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Making the Individual Development Account (IDA) Program Work!

Faith Based Community Development Corporation in collaboration with Citibank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco are providing down payment assistance for income eligible first time homebuyers of North San Diego County.

The program provides a 3:1 match of each dollar of earned income saved for a down payment. It provides a maximum of $10,000 per household and works for homebuyers who intend to buy at least 10 months into the future. During that time, program participants make monthly deposits to a special savings account at participating banks.

The IDA program represents one of the tools available to those that complete the Homebuyer Education program provided by the Faith Based CDC. However it is not easy…because over the minimum 10-month period, things come up, and many have failed to survive the financial adversities to the end. However, the West family experience demonstrates that the program does work because they received the $10,000 maximum provided by the program.

Meet Linda

Meet Charene and Gene

a dream ....

Faith Based Community Development Corporation (FBCDC) had a booth at a Vista Street Fair during the July 4th celebration in 2001. Frankie and Linda visited the booth along with their children: Timmy, who is now 14 and in the ninth grade, Veronica, 12 and in the seventh grade and Alex who is 5 years old. They learned about our Homebuyer Education Program. "I want to buy my wife a house", said Frankie. Linda said she thought he was crazy. While they had good credit and they both worked, their income was limited and with the three children, the idea of a mortgage payment was frightening to her.

Frankie was a fence installer for Cal-West in San Marcos, Linda was a manager at Great Earth, a health food store, in Oceanside. Daniel Scott, Executive Director of FBCDC, invited them to attend the Saturday homebuyer education class. Come to the class, learn how you can buy a home. A short while after this encounter, Frankie suffered a brain aneurysm and passed away.

Six months after his passing, Linda decided she had to make her husband's dream of her owning her own home, come true. She contacted FBCDC, attended the one-day class and one week later signed up for the Individual Development Account (IDA) program. This program provides a 3:1 match for every dollar a first time buyer saves for a down payment. She faithfully made her monthly deposits to the account over the ten-month period.

Linda now works as a program manager for Berhein and Rice, a marketing firm in Vista. She also owns and lives in a three bedroom, two-bath home with a front and back yard, with her three children. Timmy, her older son, says of their home its safe. He's happy.

He knew we were coming to interview his mom so he cut the lawn and cleaned the front yard. It looked beautiful. When asked about comments her kids make about having their own home, Linda talks about the pride of owning something and taking care of something that's your own. "My daughter Veronica takes care of her room which is decorated in Coca Cola", says Linda. Alex now lives with Spiderman. "Timmy is so proud of his new home and now invites his friends over and has a blossoming social life", says Linda proudly. Linda made Frankie's dream for her come true. FBCDC is proud to have had the opportunity to have been a part of helping Frankie's dream come true we shared a little information with God's grace and Linda's hard work, the homebuyer education program worked for her and it can work for you.

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and a promise.

Chareen gave her daughter Kayla a stuffed dog and a promise, that when they owned their own home she could have a real dog. When we arrived for this interview we met Dutchess, her 9 week old, half German/Australian Shepard puppy. Only a few months ago, Chareen, her husband Gene and their five daughters: Tera 16, Kayla, 11, Julia 8, Sarah 7, and Linnea, 3 years old, lived in an 800 square foot, two bedroom apartment. Today they are in a brand new, 2,000 square foot home where Gene can proudly display his American Flag. The family may still need some furniture, but the kids have a great playroom and by choice, the girls still share bedrooms. And their new home is filled with the joy of a family with a strong faith in God and the evidence of the power of their faith. Chareen found out about the agency homebuyer education classes in the newspaper. She attended the one-day class that was held at Faith Temple Christian Center in Oceanside. After attending, she shared what she had learned with her husband and with many friends.
	She told her husband and he became interested in the program. Gene’s attitude was “if it’s from the Lord don’t worry about it”. Chareen followed through. She opened the IDA savings account and stepped out on faith that this program would help her family to realize their dream of homeownership. She was very diligent and worked out their plan which included reducing the debt level and making monthly deposits to the IDA account. During this time, Gene had to have emergency surgery.He was out of work for eight weeks and his employer insisted he be 100% healthy before returning to work.
Chareen said they missed only one scheduled savings deposit, but resumed the program immediately after Gene returned to work. She was determined not to get off track. Chareen and Gene believe in God. They give him all the glory for their happiness and contentment. She said that Bible verses kept making themselves known to her as she studied. “I’ll open up the path, step by step”, “Unless the Lord builds a house, the builder builds in vain”. She decided it was best to leave it in God’s hands. When asked who had the most faith during this home-buying process, Tera, their oldest daughter, indicated that “Dad does” because he is the one that always says that you should not doubt your faith and if this was of the Lord, there was no reason to worry about it. The story of the West family is very special because they are the first family to make this program work for them. It is even more special for our agency because they attribute their success to their faith in God and the belief that He was faithful in using our agency and this program to be a blessing for them. It is not about us…it is about God and what He is doing through us.
Help for first-time home-buyers - 5/25/02 - NCTimes.net http://www.nctimes.net/news/2002/20020525/53326.html top of page