2004 Affordable Housing Committee Report

REALTORS® and Affordable Housing - A Partnership that Works! Af • ford • a • ble adj: That can be afforded: affordable housing; an affordable risk Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Copyrightã 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.  Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. adj: That you have the financial means for; “low-cost housing” [syn: low-cost, low-priced] Source: WordNet® 1.6, ã 1997 Princeton University that can be affordable: affordable housing: an affordable risk.

Mandy Harless, Co-Chair     Fred Kierner, Co-Chair

As you can see by the above definitions, affordable and housing go together in the dictionary.

With more than a 1/3 of our listings in the Columbus and Central Ohio Multiple Listing Service (MLS) priced $110,000 and below, REALTORS® and Affordable Housing also go together.

The Affordable Housing Committee is committed to providing the conduit for the public and for REALTORS® to come together to provide a very needed service to an underserved segment of our population.

The Affordable Housing Committee is comprised of six subcommittees; each with a very specific charge.

The Education Subcommittee is responsible for developing and presenting education courses that relate to Affordable Housing issues.

The Roundtable Subcommittee seeks out Affordable Housing topics and qualified professionals on those topics to present one-hour programs, which are open to all  CBR members.

Corporate Ventures is the outreach subcommittee that seeks opportunities throughout the community to partner with organizations to promote affordable homeownership.

The Manual Subcommittee is charged with updating the Affordable Housing Manual that provides in-depth information about financing, grants and other important resources to assist first time buyers in purchasing a home. This manual is available on-line www.ColumbusRealtors.com or can be purchased for $10 in the CBR store.

The Promotions and Review Subcommittee is responsible for promoting the committee’s programs to the entire CBR membership. It is also charged with promoting the Certified Affordable Housing REALTOR® (CAHR) certification and reviewing applications submitted by qualified REALTORS®.

The HUD Homeownership Month Subcommittee, in partnership with HUD, Habitat for Humanity and the City of Columbus, is charged with planning activities to commemorate National Homeownership Month in June.

With more than 130 members on this committee, we have gotten off to an exciting start.

This year, the committee has been involved in the introduction of the Fannie Mae/COTA Smart Commute Plus program, of which CBR is a partner. (Program details can be found in the April In Contract or online www.ColumbusRealtors.com.)

We participated in the Columbus Urban League’s Minority Homeownership Expo, which provided prospective new buyers with an opportunity to talk one-on-one with real estate professionals about homeownership possibilities.

On June 4, we will join HUD, the City of Columbus, Habitat for Humanity and Homes On the Hill for the Lechner Avenue kick-off of National Homeownership Month. Several activities are planned including a wallraising of a home on Lechner during the kickoff and a neighborhood clean-up on June 5 and neighborhood reception on June 12. We will also have booths at the Latino Festival, June 18 and 19, and at the Hilltop Bean Dinner, June 26.

Our Roundtables have featured in-depth information on HUD Homes with Victor Casasanta, Bank Owned Properties with Jill Beckett-Hill and on the Smart Commute Plus program with Cindy Flaherty and Edward Garger.  Chris Davis will present ‘How to use auctioneers in the sale of a home’ at the upcoming May 12 roundtable. Please note that the roundtables are NOW held from 11am to noon at CBR. There is no charge to attend and reservations are not required. Just join us for some useful information that just might allow you to provide a little extra for that special client.

We are in the process of updating the Affordable Housing Manual, which has become an invaluable resource for CBR members looking for that specific financing program that best fits their buyer’s needs. The manual is available online www.ColumbusRealtors.com or can be purchased in the CBR store for $10.

We continue to promote the Certified Affordable Housing REALTOR (CAHR) Certification to increase the number of certified REALTORS® in the board.  This certification is offered by CBR to REALTOR® members who have achieved success for their work in Affordable Housing sales, community activities, education (related to Affordable Housing), and volunteering. This prestigious certification is held by only a few REALTORS®, but is open to all REALTORS®. In April, we awarded our first certification of the year. The committee is looking at designing a logo to be used to identify REALTORS® who have earned this certification as someone who has experience in working the affordable housing market.

Our Affordable Housing Curriculum includes the Train the Trainer, Affordable Housing Financing 1&2, Bidding on HUD Homes and Downpayment Assistance Programs.

We look forward to numerous exciting events throughout 2004, and will bring this news to all CBR members with the hope of getting more you involved in this worthy and important work!