Updated March 6, 2023
By Carl Tyree
Executive Vice President, Chief Sales Officer
Communities thrive when there are long-term, committed residents with a healthy mix of skills, occupations and income levels. But as home affordability declines to the lowest level in 25 years, many communities are facing a future without the neighbors who help contribute to a community’s safety, education and quality of life.
Imagine how your town or city might change with no police officers, teachers or EMTs living there.
Unfortunately, many public employees are finding it difficult to buy homes in or near the communities where they work. With home prices at historic highs, coming up with a sizeable down payment isn’t possible for people with moderate incomes, coping with student debt or trying to raise families. They may have good credit and the ability to make a monthly mortgage payment, but a lack of substantial savings means they either have to rent indefinitely or relocate to more affordable homes in distant suburbs.
Rent.com’s Rent Report shows median rents rose 7.45% year over year to $2,007 in November 2022. Rising rents can create instability for towns and cities as renters move in search of lower housing costs — leading to a greater turnover of personnel in essential occupations.
What’s the best way to encourage a steady inflow of responsible first-time homebuyers whose presence will strengthen neighborhoods and maintain civic values?
Arch MI has a solution.
Help these valuable potential neighbors buy homes by insuring their loans with AMGC Community Heroes. Available through top-rated Arch Mortgage Guaranty Company (AMGC), it’s a portfolio lending program with the flexibility to accept down payments for eligible borrowers that are even lower than the 3% required for a GSE loan.
AMGC Community Heroes allows down payments as low as 1% for qualified borrowers, with gifts and grants eligible, for a wide range of essential workers, including teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public safety employees.
Underwriting requirements include a minimum credit score of 740 and a maximum debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 41%. Borrowers who qualify for AMGC Community Heroes will also benefit when their MI premium is priced using Arch MI RateStar®, which guarantees our most competitive rates.
Residents put more trust in their public safety institutions and schools when they personally know police officers, teachers and other public employees as their neighbors.
Part of the impetus behind these programs is to reward qualified borrowers for choosing a career focused on public service, but AMGC Community Heroes is also about recognizing the critical role of first-time homebuyers in building stronger towns and cities and helping lenders to qualify more of them for homeownership.
In terms of public safety, having police, firefighters and EMTs living nearby makes neighborhoods less dangerous. Also, residents trust their public safety institutions and schools more when they know police officers, teachers and other public employees as their neighbors.
Local government also gets better feedback about what’s working – and not working – from public employees interacting with neighbors at youth soccer games, a community pool or at a backyard barbecue.
At Arch MI, we look forward to working with you to reward public employees with solutions that make it easier to buy homes close to the communities they serve. Learn more about AMGC Community Heroes by visiting the AMGC Community Program.