The 3 hills in Karnei Shomron on which Anglo Saxon immigrants reside are Ginot Shomron, Karnei Shomron and Neve Menachem.

Karnei Shomron has a strong base of religious families, particularly in the Neve Aliza neighborhood of Ginot Shomron. The community boasts over 200 English speaking families. New immigrants from America will find vibrant community life, neighbors who come from some of the same communities in America, and children of all ages.

Other neighborhoods in Ginot Shomron also have sizable numbers of Anglo Saxon religious immigrants.

The following is a brief overview of housing opportunities in Ginot Shomron, where most American Olim live:

Neighborhood	Housing Description	Religious Orientation
Neve Aliza	Private, on half dunam lots – size of new housing depends on family choice, existing housing is generally more than 2,000 square feet	All religious
British Cottage	Attached homes – about 1200 square feet	Mixed – religious, traditional, and secular
Avrahami	Attached homes- about 1400 square feet
Chevrah LePituach	Attached apartments – about 1200 square feet
Ashdar	Two-story apartments of less than 1000 square feet. Many upper floor apartments have been expanded to provide additional living area

A wide variety of housing options exist, in terms of neighborhood, size, and price. Much of the housing turnover occurs in the summer, in order to allow children to enter their new schools in September. Nevertheless, as the attached table on Housing in Ginot Shomron shows, available housing options always exist:

Rental
Current Asking Price for Apartments on the Market
Neighborhood/Housing Project	Rooms	Cost/Month ($)	Notes
British Cottage	5	500	Cottage
Chevrah LePituach	4	400	Cottage
Ashdor	3	300	Apartment
Neve Aliza	7	650	Villa (private home)
Price Indication for Apartment Type Not Currently on the Market
Neve Aliza basement unit	3	350	Separate entrance
Purchase
Neighborhood/Housing Project	Rooms	Cost ($1,000)	Notes
British Cottage	5	120
Chevrah LePituach	5	120
Ashdar	3-4	70-90
Ashdar	5	80	upstairs with 2 extra rooms added
Neve Aliza	7	200	2,200 square feet
Neve Aliza	lot for building	35	all taxes and fees paid
Avrahami	5	120

Additional data may be obtained from the following local realtors:

Yossi Baal-Shem: Telephone: 972-9-7929932, 050-7546085

Merkaz Dirot Shomron: Telephone: 972-9-7929878

Additional costs of purchasing or renting include commissions paid to a realtor and lawyers fees.

Typical Realtor Commission: Purchase: 2% of purchase price + 15.5% value added tax added to payment. For example, if the apartment cost $100,000, the commission would be $2,310 (2% of $100,000 =$2,000 plus 15.5% of $2,000). Rental: the cost of one month’s rent plus 17% value added tax.

Typical Lawyer’s Fee: Purchase: 0.5%; Rental: one-half month’s rent.

In addition to the possibility of buying or renting an existing residence in Ginot Shomron, the Karnei Shomron Municipality is marketing lots for building your own home on HaNachal Road overlooking Wadi Kana. A total of 11 lots remain. The lots are available to religious and non-religious families. The current price of half dunam lots is $40,000, which includes all costs of developing the lot. The contact person for lots is Arik Zorger of the Karnei Shomron Municipality, Telephone: 052-6162403.

Within the Karnei Shomron Municipality, the following possibility exist for families interesting in building and living together:

In the Neve Menachem section, an area has been set aside for religious families interested in building their own homes. While all the lots have been purchased (at a reduced price of $15,000 for lot development, due to government incentives), some families are seeking to sell their lots. Arik Zorger (Telephone: 052-6162403) is coordinating between sellers and buyers.

At the Western end of the Neve Aliza neighborhood, close to the Jewish village of Maaleh Shomron, over 30 lots for building one’s own home were purchased by a building company with the intent to market them for sale. At least 20 homes have been built, with at least 10 more lots allocated but no building taking place. Some of these lots are potentially available for purchase from the building company for prices in the neighborhood of $50,000 (which includes all costs of development). If interested, contact Bob Duchanov at 050-5231478.

Two Family Attached Houses in Neve Aliza – an area has been set aside for 6 families to reside, in 3 units of 2-family housing. To date, 2 of the 3 units are purchased, and one 2-family unit for 2 more families is available for sale. The families do not build their own homes, but rather pay for a set floor plan of slightly over 2,200 square feet of living space. The current price of each of the 2-family units is $165,000 dollar, which includes all development costs. For information, contact the builder, Pini Danino (Telephone: 050-4540997).

Another project getting off the ground is Amana apartments in the Karnei Shomron neighborhood. About 20 units are planned, at a projected price of 150- 160 thousand dollars.

Municipal Taxes

Residents, both renters and buyers, pay municipal taxes and fees.

These include:

Property tax – based upon the size of the dwelling, which costs about 28 shekels per meter per year. Thus, on a 100 square meter (1,200 square foot) dwelling, the tax would be 2,800 shekels (about $670) per year.

Water and Sewage Usage fees – which depend upon the amount of usage by family members and watering gardens. Low usage: should cost about 1,000 shekels ($240) per year. With high usage, it could cost 5 to 10 times as much.

Security Tax – Used to pay a security company which guards the entire municipality 24 hours per day. Cost: about 1,000 shekels ($240) per year).

Proximity to Work

Ginot Shomron is within commuting distance of jobs in the center of the country. The following are approximate commuting time by car to the following locations (public transportation takes somewhat longer).

City	Time Leaving Home	Time of Trip
Tel Aviv	Before 6:30 AM, after 9 AM	45 minutes
	Between 6:30 – 9AM	1 ¼ hours
Jerusalem	Before 6:30 AM, after 9 AM	1 hour and 10 minutes
	Between 6:30 – 9AM	1 ½ hours
Petach Tikva	Before 6:30 AM, after 9 AM	30 minutes
	Between 6:30 – 9AM	45 minutes
Herzelia Pituach	Before 6:30 AM, after 9 AM	35 minutes
	Between 6:30 – 9AM	50 minutes
Kefar Saba	Before 6:30 AM, after 9 AM	20 Minutes
	Between 6:30 – 9AM	35 Minutes

Mortgages

Mortgages in Israel are more complicated than they are abroad, where people take fix rate or variable rate mortgages and based upon the mortgage interest rate, know exactly how much they will pay per month over the life of the loan.

In Israel, extra complications exist. In addition to taking a fixed or variable rate mortgage, mortgage payments are linked to either:

· Changes in cost-of-living index (consumer price index)

· Changes in the value of foreign currency against th Israeli shekel

· Changes in the prime lending rate

As such, the monthly payment may fluctuate up and down over time, and one’s ability to make payments from current salary (which is generally not linked to the above factors) may change (see Table of Mortgage Repayments).

Taking a mortgage in Israel also requires paying insurance on the life of the borrowers (even if other life insurance exists) and the house structure (against fire, major plumbing damage, etc.).

The base mortgage that the government grants to a new immigrant out of its funds is very limited and will not come close to covering the cost of residence. Mortgage banks will be willing to increase mortgage size from their own funds, on condition that they are convinced that the borrower has the ability to pay. Ability to pay is measured by a number of factors, principally salary and financial assets.

However, taking on a big mortgage is not cheap, and may not be feasible based on a new immigrant’s starting salary. For example, a 20-year fixed rate mortgage of 450,000 shekels (about $110,000 based upon an exchange rate of 4.2 shekels to one dollar) carrying an annual interest rate of 5% will require a monthly repayment of about 3,000 shekels, or about $710 (plus a few hundred shekels more for insurance).

Competition between mortgage banks is stiff, and banks will compete to win customers. A customer who shops around will find that it is possible to obtain lower interest rates, which will lower monthly repayments. Currently, 20-year fixed rate mortgages linked to the consumer price index are being granted at about 5% annual interest.

The following is a table of prospective mortgage payments:

Repaying a 450,000 shekel ($110,000) Fixed Rate Mortgage*
Monthly Shekel Repayment**	Duration	Interest Rate
3492	15 years	4.5%
2883	20 years	4.5%
3613	15 years	5.0%
3009	20 years	5.0%
3736	15 years	5.5%
3138	20 years	5.5%

* Assumes no change in linkage components (consumer price index, dollar, ect.)

** Changing the mortgage size causes the monthly repayment to change proportionally. For instance, the monthly repayment on a $50,000 mortgage will be half as much.

Of late, loans linked to changes in the prime rate are being marketed heavily by the mortgage banks. Currently, the annual interest rate on these loans is around 6%, and payments will not be adjusted for inflation.

The potential advantage of this loan is that if the prime rate stays low, the mortgage may be easier to pay off over time, since salaries will eventually rise. On the other hand, the prime rate is currently rather low, and should the rate rise over the next year by several percent, monthly mortgage repayments could rise by more than the borrower is comfortable with.