The mortgage crisis is keeping many people out of a new home, but with a lot of your sweat the feds will help low and moderate income families build their own new house. Few people seem to know about the deal, however.

Adam and Alicia Steffens are hard at work on a new home in the Thurston County community of Grand Mound. They're the builders and the buyers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is helping the young couple as long as they're willing to help build the house with sweat equity.

"It's so worth it," Adam said. "You get a house out of this."

Eight homes under construction in the area are being paid for with money from the program.

Each family must put in 35 hours of work a week.

"This isn't for the weak-hearted or 'oh I just want to sleep in on Saturday' type of people," Alicia said.

The federal assistance through Northwest Housing Development helps buy down their mortgage rate. And the new homeowners automatically get up $25,000 equity from their sweat. Mortgage payments range from $500 to $1,000 a month depending on income.

"It's something I've always dreamed about having was my own house," said Tabatha Barrett, whose putting in hours on her home. "I never thought I would be the one building it, though."

But the program is a relative secret. Right now, Northwest Housing Development is looking for 20 new families to participate.

There's no experience necessary, and all the families work under the guidance of a professional contractor.

People looking to take part in the program need to be ready to work hard, and be patient. From beginning to end it takes about a year before you can move in.

"Patience is definitely a virtue when it comes to a project like this," said Debby Lee, who together with her husband Steve is helping build a home.

"We were wanting a better house for the kids and working on our own is the only way we thought we could do it," Steve said.

And they can't understand why more families aren't lining up to get their chance at a new home.

Northwest Housing Development covers King, Pierce and Thurston counties. The agency is looking for nine families in Thurston County and 11 in Pierce County to build new homes.

For More Information:

www.northwesthousingdevelopment.org