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Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County builds homes WITH
people in our community and sell the houses at no profit and no interest to
households who could
not otherwise afford to own a home.
Criteria:
- You must have a need for housing... for example,
living in overcrowded conditions (three to a bedroom), in unsafe sanitary
conditions, or in substandard housing with a leaky roof, poor heating, or
lacking indoor plumbing. Also considered need would be paying a very high
percentage of your income for rent (more than 30%).
- You must have lived or worked in Pinellas County
for at least one year.
- You must have a minimum steady income, roughly
between 30% and 80% of the median income for our area. (See table below.)
Exceptions are rare and would be made on a case-by-case basis. The acceptable number will vary based on the number of people in
your family.
- With your permission, we will verify employment
and other sources of income, verify checking and savings account balances, get a
statement from your current and previous landlords, have a credit check done,
and ask you for credit references. Your long-term debt, included with the
expected housing cost, must be below a certain threshold in order for you to
be approved.
- If you are approved for a home and you meet
the sweat equity and down payment requirements, we will sell you a home at
cost (no profit). Habitat house payments include taxes and insurance and
will cost approximately $500 per month. (This is an estimate, the actual cost may
vary.) The house payments that you make will be used to build more Habitat
homes, so your payments need to be here on time.
- If you are approved for a Habitat home, a single
parent is responsible for completing a minimum of 250 sweat equity hours in
total, Couples are responsible for completing a
minimum of 350 sweat equity hours in total,
- In addition to sweat equity hours, you must
complete 11 homeownership classes.
- If approved for a Habitat home, $500 is
required for closing costs. This is accomplished with monthly payments
of $40. You will also be required to have homeowners' insurance paid in
full at the time of closing, at a cost of approximately $900 - $1,500.
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How to Apply:
- Read the criteria information on
this page.
- Download a
Homeowner
Pre-Qualification Form, fill out and return to our office.
- Attend a
Homeowner Orientation. If you haven't already filled out a
Pre-Qualification Form, you will be given one at that time.
- If your Pre-Qualification form is
approved, you will be given an Application for Homeownership. Fill
in your information and gather the required documents.
- Our Homeowner Services committee
will review your application and contact you to let you know if you
qualify.
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If you do not meet these criteria, you can find more
affordable housing information by visiting:
www.floridahousingsearch.org.
# in
Minimum Yearly
Maximum Yearly
Household
Income - Gross
Income - Gross
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
$11,850
$31,650
2
$13,550 $36,150
3
$15,250
$40,700
4
$16,950
$45,200
5
$18,300
$48,800
6
$19,650 $52,450
7
$21,000 $56,050
8
$22,350 $59,650
PROSPECTIVE HOMEOWNER'S ORIENTATIONS
Orientations generally will be held EVERY
MONTH.
These sessions will be held at:
Pinellas Habitat for Humanity Offices
3071 118th Avenue N.
St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Click here to see the
calendar of meetings
To reserve a
place please call
our office at
727-536-4755 or email
Margaret Sullivan.
Please include your phone number.
Attendance at a meeting is required to receive an application.
If an individual makes 2 reservations (consecutive or not) for the
homeowner candidate orientation and does not show up for either, and
does not cancel, s/he will not be eligible to attend an orientation,
and thus to receive an application, until 12 months have passed.
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