Affordable housing

**North Carolina Builder** · 02-07-2009, 11:31 AM

Hi Folks,

I think this is a great site, there seems to be a great deal of professionalism here.

What I

**Greg** · 02-07-2009, 01:29 PM

Knowledgeable agents on this site can't give you the sales data you need to see if there is a market for your product.

Are other houses selling, is there available financing for affordable clientele, is there a stigma attached to affordable housing?

Running 1 ad won't provide the exposure needed to gain trust in your product.

**North Carolina Builder** · 02-07-2009, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Greg

Knowledgeable agents on this site can't give you the sales data you need to see if there is a market for your product.

Are other houses selling, is there available financing for affordable clientele, is there a stigma attached to affordable housing?

Running 1 ad won't provide the exposure needed to gain trust in your product.

Greg,

Thanks for the response. To answer your questions, other houses are selling, but they are very slow, and not in this price range. Nobody here builds in this price range...

The financing is available, I met with my banker yesterday, and went over the program. A household income of $30K will qualify for these houses.

I don't think there's a stigma attached, as the town has a mix of small, older homes alongside nicer homes, not as though there was a poor neighborhood, (projects style) to put people off the concept.

I'll keep after it, I think starter homes are necessary for the good of all.

Thanks,

Alexi

**jennsellsfast** · 02-08-2009, 05:08 AM

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your stay here!

**gstone** · 02-08-2009, 05:21 PM

Although most of my investing experience has been in buy & rehab, not build from scratch, I can offer this input that I have seen other builders do. Have you considered paring-up with a local realtor that specializes in property sales in the price range that your product falls into? If it is an expereinced realtor with contacts (lender/buyer contacts) this may prove to be a good source for marketing your project(s). Additionally, here in the northeast (Delaware/Philadelphia) I volunteer time to Habitat for Humanity to help select home owners for their program. Whenever we have an applicant that does not qualify for a home (because they qualify for a conventional mortgage) we refer them to other sources that can help them find a home/financing. See if you can gain leads from local non-profit organizations that help 1st time home buyers.

**North Carolina Builder** · 02-09-2009, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by jennsellsfast

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your stay here!

Thank you jennsellsfast, that's very kind of you...

Alexi

**North Carolina Builder** · 02-09-2009, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by gstone

Although most of my investing experience has been in buy & rehab, not build from scratch, I can offer this input that I have seen other builders do. Have you considered paring-up with a local realtor that specializes in property sales in the price range that your product falls into? If it is an expereinced realtor with contacts (lender/buyer contacts) this may prove to be a good source for marketing your project(s). Additionally, here in the northeast (Delaware/Philadelphia) I volunteer time to Habitat for Humanity to help select home owners for their program. Whenever we have an applicant that does not qualify for a home (because they qualify for a conventional mortgage) we refer them to other sources that can help them find a home/financing. See if you can gain leads from local non-profit organizations that help 1st time home buyers.

gstone50588,

Those are two very good ideas.

Habitat is very active here, as is Mountain Housing Opportunities, another non-profit. I'll see what I can turn up there.

Any ideas as to how to locate that special realtor? I would assume that checking the companies' sites to contact who their highest performers are, would be at least a good start. I've checked around, and there's no one company that does a lot of affordable sales, it's a mixed bag of houses.

Thanks for the advice,

Alexi

**gjtrafl** · 02-09-2009, 07:31 PM

Welcome to the forum!! I haven't been up your way in many years... However, I just always thought that if you were interested in Brevard that you probably already had plenty of money and would be retiring... Are there a lot of buyers interested in affordable housing in your area? I would imagine these buyers would be working in the service industry but are there enough of them to create a real demand? Also, are these buyers living in the area all year long or just part of the year?

**gstone** · 02-10-2009, 05:28 AM

A couple ideas to locate realtors in your area that specialize in affordable housing listings: realtor.com will allow you to search realtors by location and often the realtor will have a short bio of what they specialize in; normally each area has a realtor board for that area, contact your local Board of Realtors to get leads of realtors that might target your prospective buyer; and you could try entering "realtors affordable housing North Carolina" in google and see what comes up.

Rob Beeman
Grindstone Financial
Hard Money Financing

**North Carolina Builder** · 02-10-2009, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by gjtrafl

Welcome to the forum!! I haven't been up your way in many years... However, I just always thought that if you were interested in Brevard that you probably already had plenty of money and would be retiring... Are there a lot of buyers interested in affordable housing in your area? I would imagine these buyers would be working in the service industry but are there enough of them to create a real demand? Also, are these buyers living in the area all year long or just part of the year?

Hi gjtrafl50663,

Thank you, I definitely enjoy this forum.

This whole thing started with the school board. It seems that the turnover rate for teachers is quite high, as they can't afford to buy the local houses, and end up renting.

They ran a series in the newspaper about it, and did surveys, etc.

As it turns out, most of the local infrastructure is in the same boat, nurses, military, firefighters, police, municipal workers.

There's two kinds of money here, retirees with plenty of cash and investments, and the locals making about $30,000 per year.

So yes, there's a need for affordable housing. I've got my team assembled, with the exception of the marketing..(kind of an important exception, I know).

Regards,

Alexi