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Irwin Mortgage and Fannie Mae Announce Multicultural Homeownership Initiative to Increase Homeownership Opportunities for Minorities and Immigrants; Irwin Mortgage Opens First Chicago Branch Office in Wicker Park Neighborhood

Irwin Mortgage and Fannie Mae Announce Multicultural Homeownership Initiative to Increase Homeownership Opportunities for Minorities and Immigrants; Irwin Mortgage Opens First Chicago Branch Office in Wicker Park Neighborhood

Published 11-28-00

Submitted by Fannie Mae

U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Alderman Billy Ocasio (26th Ward) today joined community leaders, local realtors, housing advocates, and representatives from Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE), the nation’s largest source of financing for home mortgages, to celebrate the opening of Irwin Mortgage’s first office in the City of Chicago. As part of the grand opening, Irwin Mortgage, one of the nation’s leading full service residential mortgage lenders, and Fannie Mae highlighted several new products and services as part of a national $1 billion Multicultural Homeownership Initiative to help immigrant and minority families obtain homeownership. The announcements took place at an open house at Irwin Mortgage’s new neighborhood branch office in Wicker Park, located on Chicago’s northwest side.

"I’m pleased to celebrate the grand opening of Irwin Mortgage’s Wicker Park office which will serve our local community and help more families realize the American dream of homeownership," said Rep. Gutierrez. "I congratulate Fannie Mae and Irwin Mortgage for their new Multicultural Initiative that will further break down language, credit, and other barriers to homeownership."

"The new mortgage products, aimed at helping people overcome barriers such as past credit blemishes or lack of down payment savings, will be expanded to serve local communities throughout the city," said Terry Young, director of Fannie Mae’s Chicago Partnership Office. "This Multicultural Initiative is a positive first step to help close the gap. Homeownership rates in the 1990s reached record levels, but the rate for minority households is still considerably lower than the rate for white households."

The new Wicker Park office, managed by Eduardo Camacho, is fully staffed with bilingual employees, and will work with community organizations to help potential homeowners overcome barriers of credit, down payment, and language. "We want people to come to Irwin Mortgage and let us help them achieve the American dream of homeownership," said Camacho. Born in Wicker Park and raised in Chicago, Camacho started his mortgage career in 1989 as a
loan officer.

As part of this initiative, Irwin Mortgage has developed a comprehensive outreach effort that includes hiring bilingual loan officers, diversity training, new communication strategies, working with local community groups, and opening branch offices to better serve local ethnic communities. In addition to the Wicker Park office, Irwin Mortgage has opened fully bilingual offices in Arizona, California and Texas.

Fannie Mae has committed to purchase the $1 billion in affordable, targeted loans originated by Irwin Mortgage from the Multicultural Homeownership Initiative. This partnership is part of Fannie Mae’s "HouseChicago," a five-year, $12 billion investment plan to finance affordable housing for more than 150,000 Chicago families. HouseChicago is part of the company’s nationwide $2 trillion American Dream Commitment to increase homeownership among minorities, immigrants, women-headed families, young families, and others whose homeownership rates lag the general population.

As part of the initiative, mortgage products that have been successful in helping people overcome barriers related to their credit or savings will be expanded to serve local communities throughout Chicago. They include:

Community 100 Mortgage – an affordable housing pilot available to borrowers with incomes at or below 100 percent of the area median income. The Community 100 mortgage requires a 3 percent borrower contribution, which can be used toward closing costs. The 3 percent contribution can come from a variety of flexible sources, including grants and unsecured/secured loans from nonprofit organizations, government agencies, or employers.

Timely Payment Rewards – allows borrowers with past credit difficulties to obtain a mortgage rate up to two percentage points lower than non-conventional financing. The mortgage rate is automatically reduced an additional 1 percent after 24 consecutive months of timely payments.
Welcome Initiative, A New Country, A New Home – allows immigrant borrowers to apply for a home loan even if they are in the process of obtaining a green card, or do not have a complete history of income and credit in this country. The initiative permits alternative sources of qualifying income such as boarder income, cash-on-hand and part-time employment.

Employer Assisted Housing – Fannie Mae and Irwin Mortgage will work with employers throughout the U.S. to help them design affordable housing benefit packages that promote stability within their community and enhance employment recruitment and retention.

HomeStyle Rehabilitation Mortgage – This mortgage allows borrowers to obtain one mortgage loan for the purchase and the repair or renovation of a home, based on what the property will be worth after the work is completed.

For information on the new products or to apply for a loan, contact Irwin Mortgage at (773) 489-5811.

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