Homebuyer Direct Program

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

The Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA) launched the Homebuyer Direct Program to break down barriers to home ownership and help transform communities by offering fixer-upper homes at below-market prices in neighborhoods across Cook County.The initiative helps prospective homeowners buy, rehab and ultimately move into the home of their dreams. The program serves two important functions for buyers: it helps them build equity during the purchase process and allows them to incorporate their own ideas into the design of their new home. The impact of this program is clear: homeownership is one of the primary ways Americans accumulate wealth, and buyers build equity as the home’s property value increases. Since its inception in 2017, the Homebuyer Direct Program has provided more than 150 homes to homeowners and has earned them an average of $20,000 in equity. The program focuses on boosting homeownership in areas where lingering effects of the 2008 mortgage crisis slowed community development and left a glut of vacant and abandoned properties in Cook County.All properties eligible for the Homebuyer Direct Program are available on the Land Bank’s website at www.cookcountylandbank.org. Answers to homebuyers’ frequently asked questions, recommendations for lenders and down payment assistance and an application for the program are also listed on the website.