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First-time home buyers get break

By Becky Kramer beckyk@spokesman.com(509) 459-5466

COEUR d’ALENE – First-time home buyers in Kootenai and Bonner counties can now buy houses priced up to $200,000 and still qualify for discounted interest rates aimed at helping low- and moderate-income families achieve homeownership.

“Our limit up there used to be $150,000, which just wasn’t cutting it,” said Reed Hollinshead, spokesman for the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. “Bumping it up to $200,000 opens the gate a little wider.”

The agency reviews the price limits annually. In Kootenai and Bonner counties, rapid price appreciation limited the pool of $150,000 homes, Hollinshead said. As a result, some people who qualified for IHFA loans couldn’t find homes in their price range.

Last year, the median sales price of homes in Bonner and Boundary counties was $155,000, according to the Selkirk Association of Realtors. The average sales price was $201,000.

Demand for property is so high that some vacant lots in Sandpoint are selling for $70,000 to $80,000, said Chris Chambers, president of the Multiple Listing Service in Sandpoint.

Kootenai County is in a similar situation. The number of homes for sale has shrunk to about 1,000, leading to a run-up in prices. Last year, the average sales price was more than $163,000, according to the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service. The MLS does not report median sales prices for Kootenai County.

IHFA financed 205 home loans in North Idaho in 2004. The agency’s low interest rates – currently 4.99 percent – make mortgage payments more affordable for families. About 92 percent of people using the program are first-time buyers.

To qualify for the program, households must meet income guidelines. In Kootenai and Bonner counties, the income limit is $71,190 for a household of three or more people.

Sales price limits also went up in other Idaho communities. In Blaine and Teton counties, families can buy homes for up to $275,000 and still qualify for the discounted interest rate. Blaine County is home to the resort town of Sun Valley, and Teton County is just across the state line from Jackson Hole, Wyo.