Arkansas
Dream of Owning a Home in Arkansas Not Out of Sight
Equity in a home is the number source of wealth in the State of Arkansas. Owning your own home has long been known as “the American dream.” But with the increasing prices of homes combined with interest rates that are quite a bit higher than people became accustomed to in recent years, that dream seems out of reach for many—especially young, first-time homebuyers. However, home ownership may be more achievable than many people realize.
“There is a misconception out there about what it takes to buy a home,” said Robert M. “Ro” Arrington, director of Homeownership and Public Finance, Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA). “I’m 60 years old. My parents and their parents had in mind they needed a 20 to 30 percent down payment to buy a home. But today, you can be in a home for as little as a 3 percent down payment on the principal. This is routine throughout the mortgage market.”
Another metric for obtaining a home mortgage is the debt-to-income ratio–the percentage of the debt obligation compared to the income of the buyer or buyers. A rule of thumb used to be that total monthly payment obligations, which would include your mortgage, needed to be 30 percent or less of the total monthly income. But now, some federal programs allow up to 50 percent. ADFA’s Arkansas Home Ownership Program allows as high as 45 percent.
“We are trying to fight the obstacles of people believing they can’t get into a home,” Arrington said. “Times have changed. Now the government is involved in the guarantee of most mortgages. And the Arkansas Home Ownership Program has a mission to help people buy a home. We provide down payment assistance to qualified first-time homebuyers and people within certain income limitations. We will loan them the down payment to coincide with their mortgage. We do this 100 percent in partnership with bank lenders throughout the state.”
The amount the nonprofit Arkansas Home Ownership Program loans is considerable. Not all people who get approved for down payment assistance end up going through with the purchases. The home inspection could fail or there could be other complications. But as of early September, there were 1,327 down payment assistance home loan applications in Arkansas that had been locked in for a total of $232 million.
The target is first-time homebuyers and those who might be disadvantaged, but the program is not only for state residents who have a low income. Arrington said those helped by the program cut across all socio-economic lines.
All loans are originated through existing financial institutions that partner with Arkansas Home Ownership.
“So, in that sense, it is a public/private partnership,” Arrington said. “Banks love us. We operate with a different profile than most financial institutions. We are the ultimate nonprofit. If we generate excess income, we pour it right down into more down payment assistance in the affordable housing space. We don’t get a single taxpayer dollar. We are wholly self-supporting. It is a program that both Democrats and Republicans can love.”
Another common perception right now is that mortgage interest rates are too high. Currently, rates are about 7.125 percent. A year ago, rates were 5.25 percent. A year before that, rates were 3.25 percent. But mortgage production has been steady with Arkansas Home Ownership.
Is affordability a concern in a high interest rate market? Yes. But people want to make that shift from renting to buying.
“They just know they want a house,” Arrington said. “They want to borrow money to do it. And they want help. We make sure homebuyers are offered education courses so they know what they are getting into. We require inspections. We don’t want to be big brother, but help people who are not as sophisticated.”
And while home affordability is a major issue in Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock, Batesville, Texarkana and some other larger cities, a lot of the state still has home prices below the national average.
For more information, see your local lenders and ask about the Arkansas down payment assistance program.
“We work with 300 loan officers around the state,” Arrington said.
For more information, visit homeloans.arkansas.gov.
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Arkansas
DoorDash activates severe weather protocol, suspending service in parts of Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Due to the ongoing winter storm sweeping through the Natural State, DoorDash has activated its Severe Weather Protocol and temporarily suspended operations in Little Rock and various parts of the Natural State.
According to a release Friday night, the precautionary measure comes as the winter storms deliver hazardous conditions across the city, including heavy snowfall and strong winds.
Cities with suspended operations include Little Rock, North Little Rock, Conway, Pine Bluff, Jacksonville, Cabot, Searcy, Malvern, Lonoke, Heber Springs, Star City, Clinton, Rison and Sheridan.
“With heavy snowfall and low visibility, the snowstorm is a serious threat to our community, and we’ve taken decisive action by activating our Severe Weather Protocol,” DoorDash spokesperson Julian Crowley said. “We deeply appreciate the patience and understanding of Dashers, merchants and consumers, and will resume operations as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
Officials said they will continue to monitor conditions on the ground and will communicate additional changes to their operations as needed.
Arkansas
Knowing the Florida Gators Opponent: Arkansas Razorbacks
Gainesville, Fla. – The Florida Gators men’s basketball team’s next destination is Fayetteville, Ark., as they’ll take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (11-4, 0-2) on Saturday for their third SEC matchup of the season.
Florida is currently sitting at 14-1 on the season and 1-1 in conference play. They opened their SEC slate with a nail-biting loss to the Kentucky Wildcats, losing 106-100 in Lexington.
However, the Gators were able to avenge this loss with one of the most dominant wins in men’s basketball history on Tuesday over No. 1 Tennessee. They trounced the Volunteers 73-43 in the O’Dome, marking the Gators’ first regular-season win over an AP No. 1-ranked team in program history and the biggest win over a No. 1-ranked team in the NCAA since 1968.
But enough about what Florida has done this season, let’s shift the focus to their opponents, the Razorbacks, and see who they are.
Arkansas’ season started out nice with a win over Lipscomb. However, it wouldn’t be the same for them in their second game of the season against then-ranked No. 8 Baylor, as they found themselves on the losing end of a tightly contested battle.
Then, following a good stretch for the team in red, they were tasked with the current No. 13 in the AP Poll, Illinois, and things wouldn’t go so well for new Razorbacks head coach John Calipari. His team was outclassed in this game 90-77, which ended their winning streak at four.
Arkansas did make amends with their fans a few games later, though. While participating in the Jimmy V Classic, they matched up with then-ranked No. 14 Michigan, who they narrowed past 89-87.
This win over the Wolverines helped maintain a three-game win streak that would eventually turn into a six-game streak. However, since SEC play started for the Razorbacks, they are 0-2 with losses to Tennessee and Ole Miss, who are currently ranked in the Top 25 AP Poll.
These pair of losses put Arkansas at just a 1-4 record against teams on their schedule to have been ranked or that are currently ranked.
While it was a complete roster overhaul for Calipari and the Razorbacks this offseason that was fueled by the transfer portal, their biggest grab has been from the high school ranks.
They added highly ranked players like Johnell Davis, Adou Thiero and Jonas Aidoo all from the portal, but it’s former five-star guard Boogie Fland who’s been arguably the best player for the Razorbacks this season.
Fland is averaging 15.5 points, 5.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game through 15 games this season. He is also connecting on 35.7 percent of his threes, which shows he’s more than just an inside scorer. Additionally, his 5.9 assists rank 24th among his competitors.
But in these first two SEC games, Fland is just 10-for-35 from the field and 3-for-17 from deep.
If the Gators can’t keep him in check like he’s been over these last two, then it might be a long afternoon for the visitors on Saturday.
Despite bringing in tons of talent that should’ve resulted in a great offense, Arkansas has been anything but that.
They currently rank inside the bottom five teams in the SEC in scoring offense, averaging 79.4 points per game. They do have two players scoring at least 15.0 points per game, but that’s pretty much it. Outside of Thiero (16.9) and Fland, they only have one other player in double figures (DJ Wagner, 10.5).
Moreover, if this becomes a free-throw-dominated affair, the Gators shouldn’t be too worried about the Razorbacks’ performance at the line. They are shooting 71.1 percent from the charity stripe, which is good for 12th in the league.
And, lastly, they have little to no presence on the glass. They are the worst team in the SEC in offensive rebounding, and they are 13th out of 16 teams in overall rebounding. These are two areas where the Gators dominate, and if things play out like they have been this season, then the visitors should outmuscle their counterparts.
This game will be televised on Saturday at 4 pm on ESPN.
Arkansas
Viewer pictures: The Natural State transforms into a winter wonderland
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A winter storm rolled into Arkansas Thursday and brought with it snow to the majority of western and central Arkansas.
Many from around the Natural State sent in pictures of their area covered in snow.
Though Arkansas is already full of natural beauty, there’s something about the state covered in snow that makes it even more of a winter wonderland.
Several kids from around the state got out and took advantage of the day off of school by throwing snowballs, digging up the snow, sledding and of course making snow angels.
Many who got out in the snow had enough accumulated to make snow men.
Share your snow day pictures at KARK.com/winter-pics.
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