Habitat Homeownership FAQs
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If your GROSS household income is between 30% and 80% of AMI, you could qualify for a Habitat home. Check out those guidelines HERE.
Due to mortgage laws, we will not be able to tell you whether or not you qualify for the Homeownership Program until we have a COMPLETED application. Get yours in soon!
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In addition to meeting certain financial and income requirements, applicants must be in need of affordable housing, willing to partner with Habitat Flathead, and able to pay an affordable mortgage.
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Please report your GROSS income (before taxes).
All forms of permanent income are generally included in the household income. All income must be documented, including child support, alimony, SSI, Disability, TANF, and Social Security.
Overtime, bonuses, commissions, tips, and self-employment income require a 2-year history for inclusion in calculations.
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Determine your monthly household debt. Include monthly credit card payments, student loan payments, medical bills, vehicle payments, other loan payments, and family support payments if any for all household members. Do not include utilities, groceries, or other miscellaneous expenses.
Important: List only the minimum required payment for each account, even if you pay more. Check your most recent account statements for each minimum monthly payment amount.
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Your debt-to-income ratio compares the amount of your debt (excluding your rent payment) to your income. The ratio is best figured on a monthly basis.
For example, if your monthly take-home pay is $2,000 and you pay $400 per month in debt payment for loans and credit cards, medical bills and/or student loans, your debt-to-income ratio is $400 divided by $2,000 = 0.20 or 20%.
Typically, successful applicants have a debt-to-income ratio of less than 12%.
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Habitat sells houses at affordable prices and is committed to keeping housing payments manageable, set at no more than 30% of the household income.
Your BACK END debt-to-income ratio, which is based on the future home mortgage payment, your current debt, and your current income, must not exceed 40%.
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The entire application process may take a couple months. If you are selected, the building process will take 8-12 months. Habitat’s ability to build houses depends greatly upon financial donations and volunteer labor. All of these affect the length of time it takes to complete the application process and to build a house. These are only approximations.
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No. Habitat Flathead is not a custom home builder. We build our homes with the same structural specifications every time, and provide a basic set of amenities with each house. House features like room size, room location, wall placement, and kitchen arrangement are predetermined by the house plan being built.
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No. Habitat determines the house size based on the household size and make up. Two children of the same gender are expected to share one bedroom if they are 5 years apart in age or less.
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Yes. Like all other affordable housing programs, Habitat Flathead requires that its houses are homeowner occupied. This means that you cannot use it for business purposes, move out and leave it empty, rent it out, or move out and let others live there instead.
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Yes. A Habitat homeowner may sell their home at any time. Habitat Flathead has the right of first refusal as well as a shared appreciation agreement.
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No. Each person signing the loan will need to personally complete 275 hours of sweat equity work. Additionally, Habitat homebuyers will need to organize TWO family and friend build days.
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No. Habitat Flathead is a Fair Housing agency, which means we do not discriminate based on race/color, religion, sex/gender, national origin, disability, age or familial status. Thus, our program is open to all household types including individuals, couples, single parents with children, couples with children, etc.