Newly installed pastor David Allen Jr., shown with his wife Regina, says when it comes to helping his real estate customers, “My experience has blessed me with the ability to think outside of the box.”


At a town hall meeting last week in Henderson, Nevada, President Barack Obama talked about his administration’s new efforts to stabilize the housing market by buying vacant homes and converting them into affordable housing.  The program will not only help the housing crisis, but it will create jobs and grow the local economy for the states of Nevada, California, Michigan, Florida and Arizona. 

He also talked about the loan modification initiative that allows homeowners who are struggling with their mortgages by giving them lower monthly payments. This initiative will help homeowners in all states.

The $1.5 billion fund for housing finance agencies in Nevada and other hard-hit states was designed to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosures. The money that had been initially reserved for the bank bailout will be instead sent to Nevada and other states that have seen housing prices drop more than 20% in the last four years.

The fund will also help struggling homeowners find a way to pay their mortgages and modify their loans. As the president spoke to 1,800 people in the state that has had the highest foreclosure rate for 37 months in a row, he recalled the steps the government put in place to stem the housing crisis, by providing tax credits to 1.4 million Americans buying their first homes.

In Texas, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) released $30 million in mortgage credit authority which will help qualifying low to moderate income households purchase their first home while at the same time strengthening neighborhoods and the tax base of cities statewide.
The Texas Mortgage Credit Program, is a homebuyer program that makes homeownership more affordable by providing a dollar for dollar reduction of a borrower’s tax liability, up to the maximum amount of $2,000 per year. The credit authority allows TDHCA to make approximately $120 million worth of mortgage loans, estimated to help nearly 800 households purchase a home of their own. Eligible Texas veterans are also encouraged to participate in the program.

David Allen Jr.  a real estate agent and co-owner of a Houston based Real Estate Construction Company, Allen & Allen Group, has dealt with the ups and downs of the real estate market since becoming a real estate investor in 1979. A licenced real estate agent and active member of the Houston and National Associations of Realtors since 1994, part of Allen’s success lies in finding out the answers to a variety of challenges for his clients.

Many of those challenges include out of town sellers, pending foreclosures, bad credit, creative financing, finding the good buys, divorce, etc. Allen said, “I will not tell you what I think you want to hear. But rather educate and arm you with very accurate, powerful information needed to sell your home for as much as the market will bear and in the shortest time frame possible. If you are buying, we tackle first things first and very systematically take you through the entire buying process in the most efficient manner possible.” 

Allen, like other real estate professionals across the country, is working to educate Americans about programs that are available to assist them in their in their home ownership needs. For example, a homeownership preservation workshop, sponsored by the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program, HOPE NOW Alliance and NeighborWorks® America, was held at Lakewood Church in Houston for all homeowners who may be at risk of foreclosure. The Greater Houston Foreclosure Prevention Task Force was also involved with the event.

The free workshop provided a chance for homeowners to meet face-to-face with their mortgage company and a HUD-approved counseling agency to work on a solution to help them stay in their home.
HOPE NOW is the industry-created alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, counselors, and other mortgage market participants that has developed and is implementing a coordinated plan to help as many homeowners as possible prevent foreclosure and stay in their homes. The Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program was created to help millions of homeowners refinance or modify their mortgage payments to a level that is more affordable.

NeighborWorks® America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. NeighborWorks® America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.
The Greater Houston Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce acts as a conduit between Greater Houston area residents, mortgage servicers, public and non-profit agencies dedicated to providing free counseling, support and resources for those citizens in, or potentially facing foreclosure.

This type of help and service to others, is a life-long quest for Allen, Jr. who was born in San Antonio, Texas and moved to Houston with his family in 1976 where he became a member of Christ Temple Apostolic Church (CTAC). After graduating from high school in 1977, he went to work in the engineering field as a Civil/Structural Computer Aide Designer (a career that spanned 27 years and gave him the opportunity to serve in lead roles as a senior designer and C.A.D. Coordinator on major projects both domestically and abroad in Caracas, Venezuela). 

The next year he became active in the Texas State Council (TSC) of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World where he has served as Texas State Young People Union (TSPYPU), assistant treasurer, treasurer, president and TSC assistant treasurer. He was asked to come on staff fulltime at CTAC as administrator in September 2004 under the pastorate of his father, Suff. Bishop David Allen, Sr. who became pastor on April 27, 1984, having served eight years as assistant pastor to the founder.
Allen, Jr., continued to follow in his father’s footsteps, and was installed as pastor of the church on Feb. 20. He and wife of 28 years, Regina, have three children who all are currently attending college.