CITY OF EL PASO OPERATIONAL HOURS:
Mon-Thurs, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. - Closed Fridays
Housing finance corp - links
Here are some good links to sites and resources to help you plan for home ownership and to better understand the role of housing in the community.
El Paso County Appraisal District – Find the Appraised Value of a Property
Mortgage Calculators - How Much House Can You Afford?
Here is a good loan calculator. If you need to estimate the
total closing costs, 3.0% of the mortgage amount is a reasonable number.
For monthly taxes and insurance, use about ½ percent (.05%) +/-
of the home’s value, e.g., a $70,000 home would be .05% of $70,000
or $350 per month.
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-calculator.asp?nav=mtg&page=calc_home
Your Route to Home Ownership – by Freddie Mac
This is a good site to find out about homeownership and if it's right
for you, learning about credit and why it's an important part of the home
buying process, finding out about mortgages and the mortgage process,
and preparing to open the door to your own home.
http://www.freddiemac.com/homebuyers/
Finding a Home in El Paso
Note: Listing these commercial sites does not imply an endorsement by the El Paso Housing Finance Corporation.
The El Paso Times HomeFinder page.
http://www.homefinder.com/elpasotimes/elpaso/index_map.jhtml
SouthWest Homes (Real Estate Weekly).
http://www.southwesthomes.net/
Realtor.com web site for El Paso.
http://www.realtor.com/elpaso/nbregion.asp?st=tx&poe=realtor
Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS®
http://www.elpasotx.com/
El Paso and Texas Organizations Involved in Housing
The El Paso Credit Union Affordable Housing, LLC is an organization that provides financial literacy training to the El Paso County community. The organization provides a program of education and individual counseling that is aimed at preparing people for home ownership. Their basic seminar is held frequently at public locations and on site at employers and consists of four two-hour classes covering: 1) Credit management and financial literacy; 2) home ownership; 3) home selection; 4) home financing; 5) & post closing homeownership responsibilities. Call them at 915-838-9608.
The El Paso YWCA Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS)
provides HUD certified housing counseling. Call them at 915-577-2530.
http://www.ywcaelpaso.org/prod04.htm
El Paso Association of Builders
http://www.epab.org/
Housing Authority of the City of El Paso
http://www.hacep.org
El Paso Empowerment Zone
http://www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/commdev/ez_home.asp
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/
Housing Policy and Economic Research
The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University is the nation's largest
publicly funded organization devoted to real estate research.
http://recenter.tamu.edu/
UTEP Economic Resources:
Department of Economics and Finance, the home of the Border Region Modeling Project, has the “mother of all spreadsheets” for El Paso economic data, including housing.
http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?alias=academics.utep.edu/border
The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University's center for
information and research on housing in the United States.
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a wealth
of resources.
http://www.hud.gov/
University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economics Research, is
part of the UW-Madison School of Business and is a premier center for
real estate study and research.
http://www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate/culer/paper.htm
ULI—the Urban Land Institute is a Washington, D.C. think tank and
community of practice for those engaged in the process of real estate
development and land use policy-making.
http://www.uli.org/DK/index.cfm
Sustainability Resources
The Border EcoWeb is designed to facilitate public access to environmental
and sustainable development information for the U.S.-Mexican border region.
http://www.borderecoweb.sdsu.edu/
The Sustainability Institute, A think-tank dedicated to sustainable resource
use, economics and community. The site has lots of good links, papers
and downloads on this subject.
http://www.sustainer.org/
The Rocky Mountain Institute is a nonprofit organization that fosters
the efficient and restorative use of natural, human and other capital,
including sustainable building and community design.
http://www.rmi.org/
Smart Growth Resources
Smart Growth Online is an effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency that joined with several non-profit and government organizations
in 1996 to form the Smart Growth Network (SGN). The Network is a response
to increasing community concerns about the need for new ways to grow
that boost the economy, protect the environment, and enhance community
vitality.
http://www.smartgrowth.org
Smart Growth America is a coalition of national, state and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build the towns, cities and metro areas we call home. http://www.smartgrowthamerica.com/
The Natural Resources Defense Council is an environmental organization
that, among other activities, promotes planned growth policies that provide
practical alternatives that can preserve the landscape and improve the
quality of our daily lives.
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/smartGrowth/default.asp
