‘Leave a legacy’: Thousands come to program offering mortgages with no down payment, closing costs

Thousands of people who have never been able to afford their own homes turned to apply for mortgages with no down payments, no closing costs and no credit checks.

The Neighborhood Association Corporation of America, or NACA, hosted an “Achieve the Dream” event this weekend at the Gallery at South DeKalb.

It’s the second time since March the Alma Lee, a 40-year-old nurse and mother of five, drove from Augusta to go through the process. She longs to own a home because she knows the significance.

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“Generational wealth and just being able to have that for my children in the long run instead of renting from house to house to house,” she said.

She uploaded financial documents, visited with financial counselors and attended homebuying workshops during the event.

Marty Culpepper, 58, drove from Riverdale in hopes of qualifying for a NACA mortgage. He’s spent all of his adult life renting.

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“You have kids and everything behind you and you want to leave a legacy,” he said.

NACA is a nonprofit backed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Bruce Marks founded it in 1985 and has provided home financing for more than 75,000 families.

“With over 75,000 mortgages, we have a foreclosure rate of .00012 – about one hundredth of one percent,” he said.

The program removes traditional roadblocks of buying a home, such as down payments, closing costs, credit checks and mortgage insurance. It also provides a below-market interest rate. It’s open to everyone but focus on low-and-moderate income earners who have felt the crush of high rental rates.

It program might at first sound too good to be true, but here’s how it works: Banks, notably Bank of America, partner with NACA and pledge billions of dollars to fund the mortgages. Under the federal Community Reinvestment Act, large banks are required to meet the credit needs of low-to-moderate income communities, and this is one way to do that.

Tanya Becnel, 54, drove from Chamblee to attend the event and felt optimistic about qualifying for NACA financing.

“It’s very important,” she said. “I mean, the times that we are living in. It’s better to own than to rent, because rent nowadays is the cost of a mortgage.”

The event took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. Marks said he expects to bring another one to DeKalb County, or somewhere in metro Atlanta, in early 2027.

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