Qualified Oʻahu homebuyers can take advantage of a city program offering interest-free loans to help with a down payment.
The city’s Department of Community Services has $380,000 left in its Down Payment Loan Program for this year.
Under the program, households earning 80% or below of the area median income can get up to $40,000 interest-free. For a family of four, the qualifying level for income is $96,000.
DCS Director Anton Krucky says the program is federally funded and a great opportunity for local households to build wealth.
"A lot of times when you’re starting out, the mortgage you thought was all that was gonna cost you to close — there’s more closing costs that happen. So it can help in that arena. It’s up to $40,000. It’s interest-free," Krucky said.
"It can also help with that first-time borrower in keeping their amount of total debt down that they have by giving them this money. Or it can give some assurances that with the second mortgage type of instrument coming into the bank, so that the bank would flow the credit," he said.
Krucky says the program has helped four families so far this year – but can only help a handful of households each year.
He says loans are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
More information can be found at www.honolulu.gov/dcs or by calling 808-768-7076.
