Villages of Columbus - Columbus Grove - Clarendon

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
One more thing - Tustin forbids the recording of a subordinate lien on one of these homes, so first-time homebuyers (a requirement) are prohibited from utilizing any of the state or county first time homebuyers assistance. The program is essentially a home give-away for people with family money.
 
<p>I too applied for that joke of an "affordable" housing program last summer -- cut short my family vacation to attend the lottery. Some highlights:</p>

<p>- After going through the online pre-qualification I was instructed to send supporting documentation to a specific e-mail address, which I did. The next day I received a nasty phone call from William Lyon Mortgage indicating that all documentation must be sent via snail mail. I was told that they were too busy to hand hold people through the process and any future failures to follow instructions would result in my elimination from the program.</p>

<p>- A week later I received an e-mail stating that, if selected, I would need to be prepared to make a down payment of $65,000, almost 25% of the $276,000 purchase price, although the program was originally marketed as requiring only 3% down. The e-mail stated that the down payment requirements were a result of City of Tustin guidelines.</p>

<p>- I was able to get a hold of someone at the City of Tustin after much persistence, and was told that 3% was the "minimum downpayment" required. When I queried the staffer about down payment assistance, I was told that wasn't an option. She suggested that I investigate the possibility of borrowing against any tax deferred retirement savings I might have, such as a 401k.</p>

<p>- On the day of the lottery, it became clear I wasn't going to be one of the lucky winners after my number wasn't pulled in the first 200. We were told all the lottery results would be posted on www.villagesofcolumbus.com/affordable within a few days. That never happened.</p>

<p>- A week after the lottery I called the phone number on the web site for an update. I was told it was taking longer than expected to process the lottery results and to check back in a few days. A few days later, the phone number was removed from the web site.</p>

<p>I eventually lost the will to pursue this any further, and in retrospect, am somewhat grateful I didn't end up living at the Villages of Columbus. As far as I'm concerned, William Lyon, Lennar, and the City of Tustin are all complicit in making a mockery of state mandated affordable housing programs. I wouldn't be surprised to see a class action suit initiated against them as a result of this debacle.</p>
 
<p>Reid</p>

<p>My question is whether the mandate says they actually have to place people in homes through the program, or whether they just have to jump through the hoops and offer it (hoping many don't actually succeed in purchasing).</p>

<p>Obviously, their motivation to get people to the finish line would be very different in each case.</p>

<p>SCHB</p>
 
<p>SCHB-</p>

<p>That's a fine question which I don't know the answer to.</p>

<p>I guess my hope, like most on this forum, is that we'll eventually get some relief from unattainable home prices through regular market forces, rather than ill-conceived government programs.</p>
 
<p><em>"We'll eventually get some relief from unattainable home prices through regular market forces, rather than ill-conceived government programs."</em></p>

<p>Amen, and we will. I wasn't going to turn this dicussion political, but the other homebuyers are subsidizing the below-market purchases, not the homebuilder, which isn't the way to go about 'solving' this problem.</p>

<p>SCHB</p>
 
Reid and SCHB - Tustin led me to believe that they were helping subsidize these affordable homes. I don't know if that is true, but let's not knock affordable housing programs in general. There are certain classes of workers (teachers, public safety, etc.) that have limited salary potential and should be encouraged to live in the community in which they work.
 
<p><em>"Reid and SCHB - Tustin led me to believe that they were helping subsidize these affordable homes."</em></p>

<p>My guess is they "gave" something to the builders that didn't cause the city of Tustin to actually pay out any money, and the builders agree to not charge actual price for the unit.</p>

<p>I can't see the city writing a $300k check to William Lyon at the closing to make a deal whole. It's all going to be very paper-shuffley in-kind, and indirect.</p>

<p>SCHB</p>
 
<p>SCHB,</p>

<p>I agree. </p>

<p>I WAS told that the City was recording a 2nd on the house for the difference between market price and the affordable price, which was why we could not take advantage of the state first time homebuyer "silent second" loans.</p>
 
I just received an email from William Lyon advertising a featured home: "<em>This 3 bedroom home features flush can lighting in the living room & master bedroom for the unheard of price of $513,501. That's right! You can get a 3 bedroom home in a prime Orange County location for just over $500K. This home will not last long.</em>"





From the posts above, you can see that the Plan 1s have been at this price since March 14th. ;)
 
That is the same floorplan we bought and it has always been that price. There has been alot of foot traffic in and out of the sales office and it doesnt seem like anybody is running for them. There was only 3 of the plan 1's set to be for sale. We were told that they were left over from the affordable housing. Plan 1 is the affordable housing floorplan and i guess they had 3 extras left over. This must be the last plan 1 available because after we got ours, they told us that someone put a deposit down on another one. I wonder if this house will go quick or not.
 
CM_dude~



Great post about affordable housing! My wife and I are still waiting for Camden Place; we are pretty high up on the very-low category. The last time I went into the sales office Kandace (the nice one) was transferred; Jenie who my wife and I are a little intimidated by, informed me that we are the next group of 3 up to be submitted to UMAC to begin the qualifying process. From what I can tell from the excel spread sheet (only got a quick glimpse) there are about 8 or 10 people ahead of us, who are highlighted, which means that their names have been submitted to UMAC to be contacted next. I don't know if they are in the process of qualifying or not. Jenie said confidently that NOT EVERYONE WILL QUALIFY... Camden place does not have any very-low homes in their current phase 6, but I think they said that the next one should be in 7 or 8, release in June or July. Jenie said that there are about 11 homes designated for very-low and 4 are sold. CM, I don't know if you know, but what are our chances for even starting the qualifying process? Seems like you been through the process...



So, did you eventually get the extra $150K and get a unit?



Can you also clarify something; you said that if you had the entire down, that you wouldn't qualify!? I think I read somewhere in the pre-qual that we can't have something like 50% of the value of the home. Is that true?



Our lease in Tustin Ranch is coming to an end this July; does anyone know if we need to stay in Tustin to qualify? How about our income? What if my wife starts working, do we get bump out of our income category? The lottery was last Sept. a lot will change, I'm sure for most people on the list too.



I'm personally self-employeed, I wrote almost half of my income, putting my in the very-low catagory. I wonder if they will consider my gross income or my net? Anyway, we have been saving for a down payment; it has actually done fairly well these few weeks in the stock market, mutual funds, I did submitted that back in Sept. for the pre-qual, but not the capital gains since then; should I disclose the gains if we get called or just stick to those figures, I'm afraid of having too much money for affordable. Have any comments?



thanks

~roundcorners
 
<p>roundcorners...</p>

<p>what you're trying to do sounds kinda shady. putting *half* of your actual income so that you would qualify for a lower income bracket? theyre not gonna do liar loans, so you're going to have to pony up tax returns and all that. or do you lie on those too? </p>
 
<p> mk</p>

<p>i don't lie and cheat on my tax returns; i am self-employed, working in sales and i do get to write off a lot of my income. UMAC reviewed all my tax returns, initially they put me in the low category but i guess, noticed my net income and moved us to the very-low lottery event. I agree with CM that this affordable thing is pretty confusing and does not do what it sets out to accomplish. People with sizable down payments should not be penalize for working hard, saving up and investing wisely.</p>
 
<p>if your income genuinely qualifies for the affordable housing program, then congratulations on being selected! i hope it all goes well for you. your previous post made it sound like you were doing well financially, but were tinkering your numbers so that you could take advantage of buying a house at a lower price. </p>

<p>and yes, im pretty sure that if your wife starts working BEFORE you purchase the house, then you will be obligated to report her earnings and the income bracket would adjust accordingly. i think you need to play with the numbers a little..because if she doesn't work, do you have a big enough downpayment that you can qualify for a monthly payment (with your salary only) that is no more than 30% of your gross income? </p>
 
Anyone with recent experience with Willam Lyon (Claredon), have they been receptive to negotiations like Lennar is at this point or are they still trying to hold they're list prices. Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated when it comes to dealing with the staff here.... Thanks for all the help...
 
I suspect that William Lyon is holding a number of units in reserve that buyers backed out on. Phase 1 had a number of units that were relisted, but I haven't seen any relisted since then, so I'm thinking they are trying to make their surplus seem lower than it is by holding onto these units. I assume they will be relisted in the final phase. Does anyone else get this suspission?
 
<p>I've been told recently that Clarendon is selling through their final phase and is sold out of plan 3s.</p>

<p>2s are available and not sure on plan 1s.</p>

<p>If anyone has any more specific information, please share.</p>

<p>SCHB</p>
 
<p>OChomeshopper,</p>

<p>Sometimes HOA does not cover fire insurance detached condos; however, you would see lower HOA dues by about $45/month; which is the typical fire insurance cost for a detached condo.</p>
 
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