Qualify & Apply

In the CLT model, the nonprofit builds or acquires homes, and sells the homes to income-qualified individuals. The CLT retains ownership of the land that the house sits on, leasing the land to the homeowner for a designated period of time, typically 99 years. Separating the house from the land has two important benefits: it ensures that the land remains affordable by keeping it in the community’s possession; and it helps makes homeownership more affordable for low-income individuals, allowing them to more easily buy homes and build wealth through equity and shared market appreciation.

Eligibility for the ECLT Homebuyer program is based on income and asset limits of the total household. Regardless of the loan structure, ECLT reviews the total household income and assets as is required by the funding partners that make the ECLT Homebuyer program possible. 

ECLT requires asset documents be recent within 30 calendar days, and we need the most recent pay stubs available as of the application submission date. Depending on when you started uploading documents to your application, by the time you submit some may be outdated. 

Yes, you may still apply. Please provide the offer letter of employment and as many paystubs that are available at the time of application submission. Your new employer will still need to provide a verification of employment directly to ECLT to support the employment information disclosed on the offer letter. In cases where employment has not started you will not be able to close on a property until at least the first pay stub is received to support your employment has started.  

ECLT, per the requirements of our funding partners, follows the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Chapter 5 income guidelines found here, which uses gross projected income over the next 12 months. If your income has changed/increased from what was reported on your most recent taxes this may be the reason for being over the income limits. Keep in mind that we are unable to tell you if you will qualify or not prior to reviewing your completed application. 

Yes, you may change to another ECLT-approved loan officer after you have been approved; please be sure to update all involved to avoid confusion. 

It will generally take us about 3 – 4 weeks from when you submit your application to when you receive a letter of approval from us.