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Real Life Stories
Profile: Nevada State Bank's Support for Sustainable Homeownership.
Programs: Funds reservation of $1.17 million from WISH and IDEA first-time homebuyer programs.
Partners: Nevada State Bank and Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Nevada.
Nevada has been at the epicenter of the housing crisis, with a rate of foreclosure that is not only the highest in the country, according to RealtyTrac™, but is nearly twice that of any other state.
In 50 years, Michele Johnson, President and CEO of Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Nevada, has never seen things so bad. Whole neighborhoods—especially in the Las Vegas area—have been decimated, first by the meltdown of the overheated mortgage market and then by the economic downturn and ongoing job losses that are sending workers elsewhere.
Advocates for affordable housing are working to create new opportunities from this unprecedented housing crisis. With prices low and inventory high, homeownership is now within reach for many who had formerly been priced out of the market. Today, Johnson and Drew Zidzik, Senior Vice President and Community Reinvestment Act Manager at Nevada State Bank, are seizing the opportunity this situation presents to put hard-working people into newly affordable homes. “When your housing stock depreciates 70%, it’s a tragedy for current owners,” Johnson notes. “But it provides a rare opportunity for those who are looking to buy their first home.”
 In 2010, Nevada State Bank used $1.17 million in WISH and IDEA funds to help 94 homebuyers, three times as many as in the previous year. “We were using the programs on a small scale before, but since the marketplace changed so tremendously, homes that were once unreachable are now affordable,” Zidzik explains. “Pricing is fantastic, and we hope to be able to deliver the same volume this year.”
Recent events have dramatically illustrated that homeownership is not right for everyone. Successful, sustainable homeownership requires financial literacy and being well prepared for both the home-buying process and the ongoing responsibilities of ownership. Johnson’s organization is in the business of preparing people for homeownership success. “We find the clients, we scrutinize them from the beginning, we educate them and interpret the process for them,” Johnson says. “We’re there to answer questions, and it’s the handholding we do that really makes a difference.”
CCCS-NV’s homebuyers first meet with financial counselors, then with a housing specialist who explains the various programs. Completion of a comprehensive, eight-hour class—presented by the agency’s own staff, not industry representatives—is required. Finally, says Johnson, “We want them to come in with the money. Our participants scrape together every penny they can to get the full matching grant.” With either the WISH or IDEA program, the Bank’s 3-1 matching grant gives the recipient up to $15,000 to be applied to the downpayment or closing costs, which are generally the most significant barriers to homeownership for lower-income households.
By the time they move in to their new home, these homebuyers have demonstrated not just their readiness to be homeowners but also their desire to make a long-term commitment to their community. The benefits of homeownership extend beyond the household to the neighborhoods that need stabilizing—and to the larger community. “The impact of what we are doing is really pretty big,” Zidzik says. “It will help with Nevada’s recovery, too.”
Pictured: Drew Zidzik, Senior Vice President, Nevada State Bank, Michelle Johnson, President/CEO, Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Nevada.
Back to Real Life Stories
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Real Life Stories
Profile: Nevada State Bank's Support for Sustainable Homeownership.
Programs: Funds reservation of $1.17 million from WISH and IDEA first-time homebuyer programs.
Partners: Nevada State Bank and Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Nevada.
Nevada has been at the epicenter of the housing crisis, with a rate of foreclosure that is not only the highest in the country, according to RealtyTrac™, but is nearly twice that of any other state.
In 50 years, Michele Johnson, President and CEO of Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Nevada, has never seen things so bad. Whole neighborhoods—especially in the Las Vegas area—have been decimated, first by the meltdown of the overheated mortgage market and then by the economic downturn and ongoing job losses that are sending workers elsewhere.
Advocates for affordable housing are working to create new opportunities from this unprecedented housing crisis. With prices low and inventory high, homeownership is now within reach for many who had formerly been priced out of the market. Today, Johnson and Drew Zidzik, Senior Vice President and Community Reinvestment Act Manager at Nevada State Bank, are seizing the opportunity this situation presents to put hard-working people into newly affordable homes. “When your housing stock depreciates 70%, it’s a tragedy for current owners,” Johnson notes. “But it provides a rare opportunity for those who are looking to buy their first home.”
In 2010, Nevada State Bank used $1.17 million in WISH and IDEA funds to help 94 homebuyers, three times as many as in the previous year. “We were using the programs on a small scale before, but since the marketplace changed so tremendously, homes that were once unreachable are now affordable,” Zidzik explains. “Pricing is fantastic, and we hope to be able to deliver the same volume this year.”
Recent events have dramatically illustrated that homeownership is not right for everyone. Successful, sustainable homeownership requires financial literacy and being well prepared for both the home-buying process and the ongoing responsibilities of ownership. Johnson’s organization is in the business of preparing people for homeownership success. “We find the clients, we scrutinize them from the beginning, we educate them and interpret the process for them,” Johnson says. “We’re there to answer questions, and it’s the handholding we do that really makes a difference.”
CCCS-NV’s homebuyers first meet with financial counselors, then with a housing specialist who explains the various programs. Completion of a comprehensive, eight-hour class—presented by the agency’s own staff, not industry representatives—is required. Finally, says Johnson, “We want them to come in with the money. Our participants scrape together every penny they can to get the full matching grant.” With either the WISH or IDEA program, the Bank’s 3-1 matching grant gives the recipient up to $15,000 to be applied to the downpayment or closing costs, which are generally the most significant barriers to homeownership for lower-income households.
By the time they move in to their new home, these homebuyers have demonstrated not just their readiness to be homeowners but also their desire to make a long-term commitment to their community. The benefits of homeownership extend beyond the household to the neighborhoods that need stabilizing—and to the larger community. “The impact of what we are doing is really pretty big,” Zidzik says. “It will help with Nevada’s recovery, too.”
Pictured: Drew Zidzik, Senior Vice President, Nevada State Bank, Michelle Johnson, President/CEO, Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Nevada.
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