American Dream Homeownership Toolkit for Oregon

In cooperation with leaders in the Oregon real estate community, and homeownership advocacy individuals and groups, we have developed a powerful American Dream Homeownership Toolkit for Oregon. We are releasing this new toolkit during national homeownership month, June 2004, which is also the 70th anniversary of HUD's FHA home loan programs.

Download a PDF version of this announcement.

Read what our partners are saying about the importance of increasing homeownership in Oregon.

The toolkit, a single Microsoft Excel workbook, will be updated each week in June with a new tool and will be available for download from the Oregon HUD website.

A history of toolkit corrections and version updates is available.

The schedule for release of individual tools is:

Week One [Friday, June 4] Homeownership Rates and Gaps, All Oregon Cities and Counties

For every Oregon city and county [more than 300 communities], a worksheet that permits easy side-by-side comparison of homeownership rates and gaps, including minority homeownership rates and gaps both within Oregon and with the U.S. overall homeownership rates and gaps. This worksheet allows Oregonians to easily see how their community is doing compared to other Oregon communities and to the U.S. as a whole.

Week Two [Monday, June 7] Record Setting After Inflation Returns on Median Value Homes, All Oregon Cities and Counties

For every Oregon city and county [more than 300 communities] a worksheet that permits easy side-by-side comparison of the record setting after-inflation increase in the median value home in the 1990s that occurred in Oregon communities. The worksheet also shows equity buildup from loan principal reduction, and the total after-inflation return on initial investment, including comparison with comparable U.S. overall inflation adjusted increases. Worksheets in Week 1 and 2 allows Oregonians to clearly see that those with LOW homeownership rates [especially minority renters] did not benefit from the record setting increases in home equity that occurred in the last decade in Oregon.

Week Three [Monday, June 14] HUD Oregon American Dream Home Loan Estimator, All Oregon Counties

For every county in Oregon, this location- and family-size-specific HUD American Dream Home Loan Estimator allows entries of county, family income and size, projected mortgage terms and purchase price, and then returns yes or no answers to key questions like:

1. Is family income within eligibility limits for the HUD American Dream Downpayment Initiative and Oregon State Bond Program limits?
   
   
2. For the sales price and mortgage term entered, what is the estimated mortgage amount, closing costs, and monthly payment?
   
   
3. How much toward closing costs might the HUD American Dream Downpayment Initiative program and the Oregon State Bond Cash Advantage program be able to contribute?
   
   
4. Is the projected monthly and total fixed expense within standard HUD FHA home loan underwriting ratios?
   
   
5. Is the mortgage estimated within FHA mortgage limits for the county?

Week Four [Monday, June 21]: 2003 Total FHA Home Loans Loans, Including First time and minority home loans for all cities and counties above 50, 000 Population in Oregon.

In 2003 HUD's FHA loans helped 18,000 families, including 6,000 first time homebuyers, bringing more than $2.1 billion in private investment into Oregon. This worksheet provides (for all communities in Oregon that receive HUD community development block grants - entitlement communities), detailed information on the number and dollar volume of FHA home loans, including breakouts for minorities and first time homebuyers.

100 Largest Cities in America Homeownership Rates, Gaps, and Household Growth

For the 100 largest cities in the United States, including Portland, this first ever-national worksheet permits side-by-side comparison of homeownership rates and gaps, including minority rates and gaps. The worksheet also will also include comparative household growth rates, including minority household growth rates for these cities and for the U.S overall.

Data Sources

While all worksheets were developed by the Oregon HUD Office [and any errors are the responsibility of the Oregon Office], some of those worksheets/tools rely on non-HUD data sources:

• For worksheets release in weeks 1 and 2, the source for all data is 2000 or 1990 census.
  
• For worksheets in week 4, the Brookings Institution is the source of the 100 largest cities data.