PROGRAM HELPS LAUSD TEACHERS BUY OWN HOMES.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

Manual Arts High School teacher Terese McKinney is proud to own a small slice of the American dream: a three-bedroom town house in Baldwin Hills.

She's grateful to her employer, the Los Angeles Unified School District, for helping her learn about mortgage plans and to brokers for helping her realize that dream.

``I've never owned anything in my life, so that was a big scary thing for me,'' the 47-year-old magnet coordinator said. ``Friends, relatives, people can tell you how to buy houses, but you really need to hear it from the horse's mouth.''

The LAUSD, along with nonprofit and banking partners, has revamped its 4-year-old Los Angeles Teachers Mortgage Assistance Program to encourage more educators to buy homes before interest rates increase.

The program serves as a clearinghouse for private and government programs that help district employees buy property.

Some of the programs offer discounted prices or mortgage rates, which can save buyers tens of thousands of dollars. One of the federal programs, Teacher Next Door, allows credentialed teachers to buy certain HUD homes for 50 percent of their list price.

LAUSD leaders said the homeownership assistance program is a perk for employees who chose to work in Los Angeles, rather than some of the more affluent suburbs. Helping teachers and other LAUSD employees afford homes also improves local neighborhoods.

``The district is helping them have more of a stake in the community,'' said Vivienne Lee, development manager for the nonprofit Community Financial Resource Center.

Teachers in the LAUSD earn an average of $54,206 a year, about $1,400 less than the state average, according to a report released this month by the American Federation of Teachers.

The median price of a home in California is a record $469,170, according to a California Association of Realtors - a factor that the LAUSD doesn't want to scare away job candidates.

``We can't afford to teach here because we can't afford to live here,'' Lee said Los Angeles recruiters were hearing from job candidates.

``We're trying to spread the word that teachers and other employees of the district have this benefit.''

McKinney said the program really paved the way to her dream.

``It's an excellent program that teachers need to take advantage of ASAP - before the mortgage rates shoot way up.''

For more information about the Los Angeles Teachers Mortgage Assistance Program, call [phone], or visit the program's Web site at www.latmap.org.

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com