Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 11644 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine Principle and interest $1,500.14 Monthly Mortgage Insurance Premium $229.45 Taxes $397.67 Homeowners insurance $100 Monthly total mortgage payment $2,227.26 Second unit monthly rent $1,200 ($900**) Total Monthly Payment $1,327.26 House - Monthly payments $329,900 two-Unit! loan MSHAFirst Home Loan* + Federal Housing Authority = Minimum Down payment 3.5% Maximum Loan amount = $318,353 Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium 1.75% or $5,571 total financed amount = $323,924 warm the waters for prospective first-time buyers who “just don’t know where to start.” If you’re set on buying in Portland, don’t count yourself out. Why not consider invest- ing in a multi-unit property? Yes, that means you’d be a landlord, but it also means you’d have a paying lodger. A two-unit property at 204 Auburn Street in Portland is listed on Zillow for $329,900. Seeing as this price falls below the Maine Housing Authority’s two- unit listing price maximum, I got in touch with Debra Abbondanza at Bangor Sav- ings Bank for advice. Assuming a combined income of $76,109 (below the MHA’s First Home Buyer Loan limit of $76,300 for a two- person household), Abbonanza explains how a first-time home buyer can go about pur- chasing this property. Check out the graphic above to see how. She made it look easy, didn’t she? So why aren’t more of us investing in multi- unit properties? The answer might be as simple as a lack of financial education. Ka- tie Brunelle, co-founder of the Adulting School in Portland, tells us, “One of the most requested courses is simply money management. Millennials don’t even know where to begin. We start off with budget- ing and move onto advice on how to pay off debt (credit cards and student loans) while still saving money.” John Hatcher of The Hatcher Group of Keller Williams Realty laments the lack of financial guidance available to young peo- ple. “In this country, we don’t teach people these skills. It’s not engrained into us. When did you learn to balance a checkbook?” No comment. “Young people simply aren’t HoMe Buying 101 If you’re getting the urge to take the plunge and start hunting for homes online, be pre- pared. You’re likely not going to see many single-family homes under $300K in the Portland area. “The market has a lot to do with affordability,” King-Johnson says. “The Portland market has property prices increasing at a rapid rate. There are multi- ple buyers, bidding wars, and people mak- ing offers on homes greater than the asking price. You have every reason to be nervous because it feels like what we saw happening before the housing crisis.” In realistic terms, you may want to look beyond Portland’s pricey neighborhoods. Gena and Matt Lamontagne, of the The Matt and Gena Team of The Maine Re- al Estate Network, say buyers are some- times astonished to learn that areas as close to Portland as Westbrook, Gorham, and Windham are all eligible for the USDA’s Rural Development Single Family Hous- ing Loan Program. “They’re also the most popular areas I’m seeing for first-time home buyers,” Gena says. The couple offers reg- ular Home Buying 101 events in order to need to square it with yourself. TheFirstHomeLoan combined with a FederalHousingAuthorityLoan or a Rural DevelopmentLoan is a great trifecta for first- home buyers to consider in Maine. To qual- ify for a $3,500 bonus towards a down pay- ment, prospective first-time buyers will have to take a homebuyer education course online throughMaineHousing’swebsiteorat hoME- works, a Maine non-profit established in 1998 that offers homebuyer/owner education. taking tHe plunge P aige Button and fiancé Jeff Ho- chmuth, both 26, confess that missing out on a crash course in home buying “is one of our biggest re- grets. Being able to understand the market and the process really changes the way you approach the entire thing and the level of stress involved,” The couple just closed on a first home in Waterboro after renting in Maine for several years. This first purchase was prompted when their most recent lease came to an end and the landlord decided to sell the proper- ty. What to do? “We were used to paying around $1,300 a month for a two bedroom rental in Lyman,” says Button, a vet techni- cian. But try and find that at the exact mo- ment you, your fiancé, and two Siberian huskies need it. “Finding places to rent that were geographically suitable was a chal- lenge, so we did a little research and con- cluded that the market is only supposed to become harder for buyers in the future. It seemed like the ideal time to jump in with both feet.” two Starter-Buyers Walk into an open House… Monthly Minimum Combined Income $6,342.47 FICO Score ≥ 660 Other monthly debt obligations $500 *CurrentinterestrateforMSHA3.75% **75%ofsecondunitrentalincomecangotowardsyourmonthlypayments.CombinedinformationfromBangorSavingsBankandRegencyMortgage. Bill (27) & Jane (30) Stew (3) Jaime (26) I work mostly nights! “if you’re set on buying in portland, don’t count yourself out.”