LiveEvanston program offers rehabbed homes, second-mortgage grants

http://www.LiveEvanston.Net

Last year Evanston received an $18.15 million federal grant to acquire and rehab 100 units of foreclosed and abandoned properties in two census tracts on the city’s west and south sides.

The homes and condos will be offered for sale at prices as low as $60,000 for a condo and $100,000 for a single-family home through the LiveEvanston program to buyers who meet income-eligibility limits, qualify for a conventional first mortgage, and occupy the home as their primary residence.

Down payment requirements are as little as 3.5%. Buyers will be eligible for “soft” second mortgages that require no payments during the term of the loan and are forgiven over a 5- to 15-year period. Second mortgage amounts will range from $7,000 to $50,000. People who live and work in Evanston will have a priority on purchasing the homes.

The first few homes became available September 22nd and will be open for viewing this Sunday, September 25. Visit LiveEvanston for the details.

The video is a recent drive through part of census tract 8092, and passes near several of the homes that will be offered for sale. This census tract was 15% White, 66% Black, 17% Hispanic and 1% Asian, according to the 2009 Census Bureau American Community Survey. The median home value was $327K. Fifty-one percent of households had an income less than $50,000 and 15% had an income above $100,000. Only 16% of the population over the age of 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher, a strikingly low percentage for a North Shore neighborhood.

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