BY SYBILLE C. DENNINGER

Did you know that the City of Gloucester proudly offers a loan of up to $10,000.00 to eligible homebuyers who purchase a property in beautiful Gloucester? This program provides financial assistance which can cover some of the down payment or closing costs for income qualified buyers.

And the best part? It's a deferred loan which does not have to be repaid until you rent, sell, transfer title, or when the property is no longer your principle place of residence. In other words, if you never do any of these things, you never have to pay it back! So far this loan has assisted over 300 new first time homeowners according to the City of Gloucester website. Along with the still low mortgage rates, this could be just the thing for those of you who can get a mortgage without any problems, but may not want to sink all your cash into closing costs for example. After all, a new house needs lots of new decorations, which are much more fun to pay for than title insurance and registration fees haha.

You could be parking with a resident beach sticker at Good Harbor Beach next summer ;-)

Find a lot more information about this awesome 10K loan program, including an online application form, at:

http://www.gloucester-ma.gov/index.aspx?NID=498