Fact or Fiction

Proud Ground's Fact or Fiction is a campaign to let people know about the ins and outs of owning a home through Proud Ground.

Fact or Fiction: You can leave your Proud Ground home to your heirs.

Fact. You can leave your home to anyone you'd like. Your child(ren), partner or income-qualified heir can sell or are welcome to live in the home. Any other heir can sell and the equity is theirs to keep.

Fact or Fiction: You pay full property taxes.

Fiction. Proud Ground homeowners pay between 15-30% less in property taxes than they would in a market rate home, saving them $250-$600 per year. Many of our homes also have limited 10-year tax abatements.

Fact or Fiction: You don’t get any equity.

Fiction. Just like the market, no equity is guaranteed. But you can earn equity just like any other homeowner: by paying off your mortgage, maintaining and improving your home, and through the Portland market appreciating.

Fact or Fiction: You can’t sell your home.

Fiction. You can sell your home to any income-qualified homebuyer. Proud Ground helps most families in selling their home, but you’re welcome to find a buyer (a friend or relative even) for your home.

Fact or Fiction: You can work with your own Realtor.

Fact. You can work with your own real estate broker (often a Realtor) when you’re buying a home through Proud Ground at no extra cost whatsoever.

Fact or Fiction: You don’t pay private mortgage insurance.

Fact. To date, none of our homeowners have had to pay private mortgage insurance because our homes are priced well below the market value.

Fact or Fiction: You only need a minimum of $1000 down.

Fact. Proud Ground requires a downpayment of $500-$1000. That’s it. Often our families can also finance their closing costs, meaning out of pocket costs could be as little as $500-$1000 to buy your home.

Fact or Fiction: You can remodel your yard or home.

Fact. You’re welcome to remodel and make changes to your yard and home as you see fit.

Fact or Fiction: You don't own the land.

Fact and Fiction. Most Proud Ground homes use a ground lease to ensure the home remains affordable to future buyers, but some use a different agreement. Whatever legal tool, all Proud Ground homeowners can do whatever they want--legally of course--to their home and to the land. They have all rights and responsibilities to their home and land as any other homeowner has. Proud Ground can never sell land, tell homeowners what to do with their home or land, or otherwise get in their business. That sounds an awful lot like ownership of the home and land - yet at a price first time buyers can afford.

Fact or Fiction: You can only get fixed-rate mortgages.

Fact. Proud Ground homeowners use traditional, fixed-rate mortgages to buy their home. No interest-only, adjustable-rate or hocus pocus loans.

Fact or Fiction: PG only sells in North Portland

Fiction. Proud Ground homes are throughout Portland and soon in Gresham too. We also hope to have opportunities in Washington County in the coming years.

Fact or Fiction: Proud Ground cannot flip the home for a profit.

Fact. Proud Ground can practically never realize a profit by selling a home on the open market. It would require a super majority vote of our board of directors, and a super majority vote of our homeowners.

Fact or Fiction: Improvements to your home are not recognized.

Fiction. If you add bathrooms or bedrooms, you receive 100% of the value of those improvements. We also do something the market doesn’t: you receive half of the costs of improvements that don’t add value but add longevity to your home like a new roof or insulation.

Fact or Fiction: You need to live in City of Portland to qualify.

Fiction. You can be moving from anywhere when buying a home through Proud Ground.