How to Qualify for Home Ownership

• Need - The applicant's family must be living under inadequate housing conditions. This may include the family being burdened by excessively high rent, over-crowding, structural problems with residence and/or inadequate utilities.
• Previous home ownership - Cannot have owned a home in the past three years.
• Willingness to Partner- The applicant(s) must be willing to participate in the Habitat Program as a partner in building the family's home and those of others. 500 hours of "Sweat Equity" are required once an applicant has been board approved and must be completed before move-in. 250 of those hours may be completed by friends and family of a single-applicant family. The applicant is required to complete 40 hours per month following acceptance into the program and at least 100 hours at the construction site actually building the family's home.
• Residency- The applicant(s) must be legal citizen(s) and must have lived or worked in Ravalli County for a period of at least one year during the past three years.
• Ability to Pay- Ability to qualify for and repay a no interest loan. The applicant's family must have total household income that is between 30 - 60% of the current HUD Median Income Guidelines for the Ravalli County area, adjusting for family size. The applicant's income alone must be sufficient to pay for a Habitat mortgage as well as things such as utilities and a $250 down payment. Income need not be job-related, but may include disability, Social Security, alimony or child support. The applicant family must be able to qualify for a mortgage. 

Pre-Applications can be downloaded or completed on-line on the Homeownership Pre-Application tab.

You can contact Habitat for Humanity of Ravalli County at: 375-1926, or
e-mail: director@ravallihabitat.org for more information.