SEATTLE, May 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Parade of Affordable Homes(SM) event is designed to be both fun and educational for those contemplating homeownership for the first time. This event is free and open to the public and organizers encourage you to visit http://www.affordablehomeparade.org/ to browse Parade Showcase Homes and plan your personalized tour.
The Parade of Affordable Homes will initially take place in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties and will last over two weekends, June 16 -17 and June 23 - 24. Almost thirty traditional and non-profit builders have joined the Tacoma-to-Everett Parade to showcase a variety of homes priced from $160,000 to $350,000.
Primary sponsors for this first annual Parade of Affordable Homes include Washington Mutual, IKEA, BECU, and AlaskaUSA Mortgage. A local television campaign will drive potential first-time homebuyers to the official event website, http://www.affordablehomeparade.org/. Tour participants will collect stamps from Showcase Homes in a "Parade Passport" that can be entered into daily drawings for a $1,000 Shopping Spree at IKEA. Homeownership Fairs in each county will have informational booths as well as ongoing orientations for first-time homebuyers.
"With the high cost of housing in the Puget Sound, many working families are essentially locked out of homeownership," states Jeff Caden, the Executive Director of WHC. "The goal of the Parade of Affordable Homes is to provide information to prospective, lower-income, first-time homebuyers about the available gap financing programs that may allow them to achieve home ownership. Most eligible people aren't aware of these programs, and the Parade of Affordable Homes event can be critical in spreading the word while linking them with more affordable housing inventory."
It is hoped that as a result of this event, buyers' perceptions about their first home will begin to return to that of a modest, yet comfortable, "starter home". According to research done by WHC, one of the greatest barriers to homeownership for first-time buyers is "not finding a home that they like." Caden adds, "We hope that our clients can reset their expectations so they can return to living within 1100 square feet as well as within their means."
For more information, visit http://www.affordablehomeparade.org/ or call 1-866-600-6466.
Washington Homeownership Center
CONTACT: Jeff Caden, Executive Director of Washington Homeownership
Center, +1-206-287-4475, jcaden@homeownership-wa.org
Web site: http://www.affordablehomeparade.org/
http://homeownership_wa.org/
