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Ana Carranza didn't think she could afford to buy a home.

Like a lot of first-time home buyers, her credit wasn't perfect, and Carranza thought she earned a little too much to qualify for assistance, yet not enough to afford a home on her own.

But with help from a local nonprofit, Family Housing Resources, Carranza moved into her South Side home July 3.

"It's a fresh start for the family," said Carranza, who received $5,000 in down-payment assistance.

"I started working with them last year and I had to clear up some credit problems. When I got that taken care of I contacted them again and I took their home-buying class," said Carranza, who has twin 8-year-old boys and is expecting a baby girl.

"They basically show you what the process is for purchasing a home from the beginning to the end — how important it is to take care of your credit, your credit score, budgeting your money, showing you the process of the loan application, dealing with the realtors, dealing with the banks."

Carranza also learned the lingo used in loan papers and purchasing contracts.

"All the terminology they use — if you don't know a little bit of it, you feel lost. I didn't feel as lost by taking the class."

Family Housing Resources assists Tucson-area home buyers with down-payment and closing-cost assistance and offers free home-buyer education classes and credit counseling.

"Our purpose is to create housing opportunities that are affordable for people who are low and moderate income," said Family Housing Vice President John Glaze. "The biggest misconception is when people think they can't be homeowners. If they have credit issues, if they've been turned down by a lender in the past, if they read the paper and see what housing prices are and that interest rates are going up, or they just don't know the process — the whole way to get a loan and what a Realtor does," it can be intimidating.

The organization has a myriad of programs to assist home buyers of various income levels, including a new program organizers will launch in August: the Mortgage Revenue Bond Program.

It offers a fixed interest rate of 5.97 percent and an optional second mortgage to help pay for the down payment and closing costs, said program coordinator Patty Gonzalez. The program is for low- and moderate-income home buyers with an annual income of $54,900 or less for a one- or two-person household and an income of no more than $63,135 for families of three or more.

Other programs include assistance with down payments and closing costs ranging from $500 to $20,000. Among them:

● $10,000 in down-payment assistance for first-time home buyers to purchase a home in the American Dream Downpayment Initiative zone, which is a long strip along Interstate 10 running north to south from Roger to Valencia roads and on the west from Silverbell Road to as far east as Alvernon Way.

● $20,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers to purchase a home in the American Dream Downpayment Initiative Plus zone in the Downtown Rio Nuevo development area.

Teacher Rita Migliaccio took advantage of the Wish Program, which matches a home buyer's down payment three to one, and she got $5,000 from another Family Resources program. Last week she moved into her new North Side home.

"As a teacher I don't make that much money," said Migliaccio. Without the assistance, she wouldn't have been able to afford a home.

"Family Housing, they were amazing. It was really helpful for someone who is a first-time buyer," she said.

Family Housing Resources also has a new housing development in the works on six acres of infill land at Grant and Silverbell roads. Construction on the 58 two-story, single-family town houses is expected to begin in mid-2007. Each will be about 1,500 square feet, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car garage. About a third of the town homes will be available at a subsidized rate to buyers earning 80 percent or less than the area's median income.

"The general person doesn't know what's out there in the way of programs," Glaze said. "In my own case, when I bought my first house, I didn't know there were programs I could have qualified for to buy my home.

"I think that quite often they (home buyers) go into it without enough knowledge and education about the process. And when they do that, they must rely on other people for information. That makes them more prone to mistakes," Glaze said.

Tucson metro