Having trouble saving to buy a house?
An IDA (Individual Development Account) is a savings account intended to help folks save and accrue cash for self sufficient purposes. They are offered by non-profit organizations and state backed programs for individuals and families within the income and asset limits.
Put plainly, these accounts will match your savings up to a certain threshold over a given period of time. Organizations will match 1:1, 2:1, or more depending on the program. In essence, if you have a 1 year time period to maximize your IDA to $10,000 and the program is a 1:1 match, you would need to save $5,000 within that time frame and they would match your savings. You then walk away with an extra $5,000 tax free totalling $10,000.
(these numbers are for example only. Some programs will have higher limits.)
While you are utilizing the IDA program, you may be required to take a casual financial literacy course.
This can generally be used for things like home purchases, college tuition, business startups, etc.
In the State of Oregon where I work and live, the max income to qualify varies by county and by family size. To qualify as I am writing this in Multnomah County, a single person would have to earn a salary less than $59,650 while a 2 person family would need to earn less than $68,200. Again, these numbers differ by county and family size so you are not limited by these particular numbers alone.
Assets owned per family are also taken into account. To qualify in the State of Oregon, your family assets must be less than $20,000, but “For IDA eligibility, the value and debt of one owned home and one owned car and up to $120,000 in retirement savings may be excluded from the eligibility calculation)”. https://oregonidainitiative.org/find-ida-provider/do-i-qualify-2/
*If you are curious to learn more and seek help sourcing cash to purchase a home with us, reach out however you prefer. I would be happy to help you through this process.