As we mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, homeowners and real estate in general play an important role in meeting the mission to educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.
This blog has previously covered the broad topic of saving our Earth. Most recently, we noted green initiatives that the city, county and federal government can assist homeowners as well as shared guidelines to adopt solar energy for your home.
We have also covered how home buyers can participate in state and federal grant programs to help support their down payments. Washington state’s Housing Finance Commission has supported more than 80,000 buyers with assistance since 1983.
EnergySpark is one of those assistance programs. It is designed to work with the Home Advantage loan and down payment assistance initiative. Buyers must be seeking either a newly constructed home that exceeds the state’s energy standards by at least 15% or an older home that can be upgraded for 10% energy savings from its current use.
The EnergySpark program aims to help buyers finance the work to upgrade the home. It will also save buyers two ways:
- Mortgage applicants buying an energy‐efficient home or making upgrades to an existing home at the time of purchase save 0.25 percent on their interest rate. (The Housing Finance Commission says it may not be able to offer the rate reduction on certain days.) Plus, borrowers still qualify for our down payment assistance.
- Utilities are among the hidden costs of homeownership. The more efficient the house, the more money saved.
Think about it: Add insulation to an older home or convert an oil furnace to gas or electric, then Energy Spark can help.
Buyers seeking to qualify for EnergySpark must earn less than $145,000 and have a credit score of at least 620.
More information can be found by speaking with your mortgage consultant, calling 800-767-4663 or writing the commission at Dietrich.Schmitz@wshfc.org.
Happy Earth Day! Please do your part to save our planet.