It seems summer has arrived and then some. I did manage to play hooky for a short time Monday and got in some berry picking at Vacuna Farms in Kingsland. The Blackberries are particularly sweet. I think they have corn picking this weekend. Great for grilling. I've had a rather long week of paperwork and Continuing Ed courses on line. I definitely want to check out some Fun Things Going On. Need to get out and about. I am on Duty this weekend if you have Real Estate needs. Give me call. Otherwise, I hope you have a great weekend.
There is an article at the bottom of the page regarding new loan programs for lower income borrowers.
Happy Axe Hour at Unleashed Camden
Unleashed Camden is hosting Happy Axe Hour from Wednesday thru Friday from 4pm - 6pm.
Come on out for $20 axe throwing and $12 buckets.
For more information: (912) 510-0136 or http://unleashedcamden.com/
Weekly List of Live Music & DJ's
Here's what's happening in the music scene this week around our area.
Join us for great local talent, as well as a very active night life.
Come on out for a good time and some great music!
*Check back frequently for updates as information is subject to change at any time.
Weekly List of Trivia & Bingo
Here's a list of where to go for Trivia & Bingo this week in our area.
Come out for a good time and some great fun!
*Check back frequently for updates as information is subject to change at any time.
Summer Makers Market
Rookery Tour
Join our ranger for a fun and exclusive tour of the rookery in St. Marys.
Space is limited. Please call or visit the main office to register.
A $5.00 parking fee is required for all vehicles.
For more information or to register, please contact the main office at (912) 882-5256.
Father's Day Belt Making Workshop at Hook's Leather Co.
Looking for a great Father’s Day gift?
This next Saturday, Hooks Leather Co. will offer a step by step workshop where you and your child (of any age) will do a belt from start to finish. Additional to that, there will be a small recess where you will get a 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠 from Blue Bridge Coffeehouse and spend quality time with your child.
Go to www.hookscraftedleather.com to register NOW!
Armed Forces Family Appreciation Day
VFW Post 8385 will be hosting an Armed Forces Family Appreciation Day on Saturday, June 11 from 11am to 3pm.
There will be hot dogs, hamburgers, a bounce house and corn hole games. The Camden County Sheriff Office K9 Units will be there as well.
This event is open to the public. Come on out to help salute our armed forces families.
Hope to see you there!
Kingsland Homegrown Market
Kingsland Homegrown Market proudly features goods and crafts made by local artisans.
This market is held on every second Saturday of the month on the corner of W. Williams and S. Lee Street from 11-4pm.
Hope to see you there!
P.Y.O.P Workshop at The Makery on Lee
Reptile Feeding
Reptile Feeding. Fee is $2.00 per person.
Assist our Interpretive ranger with caring and feeding all of the reptiles and amphibians that call our nature center and Georgia home.
Space is limited. Please call to register or visit the main office at Crooked River State Park.
A $5.00 parking fee is required for all vehicles.
For more information or to register, please contact the main office at (912) 882-5256.
Music in the Park - Roger "Hurricane" Wilson & the Cumberland Sound Effect
Join us for Music in the Park to enjoy Roger "Hurricane" Wilson & the Cumberland Sound Effect. Bring your lawn chair, pack a picnic, or come early for dinner downtown.
For more information contact: St. Marys Welcome Center at 912-882-4000
NBC Golf Pass Appreciation Tournament
Join us on Wednesday, June 15th, for a special golf tournament. Shotgun starts at 8:30am and cost is $28/person.
Tournament includes lunch provided by Mother Truckin' Pizza and a special gift to all participants! Plus, we will have a special award ceremony and demo day from 11am-3pm.
Pre-registration for tournament is required.
Please call Trident Lakes Golf Club for questions & registration at: (912)-573-8475.
FHFA: Big Changes to Help Disadvantaged Buyers
USA Today calls it “the most sweeping overhaul since the housing crash in 2008.” The three-year strategy focuses on underwriting, appraisals and support programs.
WASHINGTON – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are implementing big reforms aimed at helping those in disadvantaged communities become homeowners and making sure homebuyers of color stay owners.
The initiative from the two federally backed home mortgage companies announced Wednesday is the most sweeping overhaul since the housing crash in 2008. Some of the big-ticket items exclusively reviewed by USA TODAY include assistance with down payments, reserve funding for homeowners’ emergencies and lower mortgage insurance premiums.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also rolling out a new credit reporting system that factors rent payments into creditworthiness scores, one of the biggest systemic barriers experts say keep renters of color from being able to purchase a home.
“It’s really powerful, almost like the government is owning the problem,” said Naa Awaa Tagoe, acting deputy director for the Division of Housing Mission and Goals at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the independent regulatory agency that oversees the secondary mortgage market, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“This is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saying, ‘Yes, there is an issue with equity in housing finance, and these are the steps we need to take to address them.’”
The three-year strategy also laid out plans to increase fairness in the underwriting process, address appraisal disparities in multifamily housing, and finance permanent supportive housing programs primarily geared at housing for people experiencing homelessness.
As part of the effort, Freddie Mac is expected to issue $3 billion in affordable housing bonds this year.
Widening accessibility
By 2024, Freddie Mac wants to fund the construction of 30,000 new multifamily units that allow credit-building for renters, accept housing choice vouchers and are designed inclusively for people with disabilities. They want to make the credit-building program available to 300,000 units. The lender also wants to finance loan offerings in underinvested communities and neighborhoods at risk of losing affordability.
By 2024, Fannie Mae has a target of 140,000 consumers completing the first-time homebuyer process with any provider and 90,000 completing Fannie Mae’s course.
Some of the measures already have been piloted. From September 2021 to May, about 2,000 applicants have benefited from Fannie Mae’s credit reporting system that takes positive rental payment history into account for building creditworthiness. About 50% of applicants were racial minorities.
Decades of discrimination
Together with the Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac directly or indirectly guarantee 70% of single-family mortgage origination.
Neither Fannie Mae nor Freddie Mac services loans. Instead, they purchase mortgages from lenders to hold, sell or repackage as securities. That helps originate more loans and increase the stable supply of mortgage dollars.
Leading up to the 2008 housing market crash, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pumped more money into the housing financing system and bought an outsize number of mortgage loans, which helped inflate ballooning home prices. After the Great Recession of the late 2000s, both were placed into conservatorships.
In the U.S., homeownership has long been viewed as the single most important vehicle for wealth accumulation.
The median net worth of white families who are homeowners was $300,000, of which $130,000 was attributed to housing, according to the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finance, the most recently available. That number decreases to $113,000 for Black families who are homeowners, of which $67,000 is derived from home equity. And for Latino families, roughly $95,000 of their median net worth of $165,000 is tied to owning a home.
Homeownership has historically remained out of reach for people of color because of decades of disinvestment and racist practices such as redlining, which allowed banks to limit loans, mortgages and insurance in geographic areas based on race and ethnicity.
As a result, the gap in homeownership rates between Black and white families is bigger today than when segregation was legal, according to a study by the Urban Institute. About 71% of white Americans own homes, compared with 41% of Black Americans.
“The depth of racism involved in past housing regulation is profound and persistent and is embedded in the fabric of America’s housing market to this day,” said David Clunie, executive director of Black Economic Alliance, a coalition of nonpartisan business leaders and advocates committed to economic progress in the Black community. “Our entire economy will benefit from increasing access to affordable homeownership.”
For Tagoe, it’s all the more reason why the initiatives are groundbreaking.
“It’s a big number, when you think about the gap. But how do you get to that gap?” Tagoe said.
“So, it’s multiple points along the way. These are complex issues. And that’s why we need these plans; we need really thoughtful, comprehensive approaches to solving the problem because it’s a difficult problem.”
Housing prices soar nationwide
The announcement from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac comes as median home prices and rents across the country skyrocket. In the first quarter of this year, the median price of a home reached a record $428,000, according to the Federal Reserve Economic Data database. Year-over-year rent increases have soared 90%, the most recent analysis by Rent.com found. In some markets, such as Austin and Oklahoma City, rents have shot up more than 112%, two years after a pandemic recession put nearly 40 million people at risk for eviction.
A majority of Americans also believe it’s a bad time to buy a house for the first time since 1978. According to a Gallup poll, only 30% of U.S. adults said it was a good time to purchase a home, driven by an annual inflation rate that accelerated to 8.5% in March and interest rates for 30-year fixed mortgages that climbed above 5%, up from 3% in 2020.
Taken together, Americans are looking for relief in a priced-out housing market that has exacerbated inequities.
“Let me leave it on the record as it’s about time,” said James Carras, adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “This is what they should have been doing all along. And it’s a good first step.”
Copyright 2022, USATODAY.com, USA TODAY
|