Mortgage assistance available for first time home buyers - 2004-03-07
For more than 10 years, Florida City resident Altermese Williams was a drug addict who could never thought of owning her own home.

Today, though, she says proudly she has been ''liberated from drugs for nine years'' and holds down a good job.

The average price of the homes is $125,000, and applicants must earn less than $27,000 per year. The average monthly mortgage payment is less than $600.
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Condos will now come within reach - 2004-03-07
Genaro Merlos, a Guatemalan native and Miami Beach busboy, resides with three other family members who pool their meager paychecks for their $1,300 monthly rent.

''My goal is to make three to five hundred people property owners in the next five years,'' said Commissioner Joe Sanchez, who helped create and now heads the board. Also involved: chairman Zully Ruiz, a real estate and mortgage broker, former State Rep. Carlos Lacasa, an attorney, and Oscar A. Rodriguez, vice president of development for The Related Group of Florida.
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