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NeighborWorks Great Falls has 16 houses for sale through Feb. 17 with an added bonus — down-payment help ranging from $20,000 to $60,000 per house.
On Sunday, the group plans its first-ever home tour of only NeighborWorks houses and duplexes. Ten homes for sale will be on display. Six other townhouses also are on the market but not on the tour.
“It’s also the first time that we’ve built or marketed townhomes,” said Al Henry, director of operations and construction for the housing group.
The tour runs from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. Anyone is welcome to take the tour, but only people who have taken a special NeighborWorks class will be eligible to buy one of the homes. A homebuyers’ class is scheduled for Feb. 12, which would give a prospective homebuyer a chance to take the class before the Feb. 17 deadline to buy one of the houses. If more than one person bids on a house, a selection committee will to decide which family is the most deserving, Henry said.
A Realtor will be available at each of the 10 homes to discuss a home’s features and what kinds of financing are available.
“We are really encouraging people not to be intimidated by the prices,” added Carrie Koppy, resource development manager for NeighborWorks Great Falls. She encouraged people to tour houses Sunday and then call the housing group Monday to see what kind of package the group could put together.
The down-payment assistance amounts to a loan rather than a grant, so it must be repaid when the house is sold, but it can help a family get into a house.
Single mother Angie Kolve and her three sons — Kyle, 15; Keelan, 11; and Kaden, 4 — moved into a new northwest-side house in the fall after receiving down-payment assistance.
“Without the help, I wouldn’t have been able to get in there,” Kolve said.
By moving into the NeighborWorks house, her housing costs actually dropped by about $200 per month from a $920 monthly rent payment.
“All my boys got their own room,” Kolve said. “They can’t believe it’s our house.”
Prices for the homes currently on sale range from $95,000 to $159,000. Eight of the houses are renovated rather than new. Most of those homes had been foreclosed upon. Federal government assistance this year has emphasized resolving problems caused by home foreclosures, Henry said.