Online Services for First Time Home Buyers

I received an email from Debra Patterson regarding an online service that matches first time homebuyers with eligible down payment assistance programs:

DOWN PAYMENT RESOURCES MATCHES FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS
WITH ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS WITHIN MINUTES

Workforce Resource Launches Online Service in Metro Atlanta; Gives Lenders Competitive Advantage; Ensures Homebuyers Achieve Maximum Opportunities for Home Ownership

ATLANTA, Sept. 9, 2009 – With the Atlanta rollout of Down Payment ResourceSM (www.downpaymentresource.com), the typically confusing and time-intensive process of matching qualified first-time homebuyers with downpayment assistance programs is now automated and easily completed within minutes. Using this online service, lenders can educate their clients about available funding, and ensure those eligible for assistance are provided with maximum opportunities for home ownership.

Developed by Workforce Resource (www.workforce-resource.com), the Atlanta-based company licenses its innovative flagship service to professionals across the housing industry. Down Payment Resource identifies and cuts through the bewildering array of federal, state and local government assistance programs – each with complicated rules and oftentimes contradictory requirements – to provide prospective homebuyers with preliminary determination of eligibility.

“There is a real need for service providers to easily identify downpayment assistance and incentive programs available to their clients,” says real estate and lending industry veteran Rob Chrane, founder of Workforce Resource. “Down Payment Resource assembles and analyzes complex program criteria, identifying relevant opportunities. This enables lenders to present their clients with timely and accurate information that leads to critical marketplace knowledge, strengthened relationships and increased sales.”

Competitive Advantage for Banks, Mortgage Lenders and REO Asset Managers

Based on household size, income, occupation and assets combined with desired location and type of housing, Down Payment Resource identifies assistance programs that a:

• Bank or mortgage lender’s customer is qualified to receive, and may be used in conjunction with an appropriate first mortgage product.
• REO Asset Manager recognizes may enhance the affordability of their listing, and that their customer can provide to a lender to improve financing options.

“A cornerstone of our value proposition is that everyone who touches this service wins,” states Chrane. “While homebuyers are the ultimate beneficiaries, lenders make more loans, real estate agents and builders sell more homes, and assistance agencies meet their missions in spite of dwindling resources.”

Lending professionals further benefit by tapping into an expanded pool of qualified prospects, generating greater customer satisfaction and increasing referrals. Also lenders can strengthen the security of the first mortgage and mitigate risk of loss from early payment default. In addition, banks can more effectively meet their Community Reinvestment Act requirements with this cost-effective service.

Down Payment Resource also acts as a lead generation tool for lenders who display a customized link on their website, encouraging visitors to complete a self-administered questionnaire and quickly assess their assistance program eligibility. In addition, when a prospective homebuyer clicks through to learn more about a home posted on a Multiple Listing Service that qualifies for downpayment assistance, a notice may appear and link to more information including the online eligibility questionnaire. After completing this informative exercise, consumers frequently engage in ongoing interaction with lenders, leading to expanded sales opportunities.

Avid Supporters

Launched during second quarter of this year in metro Atlanta (the country’s eighth largest Metropolitan Statistical Area), Down Payment Resource supports consumers who want to buy affordable housing in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, as well as in the cities of Atlanta, Marietta and Sandy Springs. Workforce Resource is building a national platform to expand coverage to the 250 largest MSAs in the United States, starting in the Southeast and in California.

The proprietary web-based application already has avid supporters. The Atlanta Development Authority and the City of Atlanta Bureau of Housing have signed cooperative marketing and information sharing agreements with Workforce Resource. Respected real estate and financial organizations are using, or have committed to utilizing, the Down Payment Resource service including: The Integral Group, Brock Built Homes, Russell New Urban, Keller Williams Realty, Coldwell Banker NRT Development Advisors, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc., as well as Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta.

Helping Homebuyers Overcome Challenges

“A big challenge for those seeking affordable homes is understanding the complexities of the many assistance programs available today. Too often, program dollars go unspent because of a lack of easily accessible and consumer friendly information,” explains John O’Callaghan, CEO, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc. “Despite vast quantities of material on the Internet, people still desire knowledgeable guidance and personal service.” Down Payment Resource offers a centralized source of information that the lending community can share with consumers.

Affordable lending programs are often under-marketed; qualified homebuyers are under-served; and chances to reduce the staggering inventory of unsold homes are missed. Millions of homebuyers and lenders could benefit from information garnered through Down Payment Resource:

• First-time homebuyers represent 50 percent of the market*.
• Downpayment assistance of $7,500 would double the renters qualifying for a mortgage from 7.6 percent to 15.4 percent**.
• Millions of homeowners displaced by foreclosure will be considered first-time homebuyers within three years of losing their homes, and may be eligible for assistance.

“Our goal is to put Down Payment Resource at the fingertips of hundreds of thousands of lending, real estate and home building professionals who support families nationwide,” explains Chrane.

Workforce Resource has developed an innovative solution that helps qualified homebuyers achieve sustainable homeownership.”

About Down Payment Resource

Workforce Resource licenses its proprietary online Down Payment ResourceSM service to professionals across the housing industry to promote awareness of, increase access to and simplify prospective homebuyers’ applications for downpayment assistance programs. Using this innovative service, real estate agents, home builders, lenders, REO asset managers and housing counselors can quickly match first-time — as well as low- and moderate-income — homebuyers with available funding, ensuring those eligible for assistance are provided with maximum opportunities for home ownership, while they strengthen client relationships and increase sales. For more information, visit www.downpaymentresource.com.

About Workforce Resource

Founded in 2008, Atlanta-based Workforce Resource developed an electronic platform to help consumers acquire scarce affordable housing in U.S. urban job centers, making it possible for school systems, hospitals and police departments, as well as corporations and small businesses to recruit and retain employees. Those protectors, educators, healthcare and other service workers who are willing to “drive til they qualify” often endure long daily commutes that exacerbate traffic congestion, create air pollution and otherwise diminish their quality of life and that of their families and communities. For more information, visit www.workforce-resource.com.

* HouseHunt Q-4 2008 survey of 2,000 realtors.

** “Who Could Afford to Buy a Home in 2004,” Housing and Household Economics Statistics Division, U.S. Census Bureau, May 2009.