Craftsman Village at Needham Heights

General Information

Craftsman Village @ Needham Heights is a new 6-unit condominium project located at 21 High Street in Needham, MA. Two affordable 3 bedroom condominium units are available by lottery for eligible first time homebuyers.

Lottery Applicant Criteria:

1. Household must be a first time homebuyer defined has not having owned residential property for three years. The following exceptions apply:

a. displaced homemakers, where the displaced homemaker (an adult who has not worked full-time, full-year in the labor force for a number of years but has, during such years, worked primarily without remuneration to care for the home and family), while a homemaker, owned a home with his or her partner or resided in a home owned by the partner;
b. single parent, where the individual owned a home with his or her partner or resided in a home owned by the partner and is a single parent (is unmarried or legally separated from a spouse and either has 1 or more children of who the individual has custody or joint custody, or is pregnant);
c. households where at least one household member is 55 or over;
d. households that owned a principal residence not permanently affixed to a permanent foundation in accordance with applicable regulations; and
e. households that owned a property that was not in compliance with State, local or model building codes and that cannot be brought into compliance for less than the cost of construction a permanent structure.

2. Household income can not exceed the following maximum allowable income for your household size.

Household Size	1	2	3	4	5	6
Max Allowable Income	$45,100	$51,550	$58,000	$64,400	$69,600	$74,750

3. All applicants’ allowable assets shall not exceed $75,000. Liquid retirement assets are counted.

a. Individual retirement, 401K and Keogh accounts are included at 100% of the account value.
b. The value of Retirement and Pension Funds differ if you are employed or are no longer working. If still employed the value is determined using the amount you can withdraw less any penalties or transaction costs. At retirement, termination of employment or withdrawal periodic receipts from pension and retirement funds are counted as income. Lump sum receipts are counted as assets.

Complete Income and Asset Guidelines are listed on the left navigation bar.

# of Affordable Units	Two 3 Bedroom Units
Price	$195,600
Mortgage Pre-Approval:	A mortgage pre-approval letter is required to participate in the lottery. The pre-approval letter must be based on your credit score and current financial situation and MUST be from a bank and received with your application before the application deadline. A pre-approval letter from a mortgage company or an online letter will NOT be accepted. A list of banks will be available at the Public Information Meeting and upon request.
Mortgage Guidelines:	There are specific mortgage guidelines that must be met. They are: 1. The loan must have a fixed interest rate through the full term of the mortgage. 2. The loan must have a current fair market interest rate. (No more the 2 percentage points above the current MassHousing Rate.) 3. The buyer must provide a down payment of at least 3%, 1.5% of which must come from the buyer’s own funds. 4. The loan can have no more than 2 points. 5. The buyer may not pay more than 30% of their monthly income for housing costs.
Financial Documentation:	Complete financial documentation is required to participate in the lottery. The list of required financial documentation is located on the left navigation bar. TWO COPIES of each document is required. If your documentation is incomplete you will not be included in the lottery.
Local Preference Criteria:	You must meet at least one of the following to be elligible for Local Preference. 1. Current Needham Resident 2. Employee who works full time for the Town of Needham 3. Families who have a student enrolled in the Needham School System 4. Armed Services Veterans and National Service Veterans (such as Peace Corp. or Americorps/VISTA)
Proof of local residency will verified if you have the opportunity to purchase.
Housing Preferences In all cases, preference for the three bedroom units will be given to households who require three bedrooms. Second preference is to households who require two bedrooms. Third preference for housholds who require one bedroom. Unit preferences are based on the following: a. There is a least one occupant and no more than two occupants per bedroom. b. A husband and wife, or those in a similar living arrangement, shall be required to share a bedroom. Other household members may share but shall not be required to share a bedroom. c. A person described in (b) shall not be required to share a bedroom if a consequence of sharing would be a severe adverse impact on his or her mental or physical health and reliable medical documentation is provided substantiating the adverse impact. Deed Rider YES. Deed restrictions are used to protect the affordability of the units for future buyers. The deed restrictions encumber the property in perpetuity, with certain exceptions. If you choose to sell your unit there is a limit on the resale price. The maximum resale price is determined using a Resale Price Multiplier, a figure calculated by taking the initial sales price and dividing it by the area median income. For example, the initial 3 bedroom affordable unit price is $196,500 and the current area median income is $90,200, the Resale Price Multiplier would be $196,500/$90,200 = 2.17. Upon resale, the Resale Price Multiplier is multiplied by the updated area median income number to determine the maximum resale price. A resale fee up to 2.5% of the resale price may be added onto the resale price to be paid by the buyer to the Monitoring Agent. Minority Preference A preliminary lottery will be held if the percentage of minority applicants in the Local Preference Pool is less than 20.7%, as determined by recent Census data in the Boston area. This lottery will be comprised of all minority applicants who did not qualify for the local pool. Applicants will be ranked in order of the drawing. The Local Pool will be adjusted by adding the required number of applicants, in rank order, to achieve the appropriate minority representation in the Local Pool. Minority households are identified in accordance with the regulatory classifications established by HUD.