Margert in the News
Potential Homeowners Drawn To Home Fair At St. Mary's
The Full Story
The Wave,
November 3, 2006....Gray skies and heavy rains during the early part of
the day didn't keep a huge crowd of potential homebuyers away from St. Mary's
School in Far Rockaway last Saturday when Margert Community Corporation hosted
its Home Fair 2006.
The five hour event featured workshops for those
who hope to buy a home, or who own a home and want to protect their investment.
Seminars offered during the afternoon centered on understanding the importance
of credit, preparing for homeownership, finding an affordable home and how to
keep from being ripped off by scams.
The Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy
Project (NEDAP) which, among other things, works to educate homeowners against
predatory lending (high cost, unaffordable loans) was among those offering
advice.
"High
costs mortgages are more likely in neighborhoods of color," said NEDAP's Mark
Winston Griffith. He also said a lot of refinance scams are directed at seniors.
"They are
people who don't make a lot, but have equity in their home," Griffith said.
"They are talked into high cost mortgages for home repair and [before you know
it] they are faced with foreclosure." Sometimes, tucked in with the papers
for the mortgage is the deed to selling your home, Griffith explained.
Legal Aid
lawyer Oda Friedheim advised homebuyers to "beware of one-stop shops, companies
who say they take care of all aspects of home buying" from finding a home to
providing an attorney for closing.
Also
attending were representatives from the Department of Housing and Preservation
(HPD) - whose program Home First' provides grant assistance for down payments on
a home to qualified individuals and HPD's PACE - which also combats predatory
lending. Presenters were available for private consultations after the
workshops.
HPD's Mobile
Resource Center - which highlights ways to save energy - and Margert's
Weatherization van - which shows ways to weatherize a home - sit in St. Mary's
parking lot for people to inspect.
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Margert to Host Home Fair 2006
The Full Story
Far Rockaway,
Queens, Oct. 10, 2006....Far Rockaway, Queens, Oct. 10, 2006 –
Margert Community Corporation today released its program for Home Fair 2006, a
free, day-long event to be held in Far Rockaway on Saturday, October 28, for
local families who dream of purchasing a home of their own, and for homeowners
who want to protect their ownership investment. This year’s Fair will also
celebrate national Weatherization Day 2006.
The Home
Fair will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s School, 595
Beach 19th
Street, Far Rockaway. Free parking is available. To pre-register for the Fair,
or for more information, please call 718-471-3724, or contact Margert through
its website at www.margert.com.
Stephanie Lawes, Margert’s Housing Director,
said, “This year’s Home Fair will be our largest and best ever, with free
workshops, free raffles and free expert advice for renters who want to purchase
a home in Queens, and for homeowners who would like to learn about the best
deals on mortgages, refinancing, home maintenance training and legal services.
We will also offer valuable information on predatory lending, home energy
efficiency measures and other money saving ideas.”
The event will offer direct
access for prospective homebuyers to federal, state and city grant programs.
Experts will be on hand to guide income eligible families into grant programs
that could make the economic difference between renting an apartment and buying
a first home, and help to improve energy affordability.
Home Fair 2006 grant programs
include the New York City Department of Housing Development and Preservation’s
(HPD) “HomeFirst” program that offers down payment assistance in the form of a
6% of down payment grant or $10,000, whichever is larger. As with all such
programs, income limits apply to this type of assistance. For example, combined
annual household income for a family of four may NOT exceed $56,700. Income
guidelines are revised annually, and Margert staff will be available to
determine eligibility.
Other resources available at
the Home Fair will include the New York State Division of Housing and Community
Renewal’s (DHCR) homebuyer assistance grants of up to $30,000 per
income-eligible family and the Federal Home Loan Bank’s First Home Club matched
savings program.
For
homeowners, Home Fair 2006 will also offer free ownership and mortgage
counseling, affordable refinancing loans and reverse mortgages, special loan
programs, weatherization and accessibility modifications, healthy homes, home
maintenance training, foreclosure prevention and legal services, and protection
against home loan and real estate scams.
For
homebuyers, Home Fair will also offer homeownership education and training
programs, affordable mortgage loans, special loan programs, credit counseling, a
“Your Money Counts” course and home maintenance training.
This
year’s Fair is also an HPD Preserve Assets and
Community Equity (PACE) event. The PACE program provides comprehensive
outreach, education, financial assistance and legal remediation strategies to
combat predatory lending, one of the most daunting challenges facing elderly
homeowners, first-time home buyers, fixed-income homeowners, and minority and
immigrant homeowners. The PACE program connects a citywide network of
organizations capable of assessing homeowners' complicated financial and legal
situations, and providing early intervention, followed by the provision of
counseling and referrals for appropriate legal and financial assistance. As a
PACE program agency, Margert works closely with HPD’s lending partners to assure
that appropriate and flexible lending products are available to assist clients.
Scores of
exhibitors and sponsors, including some of the region’s largest affordable
residential real estate developers, are participating in this event. These
include CitiGroup, HSBC, North Fork Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of New York,
Astoria Federal Savings, Carver Federal Savings, Cathay Bank, Washington Mutual,
Wells Fargo, Ridgewood Savings Bank and Wachovia.
Highlights of the fair will include the HPD “Handy Van” -- a mobile housing
resource center in itself -- and a guided tour of the Margert Weatherization
vehicle, led by the agency’s in-field home energy efficiency experts.
Home Fair
2006 is co-sponsored by HPD and DHCR’s Neighborhood Preservation and
Weatherization Assistance Programs. Margert is a HUD funded housing counseling
agency.
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Housing Partnership
Apprentice Graduation
The Full Story
Far Rockaway, October 6, 2006....The Housing
Partnership's public home maintenance training and repair program, in
collaboration with the Margert Community Corporation, a local non-profit housing
agency, held a ceremony for the graduates of the apprenticeship program on
Friday, September 29.
The program, funded principally by donations from Benjamin Beechwood LLC, the
Briarwood Organization, which constructed the site with trainees recruited
through the Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation, and HIP Health Plan of
New York, set up a workshop "set" built within the St. Gertrude's school
gymnasium in Far Rockaway to train apprentices in home repair, including
electrical wire installation, flooring and kitchens. The classes were taught by
Walter Mullins, a professional home repair expert. The program was designed to
teach apprentices home repair and maintenance skills they can do on their own to
avoid expensive contractors or repairmen.
Left to right: Joe Barden,
Executive Director Margert Community Corporation; New York State Assemblywoman
Michele Titus; Elaine Iandoli, Director of Marketing and Development; and Dan
Martin, President and CEO of Housing Partnership.
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Housing Partnership
Inaugurates Home Maintenance Training Program
The Full Story
New York, September 7, 2006....The Housing Partnership, one of the nation’s
largest producers of affordable housing, announced today that it will sponsor an
innovative, free public home maintenance training and repair program for low and
moderate income homeowners in southeast Queens. Offered in partnership with
Margert Community Corporation, the local non-profit housing agency, the program
is funded principally by donations from Benjamin Beechwood, LLC, the Briarwood
Organization and HIP Health Plan of New York.
The program, offered to low and moderate income families, was developed by the
Housing Partnership to assist homeowners with after-purchase maintenance of
their home investment. It is expected that many of the students will be single
mothers, a group that will especially benefit from the program. Classes will be
limited to 20 persons in order to maximize the learning experience. The course
will be taught by Walter Mullins, a professional home repair expert.
Housing Partnership President and CEO Dan Martin said, “Many homeowners simply
cannot afford to hire contractors. Others feel threatened because they have
heard accounts of shoddy or downright criminal home repair scams. This course
will provide enrollees with a skill set for home repair work and preventative
maintenance – to accomplish smaller jobs and to recognize the amount of work,
and estimate the actual cost, involved in a contracted job.”
The eight weekly, two-hour sessions will be held at a custom-fabricated
workshop “set” built within the St. Gertrude’s gymnasium at 307 Beach 37th
Street, Far Rockaway. Constructed by The Briarwood Organization with assistance
from apprentice trainees recruited through the Ocean Bay Community Development
Corporation, the workshop will be divided into sections that include kitchen and
bath plumbing modules, electrical wiring installations, easy-to-do energy
efficiency measures, drywall surfaces and flooring areas. Work benches will be
provided for students. Each participant also will receive Dare to Repair, a
textbook provided by its publisher Harper and Collins.
Mr. Martin added, “We are committed to maintaining the housing that we proudly
helped to develop throughout Queens over the past 24 years. We are eager to
provide these essential skills to homeowners to help them maintain their
investments.”
The program is “hands-on” and provides instruction highlighting basic tool
skills, hanging objects on walls and ceilings, molding installation, plumbing
fixtures and repairs, electricity safety tips, repairs and installations,
drywall and energy efficiency upgrades, painting and wallpapering.
The Housing Partnership expects to expand and replicate this pilot program
throughout New York City.
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