A national real estate data company says that nearly 84% of all homes in Horry County, S.C., could qualify for one or more of seven down payment assistance programs that will help homebuyers in households with up to a $76,020 annual income to buy a home worth as much as $271,050.
The same survey by RealtyTrac says that nearly 64% of the homes in Georgetown County and more than 62% of those in Brunswick County, N.C., would be OK for buyers getting some kind of down payment assistance.
The income limit is $73,980 in Georgetown County and $85,000 in Brunswick County.
"Prospective buyers — or their agents — willing to put in a few minutes of time to find out what programs are available to them will put themselves in a much better position to successfully purchase a home," said RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist.
Rob Chrane, CEO of Down Payment Resource, said various down payment assistance programs will have various requirements, but he believes that almost half of the 2,300 such programs nationwide are privately funded.
Down Payment Resource, which teamed with RealtyTrac on the survey, collects a fee for the down payment applications it processes, few if any of which are likely to be from Horry or Georgetown counties.
The company has had at least one active client since 2010, but Chrane said that none of the 20 Realtors associations or four lending institutions that currently subscribe to its service are in South Carolina.
"We're not a first-time homebuyer market," explained Laura Crowther, CEO of the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. "The lion's share of our market is investment or second homes."
Crowther said she first heard of Down Payment Resource at the National Association of Realtors annual convention in November, when she was told that 67% of the area’s homes would qualify for first-time buyers down payment assistance.
Chrane said the difference between that number and the 84% in RealtyTrac's survey could be that his company gave Crowther the information based on the homes that were currently listed in the association's Multiple Listing Service.
RealtyTrac included all homes in Horry, not just those listed for sale, he said.
Crowther said that Down Payment Resource wanted Coastal Carolinas to pay $4,000 to set up and launch its participation in the system and $1,500 a month for ongoing access.
The amount would require a line item in the association's annual budget, Crowther said, an expense it did not want.
"It was pretty substantial," she said.
Crowther said that the service could be useful to first-time buyers, though.
"Most people don't even know about (down payment assistance)," she said.
Chrane said it is unusual for a real estate market to have the same characteristics as that of the Grand Strand, but he acknowledged that the same could be true of the entire South Carolina coast.
RealtyTrac said in a news release about the survey that the average amount of assistance was more than $11,000, but Crowther said Down Payment Assistance told her that it would be up to $5,000 in Horry County.
Chrane said that one of the top five national banks is getting ready to join the service, which will mean that at least some locations in South Carolina would be included as access points for the service.
He said that individual homebuyers can find without charge institutions that offer down payment assistance through its website, whether they subscribe to its services or not. Conceivably, some local lenders or assistance agencies would be on that list.
Chrane said the Down Payment Resource started developing its software seven years ago and launched its first live service in 2010 with a Minneapolis-based Realtors association.
He said it can take three months to a year for a subscriber to go live after it has agreed to pay for its participation.
©2015 The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency
