Loan program offers a little help to teachers

A new program through the state Housing Finance and Development Authority will offer low-interest home loans to teachers and help with down payments

The 2008 Palmetto Hero Program is designed to help teachers in rural areas and areas with high costs of living.

In Beaufort County, a teacher can get $5,000 in down payment assistance and a 5.875 percent interest rate on a 30-year mortgage. To qualify, yearly income for a one- or two-person household cannot exceed $73,800 and the home cannot cost more than $284,050.

Many homes in the Bluffton area would qualify. On Hilton Head, most housing in that price range would be small condominiums.

Teachers on Hilton Head Island who spoke to the Packet said the program will offer little help to them.

"That's not nearly enough," said Lauren Economos, a teacher at Hilton Head International Baccalaureate Elementary School. "I don't plan on taking advantage of it."

Economos, who has been teaching for nine years, is living in her parents' second home on the island while she tries to save for her own home. Teachers say they are not willing to live in island neighborhoods where homes meet the program's requirement.

Income and maximum home price requirements are based on median data from the Internal Revenue Service, according to Claude Spurlock, director of mortgage production for the housing authority.

Spurlock said the program's purpose is to offer loans for affordable housing.

"It's going to have to be out in the country, not on Hilton Head," he said. "They can use it for a condominium."

Those who wish to take advantage of the loan must be certified to teach in South Carolina. If they are not teaching on the closing date, they must have a contract to begin doing so within 60 days of the sale closing.

Spurlock said last week that the office was receiving hundreds of inquiries a day about the program. The authority has $20 million to provide housing assistance on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Spurlock added that the program will not always be directed toward educators. The authority will choose a new "hero" group to aid each year.

"Next year we may have this for firemen or policemen," he said.