Post-purchase Support for
Homeowners and Long-term
Maintenance of CLT Homes
Presenters:
Etta Habegger, Thistle Community Housing
Emily Higgins, Burlington CLT
John Barros and Jason Webb, Dudley Neighbors, Inc.
Community Land Trust Conference – Session 4
August 17, 2005
Objectives of this session
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Provide an overview of:
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Post-purchase support of homeowners
Long-term maintenance of homes
Convey practices and solutions that may
work for your CLT and homeowners
Discuss balancing CLTs’ stewardship with
owners’ rights and responsibilities
Spark ideas that merit in-depth review within
your organization, with buyers and owners,
and with partners (e.g. other community
groups/programs, funders, other CLTs)
Guiding your work
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Be clear about how your organization
sets, reviews and revises policies
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Burlington CLT has a Resident Services
Committee, made up of homeowners,
including several who are Board members
Thistle Community Housing has a CLT
Committee, made up of CLT owners and
Board members
Both of these committees are overseen by the
Board of Directors
Possible areas of support and/or
homeowner-CLT interface
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Maintaining the relationship - proactive,
ongoing communication
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Financial – refinancing, delinquency,
foreclosure, lease/membership fees
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Property Taxes, Homeowners Association
assessments – based on limited value
Possible areas of support and/or
homeowner-CLT interface (cont.)
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Condition of the home & land – warranty
administration, maintenance & repairs
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Improvements to the home – whether or
not your CLT grants qualified capital
improvement credits
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Occupancy – home is occupied in
alignment with agreements
Post-purchase Support for CLT
Owners - communication
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Proactive, ongoing communication is
key with:
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Individual CLT owners
CLT communities and homeowners
associations – e.g. condominium and
townhome complexes, cluster of CLT houses,
mobile home park
Funders, other partners
Communicating with individual
homeowners
Annual meetings
 Social Events – e.g. potlucks
 Newsletters
 Workshops – e.g. taxes, maintenance,
repairs, etc.
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Communicating with CLT
communities
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Homeowner associations (HOAs)
Board of Directors role
 Interface with HOA – staff time
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Support neighborhood events – e.g.
cleanups, block parties
Post-purchase support - financial
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Refinancing – decide if allowed, how much
maximum debt can be, process
Delinquency – develop relationships with owners
and lenders to learn about it as soon as
possible; determine capacity to deal with
situations, support for owner (internal or through
partner agency)
Foreclosure – same as delinquency steps, also funds available to cure (protect asset)
Post-purchase support - assessments
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Taxes – some CLTs have separate tax bills
and property valuation at limited amount –
e.g. Portland and Boulder
HOA assessments – some association
governing docs limit increases in dues and
special assessments for CLT owners
Post-purchase support – condition of
home & land
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Warranty administration – deal with this typically on
new construction, as the developer or as advocate if
“turnkey deal”
Maintenance – ongoing work by owner necessary;
CLT’s work may include interface with HOAs as well
as owners. Maintenance calendar, workshops,
newsletter articles are helpful for owners.
Repairs/Rehab – CLT (or other agencies) can
provide referrals to contractors, tool libraries,
resources for rehab $ (from CLT or other entity)
Post-purchase support – capital
improvements
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Decide how your CLT deals with all improvements
– when is CLT’s permission needed, e.g. type of
project, cost? What are the owners’
responsibilities?
Decide if your CLT will allow credit for capital
improvements
If so, determine:
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which type of projects get credit
the valuation method(s)
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Possible valuation methods include: project value called
out in appraisal, actual cost of project or contractor’s bid (all
or %)
Post-purchase support – occupancy
Owner-occupied
 Subleasing
 Non-qualified occupants
 Adding or removing owner(s) from the
agreements with the CLT (when at
least 1 homeowner remains)
 Transfer of the home
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Long-term maintenance of CLT
homes
Why is this important?
 For
owners: affordability, livability,
return on their investment
 For
CLTs: sustainability of specific
assets and overall portfolio; this includes
integrity of physical structures, reputation
of CLT, funding options, short-term and
long-term affordability
Long-term maintenance of CLT
homes
Challenges
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Owner has limited tenure
Owner may have limited funds available
Owner may want to limit $ put into home
because of limited return
CLT has limited funds for rehab
Home is at end of life cycle
Others?
Long-term maintenance of CLT
homes
Possible Solutions
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Locate rehab $ that owner utilizes – sources
may include reserve fund, revolving loan fund,
forgivable loans or grants
CLT may buy back home and renovate or
redevelop (depending on condition of building
and funding options)
CLT sells asset on market and reinvests funds
from sale into other CLT homes
Others?
Where do we go from here?
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Create more solutions – start/continue
discussions and implement action plans for
working with your owners, increasing funding
and more sustainable building practices
Fill out your evaluations – give us feedback
on this session and let conference planners
know what topics you’d like to focus on in the
future
Thank you for participating!
Contact information for presenters
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John Barros, Dudley Neighbors, Inc., Boston,
MA johnbarros@dsni.org
Etta Habegger, Thistle Community Housing,
Boulder, CO ehabegger@thistlehousing.org
Emily Higgins, Burlington CLT, Burlington, VT
EHiggins@getahome.org
Jason Webb, Dudley Neighbors, Inc., Boston,
MA jwebb@dsni.org