Habitat: From sweat equity to housing equity
Saturday, September 20
By Nancy H. McLaughlin
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro just turned over a ceremonial check for more than $300,000 to the Greensboro City Council, representing this year’s property taxes for 260 homes purchased with the nonprofit’s help.

Habitat was founded on the belief that “all God’s children” should have a place to live.

The money, recently paid to the tax office by the nonprofit from escrow accounts on the homes, did not include about 50 Habitat houses whose mortgages with the nonprofit builder have been paid off. Those are paid by the individual homeowners.

“When a lot of the economic news we’re hearing … is causing anxiety, there are some things that we are doing that continue to work in our community,” said Winston McGregor, president and executive director of the nonprofit builder.

“This check also provides a tremendous, tangible example of how the city’s funding for this work is an investment that is returned to our community in many ways.”

Habitat by other numbers:

$50,000: Average cost to build in materials and labor. Doesn’t include land, which can range from $10,000 to $25,000 . Homeowners pay off only the first mortgage loan of about $70,000. Habitat and the city of Greensboro hold second and third mortgages on each home (the difference between the first mortgage and appraised sales price ), which are forgiven over the life of the loan.

This protects homeowners from predatory lenders and eliminates any incentive to sell the home for a cash windfall.

$18,000 to $30,000: Typical family income range for Greensboro Habitat homeowners.

The majority of homeowners build up home equity, which can be borrowed against for sending their children to college or taking out a small-business loan.

“That’s wealth building for the working class,” McGregor said.

10: Number of applicants out of which one might qualify. It’s not about a credit score but how much debt the family might be juggling. Current Habitat homeowners work a variety of jobs, including as medical technicians, call-center representatives and in retail and restaurants.

$450: Typical mortgage, including property taxes, insurance and principal.

320: The nonprofit is now constructing house No. 320. And that includes two recently finished homes and three under construction on Byers Road, near Lee’s Chapel Road; just-finished homes on Meadow Street and Mayfair Street in the Rosewood neighborhood off Summit Avenue; and in the Glenwood neighborhood.

Once focused on subdivisions, Habitat houses are now scattered throughout the city.

300: Hours of sweat equity required in working on the buyer’s home, on other homes and in training, such as credit counseling.

260: “There’s kind of a simple visual and concept that people have about Habitat — that’s volunteers and hard-working families who work together to build up people’s lives,” McGregor said.

But the check is representative of more, she says.

“Habitat is a builder; we’re a banker — we’re collecting 260 mortgages payments every month; we’re in essence a Realtor, finding buyers and training those buyers; and then we’re a retail operation, running the Habitat Restore store on High Point Road,” McGregor said.


http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/09/19/article/habitat_from_sweat_equity_to_housing_equity