Last summer, I was chosen by Habitat for Humanity to be their exclusive buyer agent for Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program. Coldwell Banker and I donate the majority of any commissions earned on these purchases back to Habitat.

This Habitat program has been funded in part by contributions from the City of Menlo Park.

The City has considered buying properties in Belle Haven and doing the rehab work. Instead the City has made a wise decision IMHO in helping Habitat with their program. The bottom line is Habitat can do a better job doing what they always have done than the City that has no experience in these types of programs.

Last night, the City authorized additional funding for this program.

This will allow Habitat to continue their mission of restoring abandoned dilapidated homes to provide low cost affordable housing to deserving families.

For those unfamiliar with Habitat’s program, let me provide a little information.

Habitat purchases foreclosure homes (REOs), locates a deserving family that will occupy the home provided the family provides a number of hours in “sweat equity” during the rehab of the home.

After purchase, Habitat funds the rehabilitation of the buildings. This funding is combined with volunteer labor (many local contractors provide their services for free) and the labor of the occupant family.

Upon completion of the home, the new family “purchases” the home from Habitat who provides a ZERO interest loan to the new family. This allows the home to be affordable to families who must earn less than 50% to 60% of the median County income.

This is a wonderful program helping deserving families obtain safe quality housing as well as helping the larger neighborhood by removing blighted homes from the neighborhood.

Due to this program, several families will be moving into their new home within the next few months.

Habitat for Humanity just entered into contract to purchase a home in the Belle Haven area of Menlo Park.

With the price of bank foreclosure REOs being so low, Habitat has started a program to buy existing homes, rehab them with volunteer labor and turn them over to new owner occupants.

If you have any lender contacts that handle REOs, please let me know as it might be to everyone’s benefit to have some of these REO purchased by Habitat for sale to owner occupants as opposed to selling to investors. (At the present time, most REOs are purchased by investors.)

As the exclusive buyer agent for Habitat in San Mateo County, give me a call and let’s talk.