Ottawa - $9,700/5% of the purchase price (whichever is lower) for firsttime buyer

[William W]

Hot deal for those who are currently renting in Ottawa and will be looking to get into the market. This may very well be the extra boost that you need to get into the market.

You can find more detail and application here.

___________________________________

The City of Ottawa has received an allocation of $2.025 million from the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program to provide down payment assistance to 205 low and moderate-income households on the purchase of their first home. The Affordable Housing Unit (AHU) in the Housing Branch is the Service Manager responsible for administering the Canada-Ontario Home Ownership Assistance Program.

The application process will close January 31, 2009.

Eligibility
To be eligible for down payment assistance, prospective purchasers must meet the following minimum criteria:

-Be a renter
-Be at least 18 years old
-Be a first-time homebuyer:
-Any individual or household of two or more whom have not owned a home prior to the purchase of a unit through the Program. A single parent who, while married, owned a home with his or her spouse or resided in a home owned by the spouse. A single parent is an individual who is unmarried or legally separated from a spouse and has custody or joint custody of one or more minor children or is pregnant.

Household Income Limits
To be eligible for down payment assistance, the annual gross maximum eligible income limit for a household of one is $62,600. For households of two or more, the maximum eligible income limit is $75,800.

Maximum Purchase Price
The maximum sale price of the home must not exceed $285,778 and the home must be located within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Ottawa.

Eligible Units
-Resale homes - provided a home inspection is undertaken at the prospective homeowner's expense.
-Units may be freehold or condominium detached, semi-detached, townhouse or stacked town or condominium apartments.
-Homes must be modest in size as determined by the Province and the City of Ottawa.

Homeownership Assistance Levels
The Homeownership assistance will be used as a down payment on the purchase of a new or resale home. The assistance will be a no-interest second mortgage loan in an amount not to exceed $9,700 or 5 per cent of the purchase price (whichever is lower) to the eligible first-time homebuyer.

The loan is granted for a period of 20 years and no interest will be charged on the assistance. Appropriate documentation will be in place to secure the down payment assistance on title or in an agreement upon closing.

Security Agreement
-The City of Ottawa will register an appropriate security agreement (e.g. mortgage) with the purchaser on title. This will provide a mechanism for the repayment of the down payment assistance and five percent of the realized capital gains to the Affordable Housing Revolving Fund when ownership changes as a result of the sale of the house, title transfer, death of the homeowner or breach of the security agreement.
-The unit must remain the sole and principal residence of the applicant(s) for the entire 20-year period. It may not be leased to another party.
-Applicants must secure mortgage financing through a primary lending institution.

Conditions for Repayment by a Homeowner
On the 20th anniversary date of the agreement, the loan is automatically forgiven, provided there has been no default under the terms of the loan.

Under the terms of the 20 year loan agreement, an equity share payment is required if the buyer:

-Sells or transfers the title of the house
-Leases the property
-Does not use the home as his/her principle residence

Application forms are also available from the Affordable Housing Unit and can be requested by phone.

[240sxer]

.. And don't forget the $2000 back for Land Transfer Tax Refund as well

[KsprayDad]

Hot deal for those who are currently renting in Ottawa and will be looking to get into the market. I suppose this can be your 5% down payment that you need to get into the market.

You can find more detail and application here.

___________________________________

The City of Ottawa has received an allocation of $2.025 million from the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program to provide down payment assistance to 205 low and moderate-income households on the purchase of their first home. The Affordable Housing Unit (AHU) in the Housing Branch is the Service Manager responsible for administering the Canada-Ontario Home Ownership Assistance Program.

The application process will close January 31, 2009.

Eligibility
To be eligible for down payment assistance, prospective purchasers must meet the following minimum criteria:

Be a renter
Be at least 18 years old
Be a first-time homebuyer:
Any individual or household of two or more whom have not owned a home prior to the purchase of a unit through the Program.
A single parent who, while married, owned a home with his or her spouse or resided in a home owned by the spouse. A single parent is an individual who is unmarried or legally separated from a spouse and has custody or joint custody of one or more minor children or is pregnant.
Household Income Limits
To be eligible for down payment assistance, the annual gross maximum eligible income limit for a household of one is $62,600. For households of two or more, the maximum eligible income limit is $75,800.

Maximum Purchase Price
The maximum sale price of the home must not exceed $285,778 and the home must be located within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Ottawa.

Eligible Units
Resale homes - provided a home inspection is undertaken at the prospective homeowner's expense.
Units may be freehold or condominium detached, semi-detached, townhouse or stacked town or condominium apartments.
Homes must be modest in size as determined by the Province and the City of Ottawa.
Homeownership Assistance Levels
The Homeownership assistance will be used as a down payment on the purchase of a new or resale home. The assistance will be a no-interest second mortgage loan in an amount not to exceed $9,700 or 5 per cent of the purchase price (whichever is lower) to the eligible first-time homebuyer.

The loan is granted for a period of 20 years and no interest will be charged on the assistance. Appropriate documentation will be in place to secure the down payment assistance on title or in an agreement upon closing.

Security Agreement
The City of Ottawa will register an appropriate security agreement (e.g. mortgage) with the purchaser on title. This will provide a mechanism for the repayment of the down payment assistance and five percent of the realized capital gains to the Affordable Housing Revolving Fund when ownership changes as a result of the sale of the house, title transfer, death of the homeowner or breach of the security agreement.
The unit must remain the sole and principal residence of the applicant(s) for the entire 20-year period. It may not be leased to another party.
Applicants must secure mortgage financing through a primary lending institution.
Conditions for Repayment by a Homeowner
On the 20th anniversary date of the agreement, the loan is automatically forgiven, provided there has been no default under the terms of the loan.

Under the terms of the 20 year loan agreement, an equity share payment is required if the buyer:

Sells or transfers the title of the house
Leases the property
Does not use the home as his/her principle residence
Application forms are also available from the Affordable Housing Unit and can be requested by phone.

Awesome...my tax money going to give interest free loans to families making up to 70+K and buying 250k+ homes. Good use of my money. Not. I'm sure this will be helpful to some but am just as sure that it will be abused to high hell.

[William W]

Awesome...my tax money going to give interest free loans to families making up to 70+K and buying 250k+ homes. Good use of my money. Not. I'm sure this will be helpful to some but am just as sure that it will be abused to high hell.

Agreed. Personally I don't agree with how they are spending MY tax dollars.

Regardless, it is a hot "Deal" for those who qualifies for this loan/grant.

[jcon]

Any time someone moves it pumps money into the economy in many different ways. Using taxpayer money to help bump the economy is good policy. The economic spin-off will help everyone.

[mself084]

OP - your copy and paste was a little misleading... i thought i had to be a single parent to qualify until i visited the actual site.

Damn... hope they have this next year when i'm looking!

[Lan-Kern]

Damn I just bought a house in Ottawa and move in first of this month. I met all the criteria as well. Too bad. ;0(

[bubble.tea]

....emptied for brevity...

I never understand people who quote the ENTIRE initial post unless they were addressing in detail everything therein, especially since it is TWO posts above ?

[William W]

OP - your copy and paste was a little misleading... i thought i had to be a single parent to qualify until i visited the actual site.

Umm..... my copy and paste was directly from the Ottawa.ca website.

[northeastwind]

.. And don't forget the $2000 back for Land Transfer Tax Refund as well

What's this? can I have more info?

[cdnNick]

$285K?? You mean I could have got a bigger house and had the city give me money for a down payment...

I thought this was to help lower income families buy a house??

[swales]

This a total joke. Every year the city wants to raise taxes because they don't have enough money and now they're giving money to people who don't need it. I also thought this was for the low income people, anyone who is making $75k and can't buy a house is doing something wrong

[mself084]

Umm..... my copy and paste was directly from the Ottawa.ca website.

I know, but the part about being a single parent was an indented bullet under "be a first time buyer", whereas your post was all the same indentation, so it looked like another main condition. just confused me, thats all

This a total joke. Every year the city wants to raise taxes because they don't have enough money and now they're giving money to people who don't need it. I also thought this was for the low income people, anyone who is making $75k and can't buy a house is doing something wrong

1) its not related to property taxes being raised at all - this was money from the province, nothing to do with your property tax bill.

2) i think alot of people won't get any money... $2mil doesn't go THAT far nowadays, so mostly the lower incomes will get it (ie the people living in community housing, if they want to move up).

[swales]

1) its not related to property taxes being raised at all - this was money from the province, nothing to do with your property tax bill.

The Province only gives the City so much money, so these funds will be detucted from somewhere else which means the City will need to figure out how to raise the money and how do they do that? Raise the taxes

[mself084]

The Province only gives the City so much money, so these funds will be detucted from somewhere else which means the City will need to figure out how to raise the money and how do they do that? Raise the taxes

Are you referring to the snow removal overruns in the spring as a particular example? Under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program, this is $2mil from the province, in a special fund, that other Ontario cities are getting as well... the city is responsible for affordable housing, so they divy up the $2mil to applicants. Not sure how this affects your property tax bill at all.

Back on-topic: anyone applying for this??? If I understand right, it's a 20 year interest free loan that is forgiven after 20 years? No payments at all?