Unlocking homeownership with down payment assistance and savings plan

Photo: Jill Wellington/Pixabay

StatePoint Media - If you dream of owning a home but aren’t sure whether you have enough money for a down payment, take another look. You might already have enough or be closer than you think.

Down payment and closing cost assistance

Depending on your situation, you may qualify for a grant to help with your housing purchase. Grants can offer down payment and closing cost assistance. Some financing programs also allow qualified homebuyers to put down as little as 3%.

“Aspiring homeowners may want to talk with a mortgage professional to explore their options. They can help aspiring homeowners understand how much they need for a down payment and other upfront costs as well as for ongoing expenses such as insurance, homeowners’ association fees, and unexpected repairs,” says Ewunike N. Brady, head of African American Segment, Wells Fargo Home Lending.

If saving up to buy a home is your goal, how can you put more money away each month to get there sooner? Here are some savings tips to consider:

1. Pay down credit card and loan debt to save money on interest. This may also lower your debt-to-income ratio and increase your credit score, which helps when applying for a mortgage. Start with accounts with the highest interest rates, pay more than the minimum, make payments every two weeks instead of monthly, and consider setting up automatic payments.

2. Track your spending habits and evaluate what you can cut. Many helpful budgeting apps are available. Small changes can add up to big savings. For example, make your own coffee, pack a lunch, carpool, get your hair cut less frequently, or cook and watch movies at home instead of going out.

3. Reconsider subscription services and monthly memberships. How much do you spend per month, and do you use them enough to get your money’s worth? If you have gym membership, can you work out at home or enjoy public recreation areas? How many apps or streaming video or music services do you need?

4. Minimize account fees. Pay attention to when a bank account incurs fees so you can avoid them when possible – for instance, maintain the daily minimum account balance, use your debit card a specified number of times during the month, or stay below a maximum number of withdrawals from a savings account. And of course, avoid overdrafts.

5. Consider using automatic bill pay options through your financial institution or the billing entity, like your utility company. Then you’ll avoid accidental late payments and the fees that come with them.

While saving for a down payment seems daunting, it does not have to be. Understanding the facts about what’s required to buy a home and having a savings plan can put you well on your way to achieving your homeownership goal.

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Commentary |Project 2025's plan to do away with Medicad and Medicare

Fernando Zhiminaicela/Pixabay

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While admitting that Medicare and Medicaid “help many,” the authors of Project 2025 nonetheless declare that the programs “operate as runaway entitlements that stifle medical innovation,

by Sonali Kolhatkar

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Conservatives have done the United States a huge favor by explaining in detail what they’ll try to do if Donald Trump is reelected.

Project 2025, a “presidential transition project” of the Heritage Foundation, helpfully lays out how a group of former Trump officials would like to transform the country into a right-wing dystopia where the rich thrive and the rest of us die aspiring to be rich. 

Declaring in its Mandate for Leadership that “unaccountable federal spending is the secret lifeblood of the Great Awokening” (really!), the plan focuses heavily on reversing social progress on the rights of racial and sexual minorities. 

It also promises to decimate the most popular benefits programs in the U.S.: Medicare and Medicaid. 

In a section dedicated to the Department of Health and Human Services, Project 2025 declares that “HHS is home to Medicare and Medicaid, the principal drivers of our $31 trillion national debt.” 

This is a popular conservative framing used to justify ending social programs. In fact, per person Medicare spending has plateaued for more than a decade and represents one of the greatest reductions to the federal debt.

While admitting that Medicare and Medicaid “help many,” the authors of Project 2025 nonetheless declare that the programs “operate as runaway entitlements that stifle medical innovation, encourage fraud, and impede cost containment, in addition to which their fiscal future is in peril.” 

To solve these imaginary problems, they suggest making “Medicare Advantage the default enrollment option” rather than traditional Medicare.

But Medicare Advantage (MA) is not a government-run healthcare program. It’s merely a way to turn tax dollars into profits for private health insurers. The more that MA providers deny coverage, the more money their shareholders make. There is no incentive for them to cover the health care needs of seniors.

There is plenty of evidence that MA programs not only fleece taxpayers by submitting inflated reimbursement bills to the government but also routinely deny necessary medical coverage. 

In other words, they’re drinking out of both sides of the government trough.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research pointed out in a March 2024 paper that the “insurance companies that run these MA plans spend significant sums of money to blanket seniors with marketing” while relying on “heavily restricted networks that damage one’s choice of provider along with dangerous delays and denials of necessary care.”

But Project 2025 claims, without evidence, that “the MA program has been registering consistently high marks for superior performance in delivering high-quality care.” 

Medicaid, the government program that covers health care for the lowest-income Americans, including millions of children, is also a major target of the conservative authors.

They want to add work requirements to the benefit, adopting the familiar conservative trope of low-income Americans living off tax dollars because they’re too lazy to work. And like the MA programs, they want to allow private insurers to get in on the game.

Calling Medicaid a “cumbersome, complicated, and unaffordable burden on nearly every state,” Project 2025 complains about the program’s increased eligibility while at the same time claiming to care about how it impacts “those who are most in need.”

But a June 2024 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concludes that Medicaid’s expanded eligibility rules have helped insure millions of Americans who would otherwise be uninsured and saved money in state budgets. 

Most encouragingly, “the people who gained coverage have grown healthier and more financially secure, while long-standing racial inequities in health outcomes, coverage, and access to care have shrunk.” 

Project 2025 claims to have the underlying ideology to “incentivize personal responsibility,” as if its authors simply want Americans to begin acting like responsible grownups. But they mysteriously don’t apply this same standard to wealthy elites — perhaps because that’s precisely who they are.

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Sonali Kolhatkar is the host of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. This commentary was produced by the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute and adapted for syndication by OtherWords.org.

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Commentary |Bye-bye Biden, Incumbent presidential candidate drops from race

Khalil Bendib / OtherWords.org

The outgoing president's departure from the race may disappoint his rivals more than his admirers.

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Spillin' the tea; drinking it regularly will help you live longer and healthier

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio/PEXELS

Drinking three or more cups of green tea a day has been proven to maintain and improve cardiovascular health.

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by Matt Sheehan
OSF Healthcare

PEORIA - So, what’s the tea?

You may have heard that tea is good for you, but when walking through the grocery aisle and being confronted by a barrage of options, it can be hard to choose.

Ashley Simper, the manager of dietetic services with OSF HealthCare, has done the research and has some helpful guidance.

Photo provided

Ashley Simper, Manager
Dietetic Services

To start, it’s best to understand the different kinds of teas and where they come from. Simper says black, white, oolong and green tea all come from the Camellia sinensis plant. Herbal teas come from root, stems and flowers of various plants, and they all have different benefits.

What’s the overall healthiest tea?

Overall, Simper says green tea shines above the rest. But diving into the specific benefits of each tea can help people choose what’s right for them.

“Consuming three or more cups of green tea a day leads to the most health benefits when it comes to cardiovascular disease, cancer and the overall risk of mortality,” Simper says. “The research is a little stronger when it comes to promoting heart health. The consumption of three to five cups of green tea a day has also been shown to lower blood pressure, stroke risk, and LDL (bad cholesterol),” Simper says.

Consuming three to five cups of green tea or black tea has also been shown to lower the risk of developing diabetes.

In 2022, a large study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that drinking black tea resulted in a modest reduction of overall death. A research team from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) investigated roughly half a million adults, ages 40-60, in the United Kingdom (UK), who enrolled in the UK Biobank study between 2006-2010. The researchers followed participants until 2020 and found a 9-13% lower risk of death among people who drank at least two cups of tea per day than non-tea drinkers.

What makes tea so healthy?

“The compound in tea that leads to these health benefits is polyphenols. Polyphenols are a type of antioxidant, and antioxidants are linked to decreased inflammation and reduced risk of chronic disease,” Simper says. “The highest antioxidant compounds are in the green tea, followed by the oolong, black and then white teas.”

She adds that green tea and white tea contain an amino acid called L-theanine. Amino acids are the “building blocks” of protein, Simper adds.

“L-theanine has been linked to decreased anxiety, improved sleep and boosting mental clarity,” Simper says.

Green tea, high in antioxidants, offers the most health benefits. In beverage or dietary supplement form, it has been linked to improved mental alertness, relieving digestive issues and headaches, and assist with weight loss.

Photo: NipananLifestyle.com/PEXELS

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Cancer: Mixed reviews, additional safety tips

“When it comes to cancer, the research is conflicting. People who drank higher amounts of green tea had a decreased risk of liver, ovarian, lung and breast cancers. But it is important to keep in mind, that if you’re drinking really hot tea, you have a higher risk of esophageal and gastric cancers,” Simper says.

To avoid the tea being scalding hot, Simper recommends allowing the just-boiled water to cool down for an appropriate amount of time before taking a sip.

Tea’s impact on the flu

“In lab and animal studies, they have found an antiviral effect with the consumption of green tea. In Japan, they did a study with kids that showed anywhere from one to five cups of green tea a day lowered the risk of flu,” Simper says. “There was also a study where they gargled green tea in a bottle, green tea extract or black tea extract, and there was a 30% decreased risk of flu.”

How to prepare your tea

As Simper mentioned, scalding hot tea can come with its own risks, more than just burning your mouth. But there are other ways, she says, to make sure you’re receiving the most benefit from drinking tea.

“They recommend boiling your own water and steeping it yourself instead of putting the water in the microwave to heat it up. They found you lose some health benefits if you microwave the water in your tea. Fresh is best, steep your own, and boil your own water. But let it cool down to a comfortable temperature before you consume it. “Freshly brewed tea with minimal additives, especially things like sugar and milk, is the way to go when it comes to adding tea to your daily intake,” Simper adds.

Benefits of herbal teas

Depending on which symptoms you’re dealing with, or health benefit you’re looking for, different herbal teas have different purposes.

Peppermint teas – Helps with upset stomach

Ginger tea – Helps with nausea

Chamomile teas – Can help decrease cardiovascular disease and some cancers. It can also help with premenstrual syndrome and help boost immunity, Simper says.

But what about all the caffeine?

“The caffeine in tea is about half the amount of coffee. You would have to drink eight or more cups of tea a day to get to that highest level we would recommend for caffeine. So, it’s not that much of a risk for people,” Simper points out. “However, if you’re going to start drinking three to five cups of tea a day, and you’re not normally a caffeine consumer, you might notice the effects of the caffeine.”

Connection to weight loss

If you’re looking to tea for weight loss, you might be waiting for some time, Simper says. She says the research is conflicting, and weight loss is minimal due to drinking tea. However, switching out caffeinated tea for sodas and coffees filled with sugar would be the healthier choice.