March 22, 2010
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Wyoming Community Development Authority

Casper - Six Wyoming housing organizations and associations have formed a unique partnership to benefit the state’s first-time homebuyers.
 
The Wyoming Community Development Authority (WCDA) is administering the partnership that includes the Wyoming Housing Network, Inc. (WHN), the Wyoming Bankers Association (WBA), the Wyoming Association of Realtors (WAR), the Wyoming Mortgage Lenders Association (WMLA), and the Central Wyoming Home Builders Association (CWHBA).
 
This first-ever partnership between all facets of the housing industry in Wyoming was formed for a singular purpose: to let Wyoming residents who are currently thinking about buying their first home know that this may be the best possible time to do so.
 
“What we are seeing right now is a rare combination of market factors that make this a perfect time for folks to buy their first home,” David Haney, WCDA Executive Director said.
 
According to Haney, those market factors include average home prices across Wyoming have stabilized, and in many areas, are coming down; mortgage loan interests rates for first-time homebuyers are currently very low; the number of available homes on the market is steadily increasing; rental housing costs remain high; and the federal first-time homebuyer tax credit is still in effect until the end of April.
 
“First-time homebuyers must have their home under contract by April 30 and close by June 30 to qualify for the tax credit,” Haney said.
 
The six-way partnership is emphasizing a simple message to potential first-time homebuyers – “Buy Now”.
 
To make the home buying process easier to understand, a webpage has been launched that contains the “5 Steps to Homeownership” along with numerous links to other websites that will assist homebuyers through the process. The five steps include completing a homebuyer education course online followed by one-on-one counseling, scheduling a meeting with a mortgage lender to get pre-qualified/pre-approved, selecting a real estate professional to assist with house hunting or selecting a builder as well as getting a signed purchase agreement. The last step is to return to the mortgage lender to complete the mortgage loan application.
 
“When you look at the five steps, it seems ‘over-simplified,’” Haney said. “But we see way too many people who dive into the process without first being educated on the pitfalls or how it all works, or they obtain a mortgage loan that is simply too much for them to maintain. They literally do the five steps out of order or leave out a step or two, and that has caused real hardships later in their lives. Yes, we want people to buy their first home, but we want to make sure every one of them is doing it in an educated, fiscally-responsible way.”
 
“Buy Now” posters will be going up in real estate offices, housing organizations, builders’ offices and lender offices across the state over the next several months and traditional media advertising will also support this partnership’s initiative, Haney said.
 
“The bottom line here is that most of us in the housing business have not seen a ‘perfect storm’ of advantageous market factors like this in a very long time and we just want folks who are thinking about buying their first home to know about them,” Haney said.
 
For more information about the partnership, log onto www.wyomingcda.com and click on the “Buy Now” link or call the WCDA at 265-0603.