• Fill out the application and return it to North Country Affordable Housing, Inc., HSBC Bank Building basement, 120 Washington Street, Watertown, New York 13601. No application will be considered until it is complete.
   

• Include with your application a copy of the last two year’s federal income tax form 1040 for each person in your household who had income. This is very important. Without it, your application will not be considered. If this is a problem for any reason, you need to call us at 785-8684 and discuss the problem.
   

• Once your application is complete and your name is the next on the waiting list, you will be called for an interview. It is important you give us your phone number on the application so that we can contact you. The interview should last about 1/2 hour. You will not be called for an interview until we are sure that there are funds remaining to assist you. Grant funds are limited, and will be awarded to the first households that qualify. Priority of consideration will be based on your position on the waiting list.
   

• We will review with you what kind of house you want and need. It might be a good idea to be thinking about this now. We will have information on the modular units available under this program, and will provide that information at your interview. Once we have determined how much you can afford, we will help you select your new modular house.

Your choice of house will be in part dependent upon how much you can afford. The grant maximum of $20,000 can cover no more than 60% of the total house cost; the rest will have to come from your own funds or from a mortgage. We can help you determine how much mortgage you will qualify for, and help you apply for the mortgage.
 

If you are approved for a grant, North Country Affordable Housing will give you notice to begin construction. Under no circumstances is work to be started prior to this notice, or the grant will not pay for the work.

When your house is completed, we will schedule a closing for the bank mortgage and the grant, at which time the builder will be paid. At the closing, certain documents must be signed, including a note and mortgage in which you agree to live in the house for another ten years, or pay back the grant amount. The grant is interest free, and totally forgiven upon ten years of owner-occupancy. We will verify your residency every year for those ten years. If you are unable to reside in the house for the full ten years, we will help you to find a new income-qualified buyer who could assume your grant obligation so that you would not have to repay.

We expect that you will continue to live
 in your mobile home until your new house is built.
After the new house is complete, the mobile home must be removed and demolished.