SANTA FE, N.M., May 4, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twenty-five year old Jennifer C. Martinez moved into her first home in August, but the move would not have been possible, she said, without a $5,000 Homebuyer Equity Leverage Partnership (HELP) grant from First National Bank of Santa Fe (FNBSF) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas).
Ms. Martinez's 1,300-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath house in Santa Fe provides ample space inside and out for her 8-year-old daughter, Angel, and herself. Ms Martinez and her daughter previously lived with Ms. Martinez's parents. "My daughter and I needed our own home," she said. "Angel needed her own space."
Ms. Martinez used the HELP grant funds for the down payment on her home. "Without the grant it would have taken longer for me to be able to buy a home because it would take a while for me to save that amount of money," she said.
FNBSF started working with the FHLB Dallas HELP program four years ago and has distributed about $200,000 in total grant funds.
"The $5,000 down payment grant that we provided Ms. Martinez is one of the best investments that FNBSF can make for her family's future," said FNBSF Vice President Betty Vega. "We appreciate the opportunity to be able to help families buy homes in our community."
FNBSF partners with Homewise to distribute many of the grants. Homewise is a private, nonprofit Santa Fe-based agency that promotes affordable homeownership for low- to moderate-income residents through financial counseling and educational classes. Ms. Martinez worked with Homewise to purchase her home. The process took about a year.
Homewise helps two homebuyers a month with HELP grant funds, according to Tina Knaut, home purchase director and vice president of lending for Homewise. The agency's clients received a total of $105,000 in HELP grants during its fiscal year ended April 1, 2010.
HELP grants assist income-qualified, first-time homebuyers with down payments and closing costs. In 2009, FHLB Dallas, through its members, awarded nearly $3.2 million in HELP and subsequent HELP II grants throughout its five-state District, including $174,000 in New Mexico. HELP II was a special, one-time allocation in 2009, outside of FHLB Dallas's normal Affordable Housing Program funds, because of overwhelming demand for the grants. Each HELP recipient is eligible to receive up to $5,000. The amount may be increased to $7,000 if a member financial institution or another mortgage lender contributes at least $350 toward costs associated with providing the mortgage to the homeowner.
For more information about FHLB Dallas programs, contact the Corporate Communications Department at 214.441.8445.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 12 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $58.7 billion as of March 31, 2010, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced advances and other credit products to more than 900 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas. For more information, visit the FHLB Dallas web site at fhlb.com.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3013