SAN FRANCISCO — Real estate professionals whose multiple listing service licenses property-specific information about available homeowner assistance programs from data aggregator Down Payment Resource will soon be able to incorporate that info into reports they prepare for clients using Cloud CMA.
The partnership between Down Payment Resource, which bills itself as “the nation’s only search engine for homebuyer programs,” and Cloud CMA developer W&R Studios, was announced today at the Real Estate Connect conference.
Financing is always a challenge, and Down Payment Resource “is an excellent tool for real estate professionals,” said W&R Studios co-founder Greg Robertson in a statement. “By integrating DPR’s information directly into Cloud CMA reports, real estate professionals will be giving their clients a great resource for making the dream of homeownership come true.”
When MLSs integrate Down Payment Resource with listings data, consumers shopping for homes on websites operated by the MLS and its member brokers and agents, an icon is displayed next to for-sale listings that may qualify for assistance programs. Buyers are prompted to answer a few questions to see if they are eligible.
In available markets, Cloud CMA property reports will summarize information about available down payment assistance, grants, affordable first mortgages, and tax credits.
Developed by Atlanta-based Workforce Resource, Down Payment Resource is available through the Down Payment Resource website, downpaymentresource.com, and about two dozen partner organizations, most of them MLSs.
Last month Down Payment Resource released an analysis of 1,654 homebuyer assistance programs available through state and local housing finance agencies and nonprofit groups around the nation, which found that 90 percent are funded, and that 70 percent of homes for sale could be eligible for one or more assistance programs.
