Buyer’s Market : Thousand Oaks to Help Families Buy Homes They’re Renting

Every time he paid the rent for his two-bedroom condominium, Rodrigo Flores got the uneasy feeling that he was tossing away money.

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Rather than padding a landlord’s wallet, he wished that he could be investing in his future. But with a wife and three children to support, Flores could never seem to save enough cash for a down payment on a house.

Now, he doesn’t have to.

Thousand Oaks’ new Ownership Assistance Program, launched last month, will soon help Flores and other lower-income families buy the homes that they’ve been renting for years.

With deferred, low-interest loans, the city can offer renters enough quick cash to cover down payments and closing costs. A federal mortgage loan takes care of the rest, turning longtime renters into first-time buyers.

“We’ve been trying so hard to qualify for some kind of a loan, but we could never raise enough money,” said Flores, a machine shop worker. “We really appreciate the city doing this for us.”

The program has already attracted more than a dozen applications, even though it’s available in just one area--the Las Casitas condominium complex in Newbury Park.

City Councilwoman Judy Lazar will present a progress report on the program at tonight’s council meeting, and she’s planning a glowing account.

“This is really about as affordable as you can get in this city,” Lazar said. “This opportunity just doesn’t exist elsewhere.”

Under the Ownership Assistance Program, low-income renters buying their first house can qualify for city loans amounting to up to 10% of the purchase price. The loan accumulates no interest--and participants make no payments--for five years. After that, the loans carry interest rates of 3% to 5%.

A staff report on the program last month indicated that officials would give priority loans to families who meet household-size guidelines--no more than four people for a typical two-bedroom Las Casitas condo. But in practice, mortgage brokers have encouraged everyone to apply.

The five-member Flores family, for example, has easily qualified for the loan program and the final paperwork will be signed soon. “Now we won’t be throwing away money--we’re saving it, investing it,” Flores said, leaning back on his sofa, under a wall covered with family photos.

With Las Casitas condominiums on sale for about $75,000 apiece, most renters find ownership astoundingly affordable. Mortgage payments and homeowners fees total $600 to $800 a month usually, just slightly more than rent.

“I’ll pay more (per month), but like my mom says, it’ll be mine,” said Janine Jones, an insurance clerk who has applied for the program. “I’ve got to look at the long picture.”

In 10 years of living at Las Casitas, Jones has witnessed a fair share of the problems that plague the neighborhood, a 540-unit condominium tract wedged between the Ventura Freeway and Hillcrest Drive just west of Ventu Park Road.

She said she has seen a condominium in her neighborhood stuffed with two dozen people and crawling with cockroaches. She’s watched uncaring tenants trash their homes and clog the streets with parked cars. And she’s called police to break up ear-splitting parties.

But she said she has also seen major improvements, and she is determined to stick around.

By encouraging renters to buy, Jones thinks that the Ownership Assistance Program will boost Las Casitas’ image. Now, nearly two-thirds of the neighborhood’s residents rent their homes, and property values have sagged to record lows.

“We’ve got to clean it up somehow,” Jones said. “Hopefully, this program will improve the neighborhood.”

Besides, she added: “It’s probably my only chance to buy, with housing prices so low. I’ve got to jump at the chance.”

Enthusiasm for the city’s program runs especially high among Las Casitas’ resident homeowners, who believe that renters tend to be less active in neighborhood affairs and less concerned about keeping up their property.

“Our homeowners association has been saying for years that Las Casitas is the best value in the Ventura County region,” said Robert Bickle, president of the group. “It’s not a sweltering pit of despair or anything like that. It can be a nice place to live.”

For the next month, the Ownership Assistance Program will be open only to Las Casitas renters. By early summer, other Thousand Oaks residents will get a crack at the city loans. And this fall, if any of the $1.45 million set aside for the program remains, even non-Thousand Oaks residents will be allowed to apply for funds.

“When the real estate market stopped back in 1988, it was because we priced first-time buyers out,” realtor Sammie Gerber said. “This is just a really great program for first-time buyers. It’s a good place for them to start.”