Angel purchased his first home earlier this month in the Franklin Heights neighborhood. His home sale also marked a first for ACTS.
ACTS Lending, the affiliate nonprofit of ACTS Housing, has increased its microloan amount from $25,000 to $50,000 and expanded its use to include purchase. Angel was the first ACTS homebuyer to receive the increased loan amount for his home rehab.
Director of Lending and Home Rehab Priya Bhatia believes the new amount will connect families to more opportunity.
“The increased loan amount gives ACTS families a better opportunity to find a home in today’s real estate market that meets their needs,” she said. “And we continue to keep the affordability issue front and center.”
Recipients of the increased loan amount can expect monthly payments of $500 or less which includes principal, taxes, and insurance. The interest rate on the new loan will remain six percent.
Bhatia says the $500 monthly payment is at or below the cost of rent for most borrowers.
Angel described himself as ‘very excited’ to finally be a homeowner. His ACTS real estate agent Jenean Shorter is just as pleased.
His home requires a $53,000 rehab project including structural, electrical, and plumbing work. Shorter says the loan will help him tackle it.
“City homes need a lot of work,” she said. “The new loan amount will give families the opportunity to purchase homes that need more repairs and do what they need to do to live in it.”
Angel has already started cleaning and painting the home just two weeks in to being a homeowner.
He says he had a good experience and he would ‘absolutely recommend’ ACTS to potential homebuyers.
“I was looking around, I saw the list, and I found the house,” he said.
Photos of the house before Angel’s rehab project.
