Lending More than a Hand

January is a good time to take stock and review the past year for signs of progress and areas of concern.  At Piedmont Housing, we saw lots of progress in 2014, but one statistic really stands out. That is the total value of the homes purchased by buyers who took advantage of Piedmont Housing’s low-cost down payment assistance (DPA).

In 2013, we lent into housing with a total value of $3,155,380.  In 2014, that number jumped to $8,122,227.  That’s an increase by a factor of 2.5 (or 250% for those of you who like to give more than 100% . . .)  The uptick in the housing market certainly was a part of this, but we also want to give credit where it’s due–to the local real estate community, who helped create one of our DPA funds and also brought those buyers to our door (and, as a result, earned a total of $487,000 in real estate commissions); to our lending partners, who worked through the complex multi-loan process that our buyers require; and last but not least, to the Piedmont Housing staffers who identified and worked with mortgage ready clients to get them across the finish line.

Let’s hope 2015 is just as bright a picture for a whole new crop of first time home buyers.