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Downstreet Housing & Community Development · Aired Out

0:30
Speaker 1: The many.
0:48
Speaker 2: Day anything they.
0:53
Speaker 1: Anything? All right, We've got a balmy zero right now,
1:51
Speaker 1: which compared to yesterday is actually a warming trend. So
1:56
Speaker 1: buckle up. More cold weather coming for the weekend. We'll
1:58
Speaker 1: give you details on yesterday. Got a chance to stop
2:03
Speaker 1: over at Montpelier Volkswagen. What a place if you haven't
2:07
Speaker 1: been in there yet. Yeah, of course, high pressure or
2:11
Speaker 1: low pressure I should say high performance homely the big deal.
2:15
Speaker 1: These are wonderful people over there, and they really really
2:20
Speaker 1: know what they're doing, and they'll get you into something
2:23
Speaker 1: that you can comfortably afford. The twenty twenty five Atlas
2:28
Speaker 1: and Atlas Crosspoort is a vehicle that I keep turning
2:34
Speaker 1: my head about. Yes, the tiguan and the Tiguanes is nice,
2:38
Speaker 1: but man, it is just such a beautiful ride. If
2:44
Speaker 1: you're looking for an experience with a sales team that
2:49
Speaker 1: gives you that family feel again, low pressure just great
2:55
Speaker 1: incentives to get into something new and something that you
2:59
Speaker 1: can hang on to for a long time. The legendary
3:04
Speaker 1: name of Volkswagen is something that you can trust and
3:08
Speaker 1: it'll get you through some of the roughest winters that
3:12
Speaker 1: you'll ever experience. Right now, ten thousand dollars off the
3:17
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four Volkswagen Atlas Crossboard sel R line while
3:23
Speaker 1: supplies last, and I think last I checked when I
3:27
Speaker 1: was there yesterday they had three left. So stop by
3:31
Speaker 1: eleven eighty nine US Route two in Berlin. It's Montpellier
3:36
Speaker 1: Volkswagen five dollars Tuesdays back at the Capitol Theater. Skip
3:41
Speaker 1: the line, get over to the cap if you can
3:43
Speaker 1: catch a movie all show times and it doesn't matter
3:48
Speaker 1: what movie it is. It's five bucks on Tuesdays only
3:52
Speaker 1: at the Capitol Theater. FGB theaters dot com to see
3:56
Speaker 1: all of the listings. What's playing. We're looking at partly
4:00
Speaker 1: sunny skies today, gang, and look at this twenty nine degrees.
4:07
Speaker 1: I think I saw twenty five on my car yesterday
4:12
Speaker 1: and the roads were actually wet, and I was like, wow,
4:17
Speaker 1: heat wave, this is incredible. Twenty nine today, amazing. Enjoy
4:21
Speaker 1: it well, you ken though seven tonight cloudy skies, partly
4:25
Speaker 1: cloudy tomorrow kind of a carbon copy of today around
4:29
Speaker 1: twenty six Thursday, partly cloudy twenty one, and you don't
4:35
Speaker 1: want to know about Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Trust me. We
4:38
Speaker 1: are right back to the Arctic Blast for the weekend. Hey,
4:43
Speaker 1: marcel otis on the birthday list today, Brandy ash Reagan,
4:48
Speaker 1: Puckhead Howard, Happy birthday to you, Kevin Stoddard, Kristen Jackman,
4:54
Speaker 1: Hanna Nielsen, Malina Hill, and Tammy Hall all celebrating birthday.
5:00
Speaker 1: Big month for sports. We got the Seahawks and Patriots
5:04
Speaker 1: facing off in Super Bowl sixty on Sunday. We got
5:09
Speaker 1: the Daytona five hundred and NBA All Star Game on
5:12
Speaker 1: the fifteenth, and the Winter Olympics getting started this Friday
5:17
Speaker 1: and running through the twenty second. G and I are
5:20
Speaker 1: going to have a lot of fun talking about the
5:22
Speaker 1: Olympics on Friday morning. Trust me, it's going to be
5:26
Speaker 1: a good time. Some of the headlines right now. Vermont,
5:31
Speaker 1: we got a bill seeking to keep law enforcement from
5:35
Speaker 1: wearing masks. That's trending right now. It's trending this morning.
5:39
Speaker 1: Actually national headlines. The partial government shutdown could be ending
5:44
Speaker 1: in a matter of hours. Body cameras being deployed to
5:50
Speaker 1: DHS agents in Minneapolis. The Artemis two moon mission postponed
5:57
Speaker 1: to March technical issues. Uh oh, I think that was
6:01
Speaker 1: supposed to be uh supposed to go on Sunday, if
6:04
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, But this morning, I have some great
6:08
Speaker 1: ladies that are sitting right next to me, Cheryl Moyer
6:12
Speaker 1: and Ava Whitcomb from Downstreet. It is an absolute pleasure
6:16
Speaker 1: to have you both in here. We're gonna be talking
6:18
Speaker 1: about housing. And you know, last time I had had
6:23
Speaker 1: had you guys, thought well it was it was Kevin
6:25
Speaker 1: over at Downstreet. The H word is is the hot button.
6:30
Speaker 3: Man.
6:30
Speaker 1: It's like, and you were just telling me that we're
6:34
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about this Friday at the State House. Right,
6:39
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a discussion about housing next Friday. Next Friday,
6:44
Speaker 1: all right, I would love to get there and hear
6:48
Speaker 1: what's what's being said about this. Absolutely, yeah, I'm sure, yeah,
6:53
Speaker 1: I know. Uh, and we know that some of your
6:56
Speaker 1: staff will be there, right, yes, who exactly do you know?
7:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, so all of the directors of all lot of
7:03
Speaker 3: our departments will be there at the Statehouse.
7:06
Speaker 1: Okay, boy, do we we have housing? Is like man,
7:10
Speaker 1: It's like people will say, oh, we need this, we
7:14
Speaker 1: need that, we need this, but it kind of begins
7:18
Speaker 1: with housing almost as Kevin Ellis was was kind of
7:23
Speaker 1: alluding to, you know, we it's fine we got these
7:27
Speaker 1: other problems. But man, if we don't have the housing stock,
7:31
Speaker 1: we're deeply in trouble here. And you guys at Downstreet
7:36
Speaker 1: are really chipping away at this.
7:38
Speaker 2: We're trying, trying doing a great job.
7:41
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, look look at all that's that's
7:44
Speaker 1: just happened in a short period of time with Downstreet.
7:48
Speaker 1: And it's not just the Fox Round apartments, It's not
7:51
Speaker 1: just the Sporanza in. I mean, the list goes on
7:53
Speaker 1: and we've got Seminary Street that's that's going to be
7:56
Speaker 1: changing here drastically, right here in the Granit's city. Wow.
8:01
Speaker 1: But both of you are in the home ownership department.
8:08
Speaker 1: What is at Downstreet Housing and Community Development? What does
8:11
Speaker 1: that mean? Yea, what is the homeownership department?
8:16
Speaker 3: So we do a little bit of everything, is what
8:18
Speaker 3: I like to say. So we do everything from financial capabilities, counseling,
8:24
Speaker 3: pre purchase counseling, home buyer education. We have rund a
8:29
Speaker 3: shared equity program that has one hundred and sixty seven
8:32
Speaker 3: homes that are a part of our portfolio right now,
8:35
Speaker 3: and then we also have a loan side of it,
8:37
Speaker 3: So we have a Green Mountain Home repair program that
8:40
Speaker 3: helps current homeowners reha their homes for health and safety issues.
8:44
Speaker 1: That's the v HIP.
8:46
Speaker 2: That's the Green.
8:46
Speaker 3: Mountain Home Repair Program.
8:48
Speaker 1: Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
8:49
Speaker 3: And then we also manage the v HIP, which is
8:51
Speaker 3: a housing improvement program that helps landlords and homeowners with
8:56
Speaker 3: new creation units along with repairing existing units.
9:00
Speaker 1: Wow, it's a lot. That That is a lot. That
9:04
Speaker 1: that is a lot. So you know in Layman's here,
9:09
Speaker 1: I mean are you are you kind of like real
9:12
Speaker 1: estate agents with with Downstreet.
9:15
Speaker 2: Not licensed, but yeah, we really are just here to.
9:18
Speaker 3: Help support people through that home buying process.
9:22
Speaker 2: Right, it's a lot.
9:23
Speaker 3: There's you know a lot of things that people just
9:26
Speaker 3: don't know, Like you don't do it every day, right,
9:28
Speaker 3: It's not like going and buying a pair of shoes
9:30
Speaker 3: at a store. Sure, So it's just educating people what
9:34
Speaker 3: out there, what support's out there, and kind of helping,
9:38
Speaker 3: you know, point them in the right direction where to start.
9:40
Speaker 4: I would say we're more educators than real estate I mean,
9:45
Speaker 4: I guess real estate professionals, but more educators in that.
9:50
Speaker 2: We kind of.
9:53
Speaker 4: Walk with the customer through the whole process of getting
9:56
Speaker 4: pre approved. You know, here, here's the process you get
10:01
Speaker 4: pre approved with a lender, so we have our lender
10:04
Speaker 4: hat on and look at things that way.
10:07
Speaker 2: We then talk about shopping for a home. You know,
10:13
Speaker 2: what do you want in a home?
10:15
Speaker 4: The process, you get a you know, you get under
10:17
Speaker 4: purchase and sale contract, then what and kind of take
10:20
Speaker 4: those steps along with them as a unbiased third party,
10:27
Speaker 4: so you know, we don't have a stake in the
10:29
Speaker 4: game other than helping the customer, so we can really
10:34
Speaker 4: serve as an advisor.
10:36
Speaker 1: Just got a comment here. With all that's invested into
10:40
Speaker 1: housing from the government, I would think we need to
10:44
Speaker 1: think longer term and cost effective options. Why not a
10:47
Speaker 1: chunk of land and loaded up with tiny homes or
10:52
Speaker 1: mobile homes. We can house more that need it and
10:55
Speaker 1: spend less. Have you heard comments like this before?
10:59
Speaker 3: We have app Yeah, and there has been, you know,
11:02
Speaker 3: some work done to see if it's something that's feasible
11:04
Speaker 3: for us. The state created a mobile home infill program.
11:09
Speaker 3: I believe it was last year that the Vermont State
11:12
Speaker 3: Housing Authority, I believe is the ones that are kind
11:14
Speaker 3: of managing that program. And really what they were focused
11:18
Speaker 3: on is finding vacant lots within existing mobile home parks
11:23
Speaker 3: to fill with new mobile homes to help bring them online.
11:27
Speaker 3: So there's some work, but definitely a lot more work,
11:30
Speaker 3: you know, and that's an area that we're focusing on.
11:33
Speaker 1: What's the Shared Equity home ownership? I heard you you
11:38
Speaker 1: mentioned that, how does it benefit qualified buyers?
11:41
Speaker 3: What? What is this? Yeah? So the Shared Equity program
11:44
Speaker 3: is a program that helps people purchase a home. They
11:48
Speaker 3: provide up to a twenty percent down payment towards the
11:50
Speaker 3: purchase price. And so there's some monthly value in it
11:55
Speaker 3: and along with long term value in it as well.
11:58
Speaker 3: So it eliminates private mortgage insurance when you're purchasing. Also,
12:06
Speaker 3: you're not paying on that down payment, no interest, no
12:09
Speaker 3: monthly payment, And there are some nuances to the program,
12:13
Speaker 3: but really a lot of benefits to helping people get
12:16
Speaker 3: over that hurdle of not having a down payment towards
12:19
Speaker 3: the purchase.
12:20
Speaker 1: So many need this.
12:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of low and middle income folks.
12:26
Speaker 4: It's a barrier for them to get into home ownership,
12:29
Speaker 4: the startup cost, the having that down payment. With the
12:31
Speaker 4: Shared Equity program, we help them they they don't need
12:36
Speaker 4: the down payment. They they because we're providing that they
12:39
Speaker 4: have you know, they have their closing costs, and some
12:43
Speaker 4: of that can also be there's programs that can also
12:46
Speaker 4: help out with that as well.
12:47
Speaker 1: Can this stay affordable long term?
12:51
Speaker 3: Yes? Yeah, absolutely so with the shared equity program with
12:55
Speaker 3: that down payment, some of the nuances is that the
12:57
Speaker 3: program and that property stays in the program going forward,
13:02
Speaker 3: and so that down payment that you receive then goes
13:04
Speaker 3: on to that next buyer, so that down payment stays
13:07
Speaker 3: with that property, so it's permanently affordable for future owners.
13:11
Speaker 1: Wow, tell me about this this money moose project. I
13:18
Speaker 1: clicked on that and of course, you know, I've always
13:24
Speaker 1: admittedly kind of fantasized about living in a log home
13:28
Speaker 1: and fromont and as soon as I clicked on that link,
13:31
Speaker 1: I was like, well, that got my attention.
13:33
Speaker 3: Tell me about this absolutely. Yeah. So we just purchased
13:38
Speaker 3: a property up in Morrisville a few It was the
13:41
Speaker 3: end of January, and we purchased a single family homes
13:46
Speaker 3: that were short term rentals and we're going to turn
13:49
Speaker 3: them into single family homes and so they are beautiful.
13:53
Speaker 3: Their six out of eight of them will be shared
13:55
Speaker 3: equity homes, so they will have that down payment and
13:58
Speaker 3: they will be permanently affordable for future owners. But it's
14:02
Speaker 3: just a beautiful land. It's there's one hundred and fifty
14:06
Speaker 3: acres of conserved land that's around it that will be
14:08
Speaker 3: open to the public, and it's just it's a very rural, beautiful,
14:13
Speaker 3: beautiful setting.
14:15
Speaker 1: And this was this all just happened a couple of
14:18
Speaker 1: weeks ago.
14:18
Speaker 3: Yes, yep, So we're going to be having an open
14:21
Speaker 3: house this Saturday from Saturday.
14:26
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, twenty nine thirty Cody Hill Road. Come see us.
14:32
Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, it's just a beautiful, beautiful piece of land
14:36
Speaker 3: and the homes are beautiful. A lot of our staff
14:40
Speaker 3: is actually are like, how can we get these homes
14:42
Speaker 3: because they're just I mean, it's the Vermont dream.
14:45
Speaker 1: It really isn't that. So you know, maybe this is premature,
14:49
Speaker 1: but will something like this happen again another trunk of lands.
14:55
Speaker 2: I don't think it's something that we set out to
14:57
Speaker 2: do like this.
14:59
Speaker 4: Angie was presented this opportunity and it was really a
15:04
Speaker 4: partnership with the Stow Land Trust, who purchased the acreage
15:10
Speaker 4: associated with it and are conserving that in Downstreet, purchased
15:15
Speaker 4: the houses in the cabin you know, the cabins and
15:18
Speaker 4: the house so that we could you know, offer them
15:23
Speaker 4: as you know, six shared equity homes, keep them affordable permanently.
15:28
Speaker 4: The other two will be sold at market rate.
15:32
Speaker 3: Okay, but yeah, we're really hoping to use this as
15:34
Speaker 3: like a pilot for future projects because it's just amazing
15:38
Speaker 3: and home ownership is so needed.
15:41
Speaker 1: Oh, I'd love to see some legislators get up there
15:44
Speaker 1: to this open house and that wouldn't that be incredible?
15:48
Speaker 3: That would be so they love to see everyone you
15:51
Speaker 3: know is welcome to come and join and walk through
15:53
Speaker 3: the cabins, and it's just, yeah, it's beautiful.
15:57
Speaker 1: Please. Yeah, I'm already thinking about my schedule on Saturday.
16:05
Speaker 1: That's that's amazing. And to think that, you know, you
16:09
Speaker 1: could that's really the heart of Vermont.
16:12
Speaker 3: Man.
16:12
Speaker 1: You're getting into the hills up there. That's such beautiful country.
16:16
Speaker 1: That whole area there's.
16:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's beauty. One hundred and fifty acres is going
16:20
Speaker 3: to be open to the public and it's just it's
16:24
Speaker 3: there's waterfalls, there's major trails. It's such a beautiful, beautiful
16:28
Speaker 3: piece of land.
16:29
Speaker 4: It's rural, yet only ten minutes from the heart of Morrisville,
16:34
Speaker 4: so it's accessible too.
16:36
Speaker 1: And a quick skip on fifteen right into Essex in Burlington. Absolutely, yeah,
16:43
Speaker 1: Champlain Valley. Wow. Do you you know I'm sitting here
16:48
Speaker 1: and I'm listening to what you're saying, and I'm remembering.
16:53
Speaker 1: And I can't remember if I mentioned this to Kevin
16:56
Speaker 1: Alice or not, but just remember living renting in Waterbury
17:03
Speaker 1: in the early nineties, big beautiful farmhouse and my rent
17:10
Speaker 1: was four hundred and twenty bucks a month.
17:13
Speaker 2: Those days are gone, Yeah, And I think I.
17:16
Speaker 1: Know long gone. And I think, if I'm not mistaken,
17:19
Speaker 1: it included snow removal and electricity. And I remember a
17:27
Speaker 1: real estate agent telling me you got to just you
17:30
Speaker 1: got to try to buy something like this because at
17:33
Speaker 1: some point, the secret is going to get out. You're
17:37
Speaker 1: on the main artery right into Burlington Montpellier, You're a
17:43
Speaker 1: straight shot right through the center of Vermont. Secret is
17:46
Speaker 1: going to get out. Do you feel like like what
17:49
Speaker 1: you guys are doing with the Muddy Moose project, that
17:53
Speaker 1: something like that could turn into something that could explode
17:58
Speaker 1: like this, the secret get out, that this is the
18:03
Speaker 1: way to go.
18:05
Speaker 3: I'm really hoping it, does you know. I mean, I
18:08
Speaker 3: call it this hamster wheel, right, and I feel like
18:11
Speaker 3: it's stalled over the last you know, five ten years
18:14
Speaker 3: where you know everyone you know, they graduate, they go
18:18
Speaker 3: to college, they you know, get their first apartment, and
18:22
Speaker 3: then you know, the next goal is home ownership. And
18:24
Speaker 3: I feel like it's just kind of stalled out a
18:27
Speaker 3: little bit. But that's you know, you we're trying to
18:30
Speaker 3: revitalize that, you know, get people back into that, you know,
18:34
Speaker 3: one of the American dreams of owning your own home
18:36
Speaker 3: and knowing that it is possible, you know, there is
18:40
Speaker 3: hope out there and we can help guide you through
18:42
Speaker 3: that process to figuring out. You know, it's not right
18:45
Speaker 3: for everyone, but it I think some people just feel
18:49
Speaker 3: like it's not an option right now.
18:54
Speaker 1: Another question here, what's the going mortgage rates you've been
18:59
Speaker 1: seeing as of late with these programs.
19:03
Speaker 2: I've been questioning.
19:04
Speaker 4: I checked lenders websites weekly so that I can stay
19:08
Speaker 4: on top of that in offering guidance to the folks
19:13
Speaker 4: that I work with, and I'm seeing right now right
19:16
Speaker 4: around the five point six percent for a thirty year
19:21
Speaker 4: fixed rate mortgage. Okay, yeah, so the rates have Last
19:26
Speaker 4: year at this time they were a little higher, so
19:28
Speaker 4: they're starting to come down.
19:30
Speaker 1: I've pulled up some some stats here about just over
19:35
Speaker 1: seventy four percent of households in Vermont owned their home
19:39
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, roughly three and four residents. And
19:44
Speaker 1: this has significantly been above the national average on one
19:50
Speaker 1: of the one of the higher rates in the United States.
19:54
Speaker 1: So and also that Vermont ranks in the top five
20:00
Speaker 1: dates nationwide for home ownership percentage.
20:04
Speaker 2: So we're doing something right.
20:08
Speaker 1: I mean, this, you know is per capita and everything.
20:11
Speaker 1: I understand, but what's the what are the income requirements
20:17
Speaker 1: asks Donna here for the for buying a home?
20:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, so for our shared Equity program, we can go
20:24
Speaker 3: up to one hundred and twenty percent of the area
20:27
Speaker 3: median income for that county. So we service Washington, Orange
20:30
Speaker 3: and Lamoyle County. But we help anyone through the home
20:34
Speaker 3: buyer education in the counseling for pre purchase. There's no
20:39
Speaker 3: income restrictions on the services that we offer outside of
20:42
Speaker 3: the shared equity.
20:42
Speaker 1: Okay, home prices in Vermont have popped, you know that,
20:50
Speaker 1: obviously I've preached into the choir here. The median home
20:55
Speaker 1: price across the state about four hundred and fifteen thousand
20:59
Speaker 1: dollars as of late in twenty twenty five. Housing market
21:04
Speaker 1: is fluctuating everywhere, but here in Vermont it seems to
21:08
Speaker 1: be on a pretty steady increase here, and it's pricing
21:13
Speaker 1: out a lot of ver Honors, a lot of Native
21:18
Speaker 1: ver Honors who are just saying, I just I can't
21:24
Speaker 1: afford to live here anymore.
21:27
Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, Yeah. I mean we're working with people every
21:31
Speaker 3: day that are struggling to be able to stay here
21:34
Speaker 3: in Vermont. And a lot of our clients are, you know,
21:37
Speaker 3: like not using us as a last resort, but looking
21:41
Speaker 3: at us in a last resort, Like you know, I,
21:44
Speaker 3: if I don't find help, I'm looking at moving out
21:47
Speaker 3: of my home state Vermont. You know where we want
21:50
Speaker 3: to stay. There are programs out there that you know,
21:55
Speaker 3: we're trying to help get people to and to educate
21:58
Speaker 3: people that they're programs out there that can help them
22:01
Speaker 3: stay in Vermont.
22:02
Speaker 1: There's a lot of programs, a lot of resources. Correct,
22:05
Speaker 1: you got to it's kind of getting it all on
22:09
Speaker 1: the table and shifting through what's what's this is great,
22:15
Speaker 1: but it doesn't work for me? What works best for me?
22:18
Speaker 1: And that's what you guys are pros at. Yeah.
22:20
Speaker 4: Part of our education process is our financial wellness purchase
22:24
Speaker 4: ready processes to meet the client where they're at, and
22:31
Speaker 4: you know, so we talk about affordability, We run numbers
22:36
Speaker 4: with them, we talk about their credit. We look at
22:41
Speaker 4: what programs are out there for loan, you know, mortgages,
22:46
Speaker 4: down payment assistance, and we help inform them on how
22:51
Speaker 4: they can access those programs if they qualify.
22:53
Speaker 1: Yeah.
22:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, what what do you.
22:55
Speaker 1: Say about.
22:58
Speaker 3: You know.
23:00
Speaker 1: Stock? I mean, we're just inventory is low. There's a
23:09
Speaker 1: relationship here, that's there's a fine dance here. Inventory is low,
23:14
Speaker 1: prices are up. You know, there's so many people that
23:20
Speaker 1: are like, yeah, I own my home right now in Vermont,
23:23
Speaker 1: but if I were to lose it by a fire
23:26
Speaker 1: or anything, I wouldn't be able to afford to purchase
23:32
Speaker 1: another home here in Vermont. I would have to rent.
23:37
Speaker 1: You've heard this too, Yeah, all the time.
23:40
Speaker 3: It's really really it's hard. It's part of you know,
23:44
Speaker 3: the job that we don't necessarily like, but we have
23:47
Speaker 3: to have tough conversations with some people and it's you know,
23:51
Speaker 3: explaining like, yeah, that that is the struggle that a
23:53
Speaker 3: lot of people are dealing with right now, Like they're
23:57
Speaker 3: having to stay where they're at, don't feel like there's
24:00
Speaker 3: the opportunity to kind of back to that hamster wheel,
24:03
Speaker 3: you know, they get into home ownership, but then there
24:04
Speaker 3: also needs to be that avenue for people that can
24:07
Speaker 3: no longer you know, maintain their house, you know, and
24:12
Speaker 3: as you get older, you're like, okay, well then you're
24:15
Speaker 3: wanting to go into like senior housing or you know,
24:18
Speaker 3: something smaller, even like an ADU or something you know
24:21
Speaker 3: along those lines. But there's not a lot of options
24:25
Speaker 3: out there for people to transition from that you know,
24:28
Speaker 3: larger home into something that's more reasonable for them to maintain.
24:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, Accessory dwelling units ADUs.
24:38
Speaker 3: This is.
24:41
Speaker 1: This is something that is the secret's getting out on
24:43
Speaker 1: this hearing from A two that this is the way
24:47
Speaker 1: to go, and there's a pretty good list of pros
24:50
Speaker 1: here on this, not just taxes. What say you about
24:55
Speaker 1: ad us?
24:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there is so much value add in
24:59
Speaker 3: ADUs right now. A lot of parents are creating them
25:04
Speaker 3: on their properties for their children because there's no rentals
25:07
Speaker 3: out there that their children can afford. And then we
25:11
Speaker 3: find it on the flip side where a lot of
25:14
Speaker 3: you know, children are creating ADUs for their parents to
25:19
Speaker 3: be able to downsize and to live and then also
25:21
Speaker 3: be able to help take care of them as well.
25:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, and even not just families. Creating an ADU allows
25:27
Speaker 4: you to create a revenue stream to help offset your
25:32
Speaker 4: property tax obligations and may allow you to stay in
25:35
Speaker 4: that home longer than you would have been able to,
25:39
Speaker 4: you know, without that extra monthly income.
25:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're talking about a space that's right around nine
25:46
Speaker 1: hundred square feet, just just enough to have the in
25:51
Speaker 1: laws or your friends come up if they're skiing or whatever.
25:55
Speaker 1: You got, you got some extra room there. But you
25:57
Speaker 1: also say to rent out too. Yeah, absolutely generates some income.
26:02
Speaker 4: There are a lot of a lot of the because
26:05
Speaker 4: there's such a focus on it right now, a lot
26:07
Speaker 4: of the municipalities in Vermont are actually kind of loosening
26:13
Speaker 4: up their zoning requirements a little bit to allow for
26:18
Speaker 4: development of these eight us in you know this in
26:24
Speaker 4: village villages and towns close to amenities and all of that.
26:32
Speaker 1: The question and comment here in your opinion, what's the
26:38
Speaker 1: minimum credit score needed? Britney chimes in and says for
26:41
Speaker 1: the shared equity program, the buyer must qualify for a
26:44
Speaker 1: traditional mortgage, which requires a credit score of six forty
26:50
Speaker 1: correct yep.
26:51
Speaker 3: Most mortgage products require a credit score of six forty
26:54
Speaker 3: or above. The shared equity program requires that as well.
26:57
Speaker 3: And then yeah, so we provide that down payment and
26:59
Speaker 3: then you have to be eligible for first mortgage financing
27:02
Speaker 3: for the remainder of the purchase price.
27:06
Speaker 2: Work hard at that credit score, absolutely, and we can
27:11
Speaker 2: help with that. Yeah.
27:13
Speaker 1: You know, for fellas like me, it's like, got to
27:16
Speaker 1: set up the auto payment. Can't just rely on my
27:19
Speaker 1: memory to make my payments on time.
27:22
Speaker 4: They don't teach that in schools anymore, right, Yeah, it's
27:26
Speaker 4: in elective if they do right, like, you can choose
27:28
Speaker 4: to take it.
27:29
Speaker 3: But I've had a lot of kids that will come
27:31
Speaker 3: to us and they're like, oh, you know, how do
27:33
Speaker 3: you do this? And they're like don't I never knew.
27:36
Speaker 3: And you know, my daughter I always you know, talk
27:39
Speaker 3: to her. You know, this is what I do. Right,
27:42
Speaker 3: So I'm educating them as they're growing, and I'm like,
27:45
Speaker 3: your credit score is like your report card. You have
27:48
Speaker 3: to you know, put effort into it to kind of
27:51
Speaker 3: build it up so that you can get those scores
27:52
Speaker 3: that you want and then protect it and then protect.
27:56
Speaker 1: It maybe even more important than your credit card. Yea, Yeah,
28:02
Speaker 1: this is this is you know, and here's the thing.
28:05
Speaker 1: And I say this, and I've heard that so many
28:08
Speaker 1: say the same thing. That afford affordability issues are in
28:16
Speaker 1: every state. They're everywhere right now. It doesn't matter where
28:21
Speaker 1: you live. Maybe in the hills of Tennessee could be
28:26
Speaker 1: an exception. I don't know. But but why do you
28:30
Speaker 1: think Vermont is having I mean, we touched on this
28:34
Speaker 1: a little bit that a lot of vermontors are getting
28:37
Speaker 1: priced out the the the market's hot, supply is down,
28:43
Speaker 1: demand is high, revenue is low. But what are what
28:47
Speaker 1: are some of the other reasons why you think Vermont
28:50
Speaker 1: might be having the affordability and housing crisis. Would you
28:56
Speaker 1: call it a crisis?
28:59
Speaker 3: I would. I would call it a crisis for sure.
29:02
Speaker 3: And I think it's just the demand. The demand forces
29:07
Speaker 3: up those prices and then it, you know, makes it unaffordable.
29:11
Speaker 3: I think property taxes have been another big affordability piece
29:15
Speaker 3: that people are struggling with. I mean, even myself personally.
29:18
Speaker 3: You know, my town, our taxes increased, you know, over
29:21
Speaker 3: thirty percent last year. With the education you know that
29:24
Speaker 3: is continuing to go up, and it's something that we're
29:28
Speaker 3: continuing to work on even you know, shared equity homeowners
29:32
Speaker 3: that are in the portfolio right now are calling us saying,
29:35
Speaker 3: you know, a property tax has just one up thirty percent?
29:37
Speaker 3: What am I going to do?
29:39
Speaker 4: You know?
29:40
Speaker 3: And then you know, helping work with people on you know,
29:43
Speaker 3: looking at maybe even you know, loss mitigation options with
29:46
Speaker 3: their service or to see if they can you know,
29:48
Speaker 3: extend their mortgages out. I think it's just the housing
29:54
Speaker 3: stock that we have is very old, and you know,
29:58
Speaker 3: people aren't able to maintain it. And then you know
30:02
Speaker 3: the heat right, yes, Sarah, it was a big old
30:05
Speaker 3: goose egg this morning, you know, and it's really really
30:09
Speaker 3: hard to keep up with that as well.
30:14
Speaker 1: Let's say you on that Ava, I.
30:16
Speaker 4: Was going to touch on the aging stock that we have.
30:19
Speaker 4: Vermont is old, right, uh So a lot of our
30:23
Speaker 4: houses are in need of repair.
30:27
Speaker 3: You know.
30:27
Speaker 4: The folks that have lived there for their entire life
30:31
Speaker 4: in a lot of cases are now finding themselves because
30:36
Speaker 4: of all the rising costs, unable to maintain them. So
30:41
Speaker 4: some of those houses end up coming out of circulation,
30:45
Speaker 4: if you will, because they're no longer inhabitable.
30:50
Speaker 2: So that's you know, that contributes to the problem.
30:54
Speaker 1: Would you would you say it would be uh, it
30:57
Speaker 1: would be best before someone comes into down Street Housing
31:03
Speaker 1: and meets with you that they should have a pretty
31:08
Speaker 1: detailed come prepared, have have your credit score with you,
31:15
Speaker 1: have your expenses laid out, what's coming in, what's going out.
31:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, we like to do initially a hello consultation with
31:27
Speaker 4: a client where we'll talk about the programs that we
31:31
Speaker 4: offer and decide from there which program might benefit them
31:36
Speaker 4: the best and help them meet their goals. You don't
31:41
Speaker 4: have to, I mean knowledge is power, yes, but you
31:44
Speaker 4: can also come to us even if you know you
31:48
Speaker 4: don't know what you don't know will help you. You know,
31:52
Speaker 4: we have the ability, with our client's position permission to
31:56
Speaker 4: do a soft pull on their credit, so we can
31:58
Speaker 4: look at that together from an educational perspective and kind
32:02
Speaker 4: of say, you know, things look good, or here's some
32:05
Speaker 4: things you should work on. Here's what a lender is
32:07
Speaker 4: going to look at. So you know, we we do
32:11
Speaker 4: that and then you know, part of it also is
32:16
Speaker 4: helping a client budget to save where they can to
32:20
Speaker 4: look at their budget together. So in some cases we
32:24
Speaker 4: will have them do a tracking of their spending for
32:29
Speaker 4: you know, a couple of weeks or a month and
32:31
Speaker 4: then come back to us and we can look at
32:33
Speaker 4: that together and have an intelligent conversation about you know,
32:37
Speaker 4: where your money's going and are there things that you
32:40
Speaker 4: think you can do that you could you know, live
32:43
Speaker 4: without or or so that you can hopefully put yourself
32:48
Speaker 4: in a better position to own in the future.
32:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, build some some equity. And of course there's there's
32:54
Speaker 1: tax exemptions. There's other incentive too that folks can qualify
33:03
Speaker 1: for as especially first time Absolutely home buyer's right, Dirrect.
33:07
Speaker 3: Yes, you have the Homestead Tax Declaration that is eligible
33:11
Speaker 3: for people that are income eligible for it through the
33:14
Speaker 3: state of Vermont that own a home. You file it
33:17
Speaker 3: every year with your taxes, but it can be you
33:20
Speaker 3: know a lot of people don't know that there are
33:21
Speaker 3: certain things out there that could you know, help them
33:23
Speaker 3: even support them during their ownership as well.
33:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, what about what about insurance? I've heard that Vermont's
33:34
Speaker 1: homeowners' insurance generally compared to the nation, is pretty good,
33:43
Speaker 1: pretty pretty competitive, not super high. Another incentive I think.
33:50
Speaker 3: So, yeah, absolutely, I mean when you're comparing renters insurance
33:53
Speaker 3: versus homeowners insurance, I think I don't know that there's
33:55
Speaker 3: a you know that you're getting more out of homeowners
33:58
Speaker 3: insurance and rentors insured because it's covering the whole house.
34:01
Speaker 2: So it's a little higher.
34:02
Speaker 3: But really when you're comparing the two, it's you know,
34:05
Speaker 3: pretty comfortable.
34:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, what else? What else? Let's mention again the Muddy
34:14
Speaker 1: Moose project. That's this is a huge how many acres again, it's.
34:21
Speaker 3: One hundred and sixty seven total acres. One hundred and
34:25
Speaker 3: fifty of it's going to be conserved land, and then
34:28
Speaker 3: the other piece is going to be where the homes
34:31
Speaker 3: are located, which is about eighteen okay, and this was.
34:35
Speaker 1: All through the Stowe Land Trust.
34:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, partnership with the Stowe Land Trust and down Street.
34:41
Speaker 1: Okay, so this is up in Morrisville, correct, Correct? And
34:46
Speaker 1: you've got how many homes the open houses Saturday? Yes,
34:50
Speaker 1: this coming. How many homes again?
34:53
Speaker 3: So it's going to be eight single family homes. Seven
34:55
Speaker 3: of them are log cabins.
34:58
Speaker 1: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful log cabins. I'm going to put
35:04
Speaker 1: the link up here in just a little bit. We're
35:07
Speaker 1: going to hammer this pretty hard, so thanks, so that
35:10
Speaker 1: folks can get up there and see this. But when
35:14
Speaker 1: were these cabins built?
35:16
Speaker 3: So some of them were built in twenty thirteen and
35:20
Speaker 3: then the other half of them were built in I
35:23
Speaker 3: believe it was twenty seventeen, So they're fairly fairly new homes, beautiful,
35:29
Speaker 3: well maintained. They were used as short term rentals that
35:33
Speaker 3: are now going to be single family homes for people
35:36
Speaker 3: year round.
35:39
Speaker 1: Wow. So what is one more time here explaining what
35:45
Speaker 1: shared equity is? What is what is that?
35:47
Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah? So it is a down payment assistance program
35:51
Speaker 3: that helps people with that twenty percent down payment or
35:55
Speaker 3: more with these homes, specifically to make them affordable for
35:59
Speaker 3: the home owner.
36:03
Speaker 1: So basically you're getting help getting in rightly, get getting
36:10
Speaker 1: your your life restarted.
36:12
Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah. And in affordable homeownership, you know, it's one
36:16
Speaker 3: thing that we've kind of talked about this morning is that,
36:18
Speaker 3: you know, median household prices right now are around four
36:22
Speaker 3: hundred to five hundred thousand dollars depending on where you're purchasing,
36:27
Speaker 3: and you know, these homes are starting at two hundred
36:31
Speaker 3: and fifteen thousand for a purchase price, and the larger ones,
36:36
Speaker 3: the three bedrooms are two seventy five for the shared
36:38
Speaker 3: equity homes. But you know, they're just they're beautiful, they're
36:43
Speaker 3: energy efficient, they're the landscape is amazing and you have
36:49
Speaker 3: just all of this conserved land around you, waterfalls, hiking trails.
36:54
Speaker 3: It's just and it's rule, you know, it's it's a
36:58
Speaker 3: beautiful piece of land.
36:59
Speaker 1: You can work right in Morrisville. You can skip to Essex.
37:04
Speaker 1: You can run up to Newport Stow. Yeah, didn't even
37:09
Speaker 1: think of that, or even skip down and hit the interstate.
37:13
Speaker 1: You're right there.
37:14
Speaker 4: One thing I want to add about the Shared Equity program.
37:17
Speaker 4: It's not just for first time home buyers. It's for
37:19
Speaker 4: folks in area meeting income of one hundred and twenty
37:23
Speaker 4: percent or less. So you don't have to be a
37:25
Speaker 4: first time home buyer to be eligible for the Shared
37:28
Speaker 4: equity program. However, you can't currently own a home. The
37:33
Speaker 4: shared equity home has to be serve as your primary
37:36
Speaker 4: residence and you can't own another home at that time
37:41
Speaker 4: that you close on the shared equity home, can you
37:43
Speaker 4: rent it out? No?
37:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, so these are for primary residents.
37:48
Speaker 1: This is Yeah, we want to get you in a home.
37:52
Speaker 1: That's the goal here.
37:53
Speaker 2: Correct.
37:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, Wow, this is amazing stuff. Again, this open house
38:01
Speaker 1: Saturday from you said ten till two.
38:04
Speaker 2: Correct, Okay, we'll both be there along with several other staffers.
38:10
Speaker 1: You know, it's going to be chilli.
38:11
Speaker 3: I know.
38:12
Speaker 2: We'll be inside. Yes, we'll have the little fireplaces going.
38:16
Speaker 3: They all the cabins have little fireplaces that are going
38:19
Speaker 3: to be going, and it'll be toasty in there.
38:22
Speaker 1: Well, hot coco be served, we might. This is incredible stuff, guys.
38:32
Speaker 2: We're very excited about it.
38:33
Speaker 3: I am.
38:34
Speaker 1: I'm excited that you're you're on the air promoting this.
38:37
Speaker 1: This is wonderful.
38:39
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for the opportunity.
38:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, and tip of the hat to Angie and Sarah
38:43
Speaker 1: and Nick and Grace and who else, just.
38:47
Speaker 4: Everybody, our real estate development team. I mean, it was
38:50
Speaker 4: a it was a it was an effort, Yeah, but
38:54
Speaker 4: they pulled it off, and yeah, I think it'll be
38:57
Speaker 4: rewarding for the community.
38:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's you know, And I didn't even
39:03
Speaker 1: know there was a separate home ownership program up at
39:09
Speaker 1: at community, at Downstreet Community. I just didn't even know that.
39:13
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. I mean, it's I just thought
39:16
Speaker 1: it was everything else that we've been talking about. I
39:20
Speaker 1: have learned more about you guys in the last couple
39:23
Speaker 1: of months than I ever have, and I've always known. Yeah,
39:26
Speaker 1: downstreat Yeah, they're right here.
39:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're trying to get the word out.
39:29
Speaker 4: I do reach out to local lenders just to let
39:32
Speaker 4: them know that we're here to you know, work with
39:35
Speaker 4: you and help get your borrowers to you know, the
39:39
Speaker 4: finish line. A lot of the first time home buyer
39:43
Speaker 4: programs and down payment assistance programs require that you take
39:47
Speaker 4: a home buyer education, which is where we come in.
39:52
Speaker 2: But we're more than that too.
39:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, therese are a lot more than that doing
39:56
Speaker 1: great work.
39:57
Speaker 2: Thank you.
39:59
Speaker 1: It's a big job what you're doing. You've got a
40:01
Speaker 1: fantastic team. To look at all the people that are
40:04
Speaker 1: right on Summer Street.
40:06
Speaker 3: We have amazing staff that is just so dedicated to
40:09
Speaker 3: our mission and it's it's an amazing place to work,
40:14
Speaker 3: really is.
40:15
Speaker 1: Thank you ever so much for coming in here.
40:17
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
40:18
Speaker 1: I'm hoping to make it on Saturday, But if I don't,
40:21
Speaker 1: will you guys would send me some pictures and and
40:25
Speaker 1: let me know how it goes. Love, Yeah, hit me
40:29
Speaker 1: back and let me know how it goes. If I
40:31
Speaker 1: don't make it.
40:32
Speaker 2: On Saturday, that sounds good. Thank you.
40:34
Speaker 1: It's going to be amazing. I'm going to share the
40:36
Speaker 1: link here in just a little bit and show you
40:38
Speaker 1: some pictures of what to expect up there. Thank you
40:41
Speaker 1: so much, Ava Whitcam, Cheryl Moyer both from Downstreet Housing
40:47
Speaker 1: and Community Development, and absolute pleasure to have you both
40:50
Speaker 1: in here.
40:50
Speaker 2: Great job, thank you, thank you, thank you so much
40:59
Speaker 2: for the opportunity detail
42:07
Speaker 3: Wa