The Pfeiffers really wanted a home with a garage. Wesley Pfeiffer is a mechanic and, living in an apartment, he had no place to keep his tools and no garage where he could tinker with cars.

But the family of four, while crammed in their two-bedroom apartment on Main Street in Nazareth, never seemed to be able to save enough money for a down payment. "With rent and gas and oil and all the other bills, there was no way," said Sherri Pfeiffer.

Earlier this year, however, they learned about a program -- new to this area --that allows people to buy residences with little or no money down.

The Pfeiffers qualified for the program by having a steady income and a decent credit history. The sellers of the property in Pen Argyl they wanted to buy -- a three-bedroom twin with a garage, basement and attic -- also were willing to participate in the program.

Within a month of finding the house, the Pfeiffers put down a $500 deposit. At settlement, they had to pay another $360, most of which was to cover homeowner's insurance. That brought their total out-of-pocket cost to $860. "That's like amazing" for a $75,000 house, Sherri said.

The Pfeiffers have been living in their new home since early February. Sherri said her husband is "like a new man" now that he has a garage and a basement with a workshop.

What enabled the Pfeiffers -- and number of other families in the Lehigh Valley -- to buy a house with so little down is the Nehemiah Program. A Baptist minister in Sacramento, Calif., started it in 1994.

"It was a dream he had," said Nehemiah spokeswoman Rayetta Willis.

The program is named after Nehemiah, the Old Testament leader who governed Jerusalem from 445 to 433 B.C. after rebuilding its walls section-by-section. Like its namesake, the Nehemiah Program's goal is to develop innovative ways to improve communities. In addition to providing assistance grants, Nehemiah develops apartments for low-income seniors and families, acquires and rehabilitates single-family dwellings and constructs affordable single-family houses in inner cities.

Initially available in California and then the South, the Nehemiah down-payment grant program went nationwide almost a year ago. Since its inception, it has helped more than 5,000 low- to moderate-income households buy dwellings by providing them with more than $20 million in down-payment assistance grants.

Loren Keim of Century 21 Keim in Allentown thinks the Nehemiah Program is "one of the greatest programs to come along in the last few years."

The biggest stumbling block for many would-be buyers today is the down payment, he explained. But with this program, families can buy a house for less money than the first month's rent and security deposit on an apartment, he said. Often, too, their monthly mortgage payment -- including taxes and insurance -- is less than their rent.

Helene Easterday of RE/MAX Real Estate in South Whitehall Township, who, since November has sold about 20 houses in the Lehigh Valley using the Nehemiah Program, agrees it's terrific. "It's opened a lot of doors for a lot of people," she said.

A kitchen manager for Red Robin, Ed Yakimowicz, 32, is a good example. He said he could not have bought a home if it weren't for the Nehemiah Program. "Ever since I started looking for a house, I knew coming up with up-front money was going to be the killer," he said.

He's closing this week on a house in Old Zionsville in Upper Milford Township, built in 1890, that he bought for a total of $710 in cash. His monthly mortgage payments will be $630 --$5 less than his rent. And now he will have a tax deduction as well.

Yakimowicz is a little scared because he's never owned a house. But he's also excited because "it's something I've wanted to do for years," he said.

The Nehemiah Program generally works in conjunction with mortgage loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two go together because government-backed mortgages have less stringent credit requirements and generally require less down-money than conventional or private loans.

The FHA still requires buyers to put down at least 3 percent of the price of the home. Under FHA rules, that money cannot be borrowed. The money must come from the buyer's bank account or be a gift from a blood-relative or nonprofit organization.

That's where Nehemiah, as a nonprofit charity, can help.

Sellers can give Nehemiah a gift of 4 percent of the sale price of their home. Nehemiah will keep 1 percent for expenses and return 3 percent to the buyer as a grant or gift at settlement.

Unfortunately, the seller's contribution to Nehemiah is not tax deductible because the Internal Revenue Service does not yet recognize Nehemiah, while nonprofit, as a charity. "However, I've been told they're working on that," Keim said. "I just don't know how long it will take."

The seller's contribution may be deductible, however, if the seller has capital gains on the sale of the property. The gift would be considered an expense incurred in selling the house and could be subtracted from the gains.

All buyers need not only a cash down payment but also an additional 5 to 7 percent of the sale price to cover closing costs. Closing costs include transfer and property taxes, title insurance, mortgage points and application and other fees.

However, the FHA allows sellers to pay the buyer's closing costs up to 6 percent, and many sellers are willing to do so to sell their homes.

For the Nehemiah program to work, sellers must be willing not only to pay closing costs but also to make the grant to Nehemiah.

Yakimowicz's sellers -- their house having been on the market for a while -- were. They agreed to pay $2,308 toward Yakimowicz's closing costs and to contribute $2,840 to the Nehemiah Program, which returned 3 percent of that to him.

Most buyers need only about 1 percent of the sale price to buy a house with the Nehemiah Program and the seller paying closing costs.

In some cases, Nehemiah buyers don't even have to put any money down. All they need is 1 percent of the sale price in the bank, Keim said.

To make it even easier for buyers, some lenders will waive their $50 credit-application fee for any clients who want to be pre-approved for the Nehemiah Program. "This will allow people to easily find out whether they qualify for the program," Keim said.

Bob Wilfinger of First Republic Mortgage in Allentown has handled a number of Nehemiah grants and likes the program a lot. However, he says, there is one drawback: "It puts a lot of the onus on the seller." In fact, he said, "some Realtors who are the listing side of the deal don't want to hear about it because they think it puts too much of a burden on the seller."

But Wilfinger and area Realtors agree that in today's market sellers often have to offer such incentives anyway, and many would be willing to pay closing and down payment costs to sell their homes.

Easterday said the Nehemiah Program has enabled her to sell houses that otherwise wouldn't have sold. "I'm finding that I'm doing the row homes in Allentown that I haven't been able to do for years because of this program," she said.

Besides, Easterday said, if sellers are contributing to the buyer's closing costs and down payment, they usually get the full asking price for their property, sometimes slightly more. So the money really comes out of the transaction rather than the seller's pocket.

Debbie Hartman, an owner of Crest Abstract in South Whitehall Township, a title company that works with Nehemiah, said she found that at first some lenders were hesitant to participate in it because they didn't understand it. But, she said, "once you go through one of the them it makes perfect sense, and now it's starting to catch on in this area."

Cindy Wagner, a senior loan officer with First Republic Mortgage Corp., said she's found the Nehemiah Program can be easier to complete than some other low-cost orlow down-payment programs.

To qualify for the Nehemiah Program, buyers must live in the dwelling they are buying and must complete a several-hour, ownership education program. The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley frequently offers such courses to potential buyers.

The buyers must have decent credit. Decent credit, Easterday said, means a steady work history for at least the last two years, a history of paying bills on time and no bankruptcies within the last two years.

The buyer also must work with a real estate agent, loan officer and title company that have been certified by Nehemiah. All of the agents at Century 21 Keim are certified as are Easterday and a few of her colleagues at RE/MAX Real Estate. Certified lenders in the area include First Republic Mortgage, NorWest Mortgage and PNC Mortgage.

The seller also must meet certain requirements, including providing a one-year warranty and certification that the dwelling's roof is in good condition.

FHA loans also have limits depending on the area. For example, in Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, the limit is $124,650 so the house would have to be priced under that amount. The FHA loan limit in Bucks and Montgomery counties is $154,350.

Keim said the Nehemiah Program also benefits move-up buyers by enabling them to sell their homes, which they often must do before they can buy another.

Jamie Ressler, 20, was able to buy a nearly $70,000 twin in Northampton thanks to the Nehemiah Program for about $800 in cash at closing. She had been looking for an apartment but she really wanted a place with a yard where her daughter, 2, could play.

As a single mother, she hadn't been able to save for a down payment and never thought she'd be able to own a home -- "at least not for another 10 years," she said. But when she saw Helene Easterday's ad for the Nehemiah grant program, she called her right away.

Ressler will be paying more for her home each month than she was for her apartment in Whitehall Township, but she's thrilled because not only does she have a bigger place but she's also building equity. "I'm not throwing away money each month on rent," she said.