THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270351
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
First-time homebuyers in Hampton Roads who apply for a mortgage through the Virginia Housing Development Authority can earn more money and spend more on a house beginning Oct. 1.
The maximum income for a ``regular'' VHDA loan for a household of two or fewer people is now $37,100, only $600 higher than the previous limit. The maximum income for a three-or-more person household is $43,600, compared to the earlier $42,900 limit.
The higher income limits will help more people qualify for a VHDA loan, which are designed to help low- and moderate-income households buy a home.
``It's not a whole lot of change,'' said Mike Anderson, spokesman for VHDA. He said most of VHDA borrowers fall in the middle of the income bracket and so the new limit may not really affect those who go through VHDA.
If Hampton Roads borrowers want to apply the VHDA loan to a newly built house, they won't be able to afford as much with the new sales price limits. The sales price for new homes dropped to $133,300 from the previous limit of $137,200.
The sales price maximum for an existing or substantially rehabilitated house rose 1 percent to $111,700 from the previous limit of $110,200.
VHDA is a self-supporting, public mortgage finance agency based in Richmond. It has financed more than 72,000 single-family houses in the state with a mortgage value of $3.7 billion.
The new limits, determined by the federal government, are adjusted periodically based on census data and income levels in each metropolitan area. They reflect changes in area median income made by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and sales price maximums made by the Internal Revenue Service. by CNB