FAQs
Are homes free?
Nothing is given away for free! Homeowners must first qualify for an affordable mortgage loan, which means they must have an approximate credit score of at least 640. Habitat-Powhatan currently partners with USDA’s rural 502 loan program, which provides a loan that is several percentage points below prime. Homeowners also put in at least 200 hours of volunteering.
Who founded Habitat?
While former President Jimmy Carter has been a Habitat volunteer since 1984, Habitat’s roots go back to 1942 whenthe Rev. Clarence Jordan began an inter-racial live-work farm community called Koinonia outside of Atlanta. From there, he was joined by Millard Fuller in 1968 to start The Fund for Humanity and they began building homes that people could afford.
Are Habitat homes built well?
Our current Habitat homes — be it stick built or pre-built/factory built — are supervised by Class A contractors and must go through every county inspection required before a certificate of occupancy is issued. They are built to or exceed Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. In addition, Habitat International has construction standards.
Do Habitat homes reduce neighborhood home values?
A recent Habitat home was a 1,200-square-feet house. It appraised at $363,000. The first mortgage (held by homeowner) and second mortgage (held by Habitat) add up to the home’s appraised value.
Who do Habitat homes serve?
The area median income (AMI) for Powhatan in 2023 was approximately $108,089 (meaning half of the population makes above and the other half below). Habitat-Powhatan considers households making between approximately 40 percent and up to 80 percent of AMI. Often our Habitat homeowners and Habitat applicants have been those who work for the county school system or county government.
