"It has become more and more difficult for working families
to realize the American dream of buying their first home," said Bergen
County Executive Dennis McNerney.
McNerney announced the mortgage increase Tuesday at the
Little Ferry home of Ana Herrera, a teacher's aide who bought her house
through the program. Down-payment assistance will also increase, McNerney
said, to 6 percent of the purchase price or $10,000, whichever is greater.
Herrera, a single parent of three, closed on the two-bed-room
house in February.
The Dominican-born woman who is working on her master's
degree in education, was receiving federal Section 8 housing assistance
until last year.
Owning her home had always seemed like a faraway dream, she
said.
"It was always in my mind but it was impossible in my
situation, raising my children on my own," Herrera said.
After the news conference, she gave a tour of her one-story
house, which has rose-print wallpaper and a back yard shaded by pine trees
and a Japanese maple. Herrera bought the home for $184,000. The program
also provided a loan for a new boiler. To qualify for "American Dream,"
annual family income cannot exceed 80 percent of county median, or about
$54,000 for a family of four.
