Shared Equity
Shared Equity Homeownership is a powerful lending tool to help limited-income Tennesseans access the dream of homeownership. In return for receiving substantial assistance toward a home purchase, the property’s appreciation in value gets shared between the first-time homebuyer, future homeowners, and the larger community.
How Does It Work?
The Housing Fund’s Shared Equity program partners with investors to cover most of a home’s purchase price. Homebuyers are only required to provide 1% of the purchase price while 25% is covered by The Housing Fund and 74% comes from a loan through one of THF’s participating first-mortgage lending partners.
Once a homeowner is ready to move on, they can sell to another qualified limited-income buyer. In order to keep the property affordable, The Housing Fund gets back its 25% contribution at 0% interest at closing. Any appreciation in value gets shared equally between the seller and The Housing Fund. THF then reinvests this money back into the home by helping the next buyer with a 25% contribution toward their purchase, thus helping even more buyers to access Shared Equity homeownership (the next buyer must meet THF’s income guidelines).
How Do I Qualify?
First-time, income-eligible homebuyers are able to participate in THF’s Shared Equity program. The Housing Fund considers a first-time homebuyer as someone who has never owned a home.
In order to be considered for the Shared Equity program, first-time homebuyers must have an annual household income that is at or below 120 percent of your Area’s Median Income (AMI).
FOR SALE
Available Properties for THF-Initiated Shared Equity
To help meet community needs around rising unaffordability, The Housing Fund has acquired several affordable, single-family homes in Tennessee. THF will utilize the Shared Equity lending program to create new limited-income homeowners for these properties.
How Do I Apply?
In order to be considered for down-payment assistance through The Housing Fund’s Shared Equity program, prospective homebuyers must:
- Secure a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with one of our approved Shared Equity Lending Partners
- Attend a THDA-approved First-Time Homebuyer Education Class (THDA’s list of approved counselors can be found here)
- Contribute a minimum 1% of the home’s sales price (this can include some typical home-buying expenses like inspection or closing costs)
- Occupy the home as a primary residence
- A $600 processing fee will be collected at closing.
Questions? Contact Senior Mortgage Advisor Candice Winburn at 615-515-2211 (phone) or [email protected]
Frequently Asked Questions
The Housing Fund’s Shared Equity program invests equity in your home that equals about 25% of the home’s value. The mission of Shared Equity lending is to help limited-income households access the benefits of homeownership through permanently-affordable homes and to promote sound, stable, successful homeownership.
THF works with Citizens Bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners, and FirstBank for first-mortgage lending through our Shared Equity program.
Please check income-eligibility requirements for your Tennessee county here.
THF’s first-mortgage lending partners for the Shared Equity program each have different credit requirements. The minimum credit score for Pinnacle Financial Partners is 650, for FirstBank it is 640, and for Citizens Bank it is 620.
- Participate in a Shared Equity introductory meeting/session
- Qualify for a first-mortgage loan with a Shared Equity permitted lender
- Meet the income criteria for Shared Equity
- Qualify for the Shared Equity investment
- Complete 6-hours of THDA homebuyer education
- Complete 2 hours of Shared Equity education
- Before getting started on your application, have an initial conversation with a THF Mortgage Advisor.
Once THF receives a complete packet of information from a first-mortgage lending partner for the Shared Equity program, it takes approximately 7-10 business days to process it before an approval is granted.
Yes, when you make certain improvements to your home, you get to keep 100% of the capital improvement value added to the property by doing so. THF does not share in any appreciation gained through capital improvements.
No, The Housing Fund works exclusively with Providence Title for the Shared Equity lending program.
This fee is a property stewardship fee that allows The Housing Fund to provide ongoing client support after the home has been purchased.
The Housing Fund offers Shared Equity statewide in Tennessee. Be sure to check with THF’s first-mortgage lending partners for this program [Citizens Bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners, FirstBank] about their participation in your specific, current (or desired) Tennessee community for homebuying.
The homeowner is responsible for 100% of ownership costs on the home. This includes paying the mortgage, taxes, repairs, regular maintenance, and appropriate insurances to protect the property.
No. The Housing Fund invests in these homes in order to preserve their affordability over the long-term, thus providing other limited-income families with access to the same opportunity that Shared Equity gave you (paying it forward).
Yes, in most cases. Shared Equity clients must simply inform The Housing Fund when pursuing Refinance so that staff can ensure our limited-income clients are not putting themselves in a financially-tenuous position, taking on more debt than they can reasonably afford.
