Wells Fargo Will Invest $9M to Boost Local Home Buying

Wells Fargo & Company recently announced that it has pledged $9 million as part of an initiative aimed at boosting homeownership in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
 
The company’s NeighborhoodLIFT program will offer down payment assistance of up to $15,000 to qualified homebuyers seeking to purchase a home in either of the two cities.
 
To qualify, prospective homebuyers must have household income that doesn’t exceed 120 percent of the area median income, which, according to Wells Fargo, is about $100,700 for a family of four. They must also commit to living in the house for at least five years and attend an eight-hour homebuyer education session.
 
The program will kick off with a free two-day event September 7 and 8 at the Minneapolis Convention Center, where interested homebuyers can find out if they qualify and get preapproved for a mortgage with a lender approved by NeighborWorks America, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that is helping Wells Fargo administer the program. The event will also include bus tours of homes for sale in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
 
“Today, despite low home prices and historically low interest rates, many families are still unable to purchase a home because they struggle with making the down payment,” Dave Kvamme, president and CEO of Wells Fargo’s Minnesota Great Lakes region, said in a statement. “The NeighborhoodLIFT program will help address this issue for homebuyers in St. Paul and Minneapolis by providing down payment assistance.”
 
The $9 million investment by Wells Fargo also includes $575,000 for grants to local projects in each city that promote affordable housing. Company spokeswoman Peggy Gunn told the Pioneer Press that the company is working with city officials to identify projects that might be a good fit for the funding.
 
Wells Fargo first launched the program in February in Los Angeles and has since expanded it to Atlanta; Houston; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Miami; and Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville, Florida. The bank claims that, to date, the program has helped 263 homebuyers across the country, and another 244 potential homeowners are in the process of closing on a home.