Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Prop 37 Passed: Who Gets Help Buying a Home, and When

Transcript

Prop 37 Passed: Who Gets Help Buying a Home, and When · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, ladies and gentlemen, here we are, November 4th, 2026.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is the morning after election.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely fired up.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is your election recap from the vantage point of a guy who sells homes in Santa Clarita for a living.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to walk you through what voters just approved, what it means for your front door, and whether it is actually going to work.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm Connor McIver, sellers only agent here in Santa Clarita, 28 years in this business since 1998.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm part of the Santa Clarita Openhouses.com network, along with sold by openhouses.com.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that's 20 years with LAPD.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: It taught me to check the facts before I open up my mouth.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So a quick ground rule: California counts slowly.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Where a race has been called, I'll say one.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where it hasn't, I'll say leading.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Associated Press called the governor's race for Xavier Briserra with about 64% of the vote.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now thank you to Steve Hilton for stepping into the arena and running.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: That does take guts, win or lose.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what Governor-elect Becerra said last night.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: As governor, my mission is straightforward.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Deliver a California we can afford, and defend a California we can't afford to lose.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then, he said, I didn't run to make history.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I ran to make a difference for the next construction worker and clerical worker who want to buy their own home.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: A construction worker buying a home.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the whole show for today because voters just approved two measures aimed right at the family.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Proposition 37 and proposition one.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let me take them apart piece by piece, like a home inspection.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So proposition 37 passed.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: The AP called it about 61%, called it with about 61%.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what it actually does: the state's housing finance agency, Cal Hafa, C-A-L-H-F-A, can sell up to$25 billion in bonds to investors.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: That money becomes a second loan for the middle-income families buying a brand new home.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: The family puts down at least 3% of their own money.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: The state's second loan can cover up to 17% of that price.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then a regular first mortgage covers the other 80%.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So the family gets to the classic 20% down without having to save 20%.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So let me make it real for you.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So let's picture a couple.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's call them Maria and David.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: They rent, love the but biblical names.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: They rent in Canyon Country two kids.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's an electrician.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: She's a dental office manager.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now they lived in California for years.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: A builder up the hill is selling a new townhome for$700,000.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Under Prop 37, Maria and David bring$21,000 of their own money.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's the 3%.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Calhaffa's second loan covers up to$119,000.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's the 17%.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: A bank's first mortgage covers the remaining$560,000.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: They close, they move in, and they make monthly payments on both loans.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now here are the rules because the rules decide who actually gets in.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have lived in California for at least one year.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: You have to move in within 60 days of closing.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's your home, not a rental.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your family income has to be at or under 200% of the area median income for your family size.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And Calhaffa, C-A-L-H-F-A, sets the number county by county.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: The 3% has to be your own money, not a gift and not borrowed.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the home has to be newly built.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to be its very first buyer.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: A resale home down the street does not qualify.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: This has to be new construction.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because we know how many of those they're going to be potentially in the future, according to everything that we're being promised.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited to see that as well.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's also a price gap, too, tied to the federal loan limits, roughly 1 million to 1.5 million, depending on the county.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Los Angeles County sits at the high end, of course.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the piece I love.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: The law says the buyer must hire their own licensed California real estate agent chosen by the buyer, not just whoever is sitting in the builder's sales office.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Your own adventcare.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now that protects families, and of course, I'm all for that.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: The loan itself has to be a fixed rate, no prepayment penalty.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Lender fees are capped.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if your credit score is a little bruised, the lender has to let you show bank statements, pay stubs, and your rent history.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Fall on hard times, and you can ask for a temporary hardship deferral on the interest.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And a Calhafa, C-A-L-H-F-A, decides you benefit.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you can take a home buyer education class.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, for a lot of first-time buyers, there's actually a class.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So where does the money come from?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Investors buy the bonds.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Where does it go?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, into these loans.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Who pays it back?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: The homeowners through their monthly payments.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: The bonds are not a debt of the state of California.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the legislative analysis says no direct cost to state or local taxpayers.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Bob Hertzberg, the formal assembly speaker who led it, said last night there's a war against the middle class, and these are like war bonds.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then three words.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's real now.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So will it work?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll give you both roads.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Road one, investors are going to line up.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Calhafa sets a low fixed rate on that second loan.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Builders are going to opt in, and thousands of families who've been renting for a decade get the keys to a new home.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we already know that the demand is there.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: The state's last down payment program, Dream for All, put$300 million on the table in 2023.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was gone in 11 days.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Road number two, the bonds cost more than people hope.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: The second loan carries a real rate.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And now Maria and David had two payments that stretch them a little thin.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Critics also point out that the families with the most savings get to the front of the line, and that pumping money into buyers without enough new homes can start to push prices up.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: The list legislative analysis flagged three unknowns.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Whether investors want the bonds, what the loans will cost buyers, and whether it actually gets more homes built and sold.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Notice something though.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody ever even filed an argument against it in the voter guide.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Timing.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the state certifies the election December 11th.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: The measure takes effect shortly after that.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And Calhaffa, C-A-L-H-F-A, has one year to launch that program.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So realistically, this is a 2027 story.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're renting today, the next few months are your runway, credit savings up for that to 3%, and a pre-approval conversation need to happen.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, proposition one, it also passed it, called the called by the AP Associated Press$11.25 billion in state bonds.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now,$1.25 billion is going to go to veterans' home loans through Calvet, and$10 billion goes to affordable housing.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's uh talk about the veterans first.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, picture a veteran, call him Sergeant Ramirez.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Four years in the Army, honorable discharge back home in Sagas.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's renting, ready to buy.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: A Calvet home loan works differently than the loan you've seen.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Calvet actually buys the home and holds the title.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: The veteran buys it from Calvet over time.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when the loan is paid off, the title passes to the veteran.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Prop 1 refills the pot.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: The state sells bonds.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: The money goes into the Veterans Farm Home Building Fund.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Calvet makes loans out of that fund, and the veterans' payments repay the bonds.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: The legislative analyst says veterans' payments have always covered these bonds and estimates that 2,100 more veterans get a home through this money.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the men and women who serve this country earn a front door, and now there's more money to help them get one.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sergeant Ramirez called Calvet directly for the current rate and limits.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the$10 billion.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is where the homelessness comes in.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Here's where the money's pointed.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: $5.1 billion to build new affordable rental homes.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: $1.15 billion for supportive housing, which is housing paired with services for people who are homeless or about to be, including$150 million for young people,$750 million to preserve affordable homes that already exist.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: $600 million to Calhome, which helps build homes people can own.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: $500 million to Cal Hafa, that's the one we've been talking about, C-A-L-H-F-A for down payment help and assistance, and$450 million for farm worker housing,$500 million for the roads, water and sewer lines to let infill housing get built, plus money for tribal housing and student housing.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: How much of that does reach the ground?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: A city nonprofit or developer applies and gets a low interest loan for part of the project.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And in exchange, those homes stay affordable for 55 years.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: The legislative analysis estimates up to 40,000 rental homes and up to 40,000 households helped towed ownership.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And every agency running this money has to publish an annual report on what it paid for.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Was it going to work?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, road number one, tens of thousands of family off waiting lists and into stable homes and people on the street into supportive housing where they get help, not just a bed.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Road number two, building costs eat money.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Los Angeles learned the hard way when the cost of some city-funded units approached$600,000 each.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this one does cost taxpayers.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: The legislative analysis pushed repayment at$500 million to$600 million a year for about 25 years.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly why we watch it.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where our new governor's own words come in.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: On his campaign site, Becerra says, on my first day of governor, I will issue an executive order declaring California's housing shortage a state of emergency.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: He promises to publish per unit cost dashboards, per unit cost dashboards for every funded program.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And this one, I'm writing on the wall, no blank checks, every dollar tied to results.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Good for you.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Proposition two passed as well with about 60%.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: It raises the cap on the state's rainy day fund from 10% to 20% of general fund revenue.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Fill the savings account in the good years so the lean years don't hit so hard.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Every smart family on my street runs it that way.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now closer to home, Congress Congressman George Whitesides has about 63% in the 27th district and is headed back to Washington for Santa Clarita.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you to your own councilman Jason Gibbs for running a real race in the 40th Assembly district.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Assemblymember Pilar Seaville as leading about 60%.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're upset how it turned out, give it a moment and pull back.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: All of us on all sides, we hold the people we elect accountable for what they said, not what we fear, what they said.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you take them at their word, exactly what they told us they're going to do, I'm incredibly excited about where California goes in the next few years.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So let's focus on these things.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is what happened, and we take it from there.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of standing outside and being upset and kicking your dog, let's be the ones spreading the good stuff and let's not forget a single promise they made us.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Too often we get led by distraction instead of focus.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And not this time.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Californians didn't vote for a miracle, they voted for a key.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: A key for Maria and David, a key for Sergeant Ramirez, and a dashboard that shows us whether every dollar earned its keep.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you own a Santa Clarita home and you're wondering what it means for your value and your timing or your renting and want to know if you qualify when Prop 37 launches, text the word house to 661 400 1720.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor McIver.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Be well, Santa Clarita, and we'll see you in the next one.