Foreclosure filings and sheriff's sales experienced by low-income, first-time home buyers

This article examines how well a group of low-income households that became first-time homeowners in Philadelphia in 1995 met their mortgage obligations over the seven years after purchase, as reflected in key indicators such as rates of foreclosure filings and sheriff's sales. It also considers whether participation in low-income homeownership programs operated by the Delaware Valley Mortgage Plan (DVMP)-a local bank consortium-and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) affected these rates. The overall incidence of foreclosure filings and sheriff's sales among sample households is quite high for both program participants and nonparticipants. However, DVMP and PHFA participants had a lower incidence of foreclosure filings and sheriff's sales than nonparticipant households did. Program effects, particularly in the case of sheriff's sales, are concentrated among that part of the sample whose 1995 incomes were above 125 percent of the poverty line.