans and the Democrats to create an "Ownership" society caused the economic and real estate meltdown. Money was lent to people who could not pay it back, and needed not to prove they could. Loan terms were too favorable, and many homeowners had no risk in the game, making walking away too easy. This hurt the neighborhoods more than the individuals, many of whom bought with no money down.

So -- I like the idea. I think Councilman Schnurr should be commended for investigating it. I think, assuming these questions are favorably answered, that Councilman Newman is correct -- Freehold is well situated to take advantage of this program as a County seat.

I think, however, those questions must be addressed.

[BrianSullivan]

Apr 7, 2010 10:38:35 GMT -5 lisas84 said:

I'm so excited about this program. It just makes so much sense. I was wondering when the housing fair will get going. The CIC is ready to act.



Councilman Schnurr made a great presentation at the council meeting. I didn't write down the numbers, but I recall him saying also that interested couples/individuals or families don't have to be first-time homebuyers.

Lisa, Here are the numbers that we say the other night...

Households with two people who make less that 105,000 and with three or more people making under 122,000 will be eligible.

[BrianSullivan]

I really wanted to get back to this. I see Andrew asked some really good questions. It certainly would be good to find out more about this program.

For now I have to call it a winner. I have said before, we need to redefine this town now while the economy is doing bad. We cannot wait for others to do it for us from the outside. This program fits in nicely with increasing home ownership.

When the economy gets better, there are two reasonable things to expect- illegal immigrants will start to come back in large numbers and the landlords, and slum lords, will be able to make money off of them. Those issues are ones of economics and numbers that are not good for this town.

With the above stated, I have had some reservations. I posted the numbers for Lisa and I did not realize it until the meeting the other night that there is a salary cap on who can participate. That is sad because it misses a very important element that this town really needs- to keep the people who have money and bring more of them in. It is a shame that the money crowd is left out.

It is a fact that this town has a very solid working class and blue collar history and demographic. This town has also done a lot for people at the bottom end of the economic scale. I am not complaining about those facts. What I am trying to say is that we need to attract the money crowd to live here just like we want to attract quality businesses to town. We need them. Many of the problems we have in this town are directly due to the economic imbalance that we have here. Illegal immigration, the rental issues, over crowed schools and more are not the problems, but the symptoms of that imbalance.

Case in point. There is a gorgeous house on Broadway that is a run down rental with boards on the windows. It is an older house in dire need of love. It is for sale. I looked it up on line and it is not in the price range of people who would be eligible for this program. Yet, this is just the type of house that we need to flip back to being a one family that is well kept. Where is the incentive?

I will use my wife and I as an example. We are not house hunting, but that house is just what we would look at if we were. We are just above the cap to qualify for that program. How about a doctor or lawyer who might want that house? The program falls short for too many people and that house might just wind up staying an ugly run down rental.

Let me make clear for the Kool ade drinkers who only read what they want. I am not beating up the program, just pointing to a shortfall. Schnurr did a good thing by bringing this to the table. There is no question that if the desired results are met, it will be a really good feather in his, and the rest of the council's, cap.