As a real estate broker, I can tell you that I have had nothing but problems with NACA. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with NACA in at least five years. I won't get into specifics, but their business practices were (as of five years ago) a bit shady.

Tue May 20 2008, 15:52

I know for a fact that NACA is legitimate because I was recently pre-approved and last week I officially got under contract with my dream home for 200k!!!! The reason you don't hear about this program thru advertizing is because they want to save you money, so all of that is by word of mouth from clients, and believe me, the word travels fast! Read below if you wanna know my story.....
They have a buyer's seminar so that you become informed as to how it works and who qualifies, and how it can change people's lives. For example, you cannot currently own a home, but rather looking to buy a home. Perhaps a current renter, moving out of parent's house, etc. Or you can do re-finance if you have a really high interest rate! They save your bum if you're on the verge of forclosure, for example, due to preditory interest. You have to be prepared for it to take a while to complete the process, especially if you have major credit issues... But if you have good credit, it takes less time.
Ok, here's how it worked for me. I'm not even employed currently, but it still turned out alright. They had to base everything on my fiance's income, and mainly his credit. This worked out for the better tho because my credit is shot from my previous marriage. Basically all I had to do in this case was to write explanations for my terrible credit which popped up on my credit reports, and they sent that to the underwriters who make the decision for loan approval. My fiance's credit is much better and didn't have to give any explanations for his credit. Since we are currently living off of only his income it sounds like a problems, and he's not exactly wealthy, so we had to turn in a realistic budget plan. We were approved for a mortgage which would not excede $1200/month. That's how NACA does it. It's what you pay monthly. Not what the total amont of the loan is. There are no closing costs, remember that.... So when making an offer on a home, you can ask that the seller pays "x' amount towards what would have been closing costs, but in actuality, it goes towards "BUYING THE INTEREST RATE DOWN"!!!! When you do the math, you save alot more money than if you were to make a down payment.
So we asked for our home to be $200k and the seller to pay $11k in closing costs (buying the interest down). We're putting $20k in ourselves to make the interest rate only 1.375%!!!!!!!!! Yeah, that's right....
To top it off, we'll only be paying $978/month for a 4 bed/ 3 bath home in Atlanta!
Don't believe me? Well, I'm moving in this home in a couple of weeks.... You can play with the naca mortgage calculator if you want to and even go to a seminar. It might change your life..... :)

Tue May 20 2008, 13:18

It is legit, they do good work and help a lot of people in trouble.

Tue May 20 2008, 09:05

I was actually an approved vendor for NACA as a Realtor and Prudential, our broker as the responsible party. I can refer you to several people in our neck of the woods too who got no where with them - as I. It was supposed to be an organization that offered first time home buyers assistance through reduced mortage interest plans with criteria established for the buyers including volunteer committments in the community- maybe even NACA's community. ( I try not to think about them anymore!) . NACA holds "mandatory" buyer registration seminars in churches mostly and they perform an educational seminar geared mostly toward telling the public how wonderful NACA is and what wonderful things they can do for your buyer client that really needs help. After months and months of trying to assist people who never went anywhere in the process we determined it was nothing more than a fishing trip. I never did have one client receive help through NACA. We had to go other routes. That is my experience with NACA, first hand in CA. Good Luck. Cindy Vedder

Wed May 14 2008, 22:50

They are legitimate. I am going through them, but am running into a separate issue where they cannot help me until I get my personal matter cleared up.
They were the organization that marched on the lobby of Bear Stearns when JP Morgan & the Government helped bail them out:

Wed May 14 2008, 20:07

I'd never heard of it. Looking at the web site and reading the history I'd be dubious. Especailly with the statement "NACA has the Best Mortgage Program in America
If you satisfy the eligibility criteria, you will be provided access to a mortgage that requires no down payment, no closings costs, no application fee, no private mortgage insurance and no perfect credit history. The interest rate is substantially below market. NACA and its Mortgage Consultants will work with you for as long as it takes to make you a homeowner. All of this may sound too good to be true, but through aggressive advocacy, NACA has made it a reality. "
I don't think they are here in San Francisco but if they were I'd contact the California Credit Counciling Service and our Mayor's Department of Housiing to get their take before I sent any clients to them.
I also am suspect of the fact that under the NACA's team there is only Mr. Marks listed.
Let us know what you find out.
Another thought would be to contact someone in Boston where it all started.

Wed May 14 2008, 15:26