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Baltimore Fairs Trolley Tours

What is it?

The program is a two way venture of the City of Baltimore and the Live Baltimore Home Center. Neighborhood tours are booked in the spring and fall. The first home buyers that accompany the trolley tour and execute a sales contract within 90 days of the fair receive a $3,000 award towards closing costs

Who is eligible?

Home buyers executing contracts of sale within 90 days of the Buying Into Baltimore Home Buying Fair and Neighborhood Tours. Validated tickets are accepted on a firstcome, first-served basis at the Office of Homeownership.

What are the benefits?

$ 3,000 down payment and closing assistance no annual income limits.

Baltimore City Homeownership Incentive Programs
Buying Into Baltimore Fairs and Trolley Tours
Baltimore City Employee Homeownership Program
Baltimore City Live Near Your Work Program

Additional Homeownership Incentives
State Mortgage Programs and Homeownership Assistance
border="0" /> Federal Mortgage Programs and Homeownership Assistance
Baltimore City Tax Incentives

Resources
Homeownership Counseling Agencies
Homeownership Resources on the Web
Maximizing Your Homebuying Experience
Office of Homeownership Policies and Procedures
Homeownership Glossary of Terms .

What are the restrictions/loan terms?

Home loan may not exceed $417,000. Buyer has to contribute at least $1,000 towards acquiring the home and must use the home as the principal residence. Borrower has to go to the fair, obtain a ticket, and have ticket validated in at least four tour homes. The home has to be located in the designated region for that fair. Contract has to be signed after the event. Closing on the property take place within 90 days of the event date. Loan is forgivable (20 percent per year) over years for each year of occupancy.

To Obtain Your $3,000 Down Payment & Closing Cost Award
Please note the new requirement by the City of Baltimore in order to qualify for the $3,000 award.

Qualify for the $3,000 Award
Attend a Buying Into Baltimore Fair and have your ticket stamped in at least 4 of the 16 featured tour homes.
You must purchase a home in Baltimore City. This is not limited to only the featured tour homes but can be any home located in the designated region of the city.
Contract of Sale must be signed AFTER the date of the event; contracts signed prior will not be eligible.
Closing on the property must occur within 90 days of the event.
*New Requirement: Housing counseling certificates from an agency approved by the City of Baltimore, Maryland Association of Housing Counselors or HUD are required before a commitment letter for award funds will be issued. Program applicants are required to get one-on-one counseling prior to executing a contract of sale on a home.
There are no annual income limits, and you do not have to be a first time homebuyer.

Buyer must:
Agree to use the Baltimore City property as his/her principal residence.
Use a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac approved lender with a mortgage loan amount not to exceed $417,000.
Contribute at least $1,000 towards purchase..
Complete homeownership counseling and receive a certificate of completion.

To Receive Your Award
1. Submit a copy of your executed Contract of Sale AND validated home tour ticket in person to:

Baltimore Housing Office of Homeownership
417 E. Fayette Street, Suite 1125
Baltimore, MD 21202

For award information, call: 410-396-3124.

2. All contracts with validated tickets will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis at the above address.
3. Those received will be stamp-dated and placed on a list for the first 50 received for the fair tour.
4. All others will be placed on a waiting list.
5. If awarded, the City will send you an instruction sheet and a commitment letter for the award funds, and funds will be issued at closing.

Rowhouses

Marble steps settle along the streets of Baltimore are like much a part of the city's culture as crabs and baseball games. The use of marble for steps is due to the presence of high condition white marble in Cockeysville, a town 17 miles north of Baltimore seaport by highway. Indeed, the marble found there is so attractive, stone was hauled all the way from this northern Maryland town to the nation’s new capital, instead of local Potomac marble quarries, for use in decorative crafting just about Washington, D.C., including the Washington Monument, and 108 columns of the capitol building.

During the crafting phase of the Washington Monument, that is through the middle of the 19th century, the marble gained in popularity as a decorative stone and was used omnipresently for the steps of rowhouses surrounding Baltimore harbor and in Fells Point. Baltimoreans take pride in the fact that their insipid doorsteps are shaped from the alike beautiful white marble used for the construction of the famous Washington Monument. Scrubbing marble steps has turn into a tradition in Baltimore. The ritual includes scrubbing the marble with Bon Ami powder and pumice stone.

Hon

Maybe the better intriguing part of Baltimore's culture are the people themselves. Though nowadays the city is notably culturally diverse, the lasting image of Baltimoreans seems to be the "Hon" culture exemplified top markedly by the longer confirmed families and residents of the Highlandtown, Canton, Locust Point and Hampden neighborhoods. Between the 1950s and 70s, it wasn't uncommon to recognize working first-rate local women dressing in bright, gaudy dresses with tacky glasses and beehive hairdos. Men were time and again dressed casually, in any event with a general factory or dock worker look, like many in town did indeed have such jobs.

The name of the culture comes from the usually parodied Baltimore accent and slang. "Hon" was a down-to-earth informal name for someone else, properly pronounced "hohn", with emphasis on the vowel. Baltimore’s accent exemplifies a dialectal continuum between Tidewater American English and Deleware Valley American English, loosely possessing the vowel shifts of the preceding and general pronunciation of the latter. For instance "Baltimore" is pronounced "Bawlamer" or after all "Balmer," and "Maryland" change intos "Murland" or "Murlan." Unlike common pronunciations include "ool," "amblance," "wooder," "warsh,","sharr","dug" (oil, ambulance, water, wash,shower and "dog", respectively).

John Waters parodies the Hon culture, like well as Baltimore itself, extensively in his movies. For a somewhat precise representation of Baltimorese, one can ask for to Waters' narration spots in his 1974 movie Pink Flamingos. Waters himself used a local commercial for Mr Ray's Hair Weaves as his primary inspiration. The commercial was famous just about town for Mr. Ray's extreme Baltimore accent. "Cawl todaey, for your freee hame showink..." was the highest memorable line from that commercial, translating as "Call today, or for your free home showing..."