Cost goes higher
Home owning still possible
By Steve Knight
Ot lh» Emerald
Along with whooping cranes
and black-footed ferrets, add
first-time home owners to the
endangered species list of 1982
Recent estimates show that
only about 5 percent of the
population in this country earns
enough money to qualify for a
home mortgage
But there are ways to beat the
high cost of owning your own
home, says Hank Laramee,
project cordinator of a self-help
housing organization based in
Eugene
Laramee says his private
non-profit organization —
Homestead — provides low
interest loans and technical
training to groups of families
willing to "work cooperatively
together building each other's
homes "
By incorporating this old fa
shion concept of "barn rais
ing," a person can knock
$8,000 to $10,000 off the con
struction costs of a new $40,000
home, he says
And people don't have to be
skilled carpenters to join the
self-help housing program
Homestead provides a con
struction supervisor who
teaches pre-construction
classes and assists the owner
builders throughout the home
construction period, he says
In addition, people with low
incomes can, in some in
stances, receive the self-help
loans for less than 2 percent
interest with no down payment
requirements, he says
"(The owner-builders') labor
is the down payment.”
But for all its ecotopian trap
pings, Homestead actually
receives its funding grants from
the Farmers Home Administra
tion, a credit agency of the U S.
Department of Agriculture. And
because the FHA is the “hous
ing arm of rural America,” tight
restrictions are placed on the
self-help housing loans, La
ramee says. Lane and Marion
are the only counties in the state
where self-help housing is of
fered
To qualify for the loans a per
son must:
• Build in a community of no
more than 25,000 population.
The township must also have
‘(The owner
builders’) labor
is the
down payment.’
city sewer and water and paved
streets Laramee says Eugene
and Springfield are the only
communities in Lane county
excluded from the loan pro
gram
• Have no large outstanding
debts.
• Have savings of at least $300
to cover cost of hand tools and
insurance
• Have a steady, verifiable in
come Another stipulation is a
person’s yearly income must be
between $6,000 and $18,000.
If a person meets these FHA
requirements and receives a
loan, then he joins an “associa
tion" of six to 10 families who
build each other’s houses at the
same rate of construction
An average cluster of homes
takes about eight months to fin
ish, Laramee says, adding that
each family of the association is
legally obligated to commit 30
hours a week toward the con
struction projects.
“You have to pretty much
forget about a social life for a
year,” he says.
With self-help loans, six
homes in Oakridge are currently
under construction, nine
houses in Veneta and six in
Lowell are planned for this
summer, Laramee says.
Students interested in the
program might have a hard time
becoming eligible for a self-help
loan.
The FHA wants people who
have "good stable jobs" and
are more settled than students,
Laramee says.
However, students still might
not be able to take advantage of
the program even after they
have graduated Pres Ronald
Reagan's 1982 budget calls for
the elimination of all funding to
federal housing programs, he
says.
Slashing FHA funds would, in
Laramee’s opinion, “nail the
coffin shut on housing in Amer
ica.” He is, nevertheless, some
what optimistic the state
government would help fund
the self-help program if Pres
Reagan's cuts are approved
later this year.
For more information, call
Homestead at 344-4007
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