Metropolitan University of Denver’s Wednesday welcome-back-to-campus fair featured food trucks, recruiting student clubs and a visit from the feds. Rocky Mountain Regional Office’s booth stood among rows of college-related resources, beckoning students and staff preparing for their first week back classes to learn about homeownership possibilities and debunk myths around the home buying process, said Dominique Jackson, HUD Rocky Mountain’s regional administrator.
These HUD events, titled “House Parties,” aimed at young adults and communities of color are happening across the country, but Jackson noted their education efforts are critical in Colorado when examining Denver and the surrounding area’s housing market.HUD housing counselors met with passing students on the most diverse four-year institution of higher education in Colorado, teaching them about federal housing resources including loans.
The median price of an FHA-insured property in Denver has risen from $383,668 to $505,807 in the past five years.The average monthly income of FHA homebuyers in Colorado was $9,096 and the average interest rate was 6.04%. In Denver, the average income was $10,109 with a 5.98% average interest rate.Charlotte O’Donnell, who manned the DHA booth next to HUD’s at the college fair. “In all my years, I’ve never seen so many young people not have opportunities to enter the housing market.
Santiago Gutierrez, 21, stopped by HUD and DHA’s booth with “for sale” signs in his eyes. The MSU Denver real estate student plans to graduate in January and become a real estate agent, but he’s got his heart set on buying property of his own.