Tennessee Housing Development Agency Recognizes United Housing for High Rankings

United Housing, Inc. received recognition for high state rankings during the 2014 Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) Homebuyer Education Initiative Peer Session. Specifically, the organization was ranked as a top five agency in three categories for its Homebuyer Education impact.

“The proven success and positive economic impact of homebuyer education, combined with this recent recognition from THDA and NeighborWorks, is extremely encouraging,” said Tim Bolding, Executive Director at United Housing. “Our team continuously works to ensure United Housing’s program is successful for our clients.”

Hosted by THDA and NeighborWorks America in Nashville, Tenn., the Homebuyer Education Initiative (HBEI) Peer Session gathers housing industry leaders from across Tennessee together for two days of training. During the event, THDA and NeighborWorks America recognized Tennessee Community Development Corporations (CDC), including United Housing, in various categories for their homebuyer education accomplishments during fiscal year 2014.

Each category included 32-38 CDCs, and United Housing received the following recognition under THDA’s Homebuyer Education Initiative:

·       Fourth in the state: Total Urban Loan Production

o   72 customers served and $5.96 million total loans funded

·       Fourth in the state: Total Loan Production

o   112 customers served and $10.75 million total loans funded

·       Fifth in the state: Total Rural Loan Production

o   40 customers served and $4.8 million total loans funded

About Tennessee Housing Development Agency

As Tennessee’s housing finance agency, the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) is a self sufficient, independently funded, publicly accountable entity of the State of Tennessee. THDA’s mission is to ensure that every Tennessean has access to safe, sound, affordable housing opportunities. More information about THDA programs can be found online at www.thda.org.

About NeighborWorks® America

For 35 years, NeighborWorks America has created opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $19.5 billion in reinvestment in these communities. For more information, visit www.nw.org.

Invest in United Housing’s Homebuyer Education

Did you know individuals enrolled in Homebuyer Education are 30% less likely to foreclose on their home?

The heart of United Housing’s mission is teaching families to become financially stable homeowners and good neighbors. Our Homebuyer Education program helps us accomplish this goal by providing customers with the skills to get approved for a mortgage, work with a realtor, work on their credit score, budget for a new home and more.

With this mentioned, we’d like to introduce our latest sponsorship opportunity, the Invest in Homebuyer Education program. We’ve set a goal to raise $24,000 for our Homebuyer Education program during our fiscal year 2015, and invite you to help us reach that goal at one of two levels:

• Individual level - $500 to sponsor a week
• Corporate/Lender level - $2,000 to sponsor a month

Your investment is a key piece in helping us provide local families with the necessary homeownership skills. Sponsorship recognition is available online, in our newsletters and at our office.

If you have any questions or would like to sponsor our Homebuyer Education program, please contact Amy Schaftlein at (901) 728-6937 or aschaftlein@uhinc.org.

To preview the Homebuyer Education schedule, please visit the link.

United Housing's Sharon Walker Explains the Impact of Homebuyer Education

Did you know people who complete the Homebuyer Education program are 30% less likely to foreclose on their homes? Long term homeownership creates healthy neighborhoods. Watch this video to learn more about the impact of Homebuyer Education from Sharon Walker, Director of Homebuyer Education at United Housing.

Visit www.uhinc.org to get our schedule of free Homebuyer Education classes, or contact Amy Schaftlein at aschaftlein@uhinc.org to find out how you can support this much-needed program.

Summer Energy-Saving Tips

As the temperatures continue to rise in Memphis, air conditioners become just about every homeowner’s favorite appliance. Misusing these appliances can result in increased utility costs, many of which can easily be avoided.

When the weather is warm, you work hard to keep your home cool. Below are a few tips to ensure maximum savings while doing so:

• Using a ceiling fan allows you to raise your thermostat by 4°F without a noticeable change. Using fans will give the sensation it is 5 degrees cooler than it is.

• A ceiling fan creates a wind chill effect for people, not the room itself. So remember to turn off the fan when no one is there.

• After showers and baths, turn on your bathroom fan to remove excess heat and humidity. 

• Do not place lamps or televisions near the thermostat. The heat given off causes the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

• To block heat, keep blinds shut or curtains and drapes pulled closed on the side of the house that receives the most sun.

• Clean or replace air filters once a month. This is important to ensure there is no dust build-up. This restricts airflow and places stress on the system, which leads to unit deterioration and increased operation costs.

• Try to keep your average thermostat temperature set at 78°F. Each degree below that adds 6% to your cooling costs. Keep in mind that the slighter the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature, the less energy your system has to expend.

• Setting the thermostat lower than normal when turning on the air conditioner will not cool your home faster than normal, but it will result in excessive cooling and unnecessary expense.

• Using a microwave or stove as opposed to an oven can help keep your house cooler.

• Try not to turn the AC down so low at night. Instead, sleep with light bedding and a fan or two, if needed.

• Keep the outside portion of your air conditioner clear of mud, grass and debris, as that blocks the air. It’s imperative that the condensing unit is allowed to breathe.

• Place shrubs or bushes around your air conditioning unit to provide shade and reduce your electricity usage by 10%. Just make sure the shrub or bush does not block airflow.

• Seal cracks and openings to reduce warm air entry into your home. For other ways to improve the efficiency of your windows, visit energy.gov.

• For more energy-saving tips, visit Memphis Light, Gas and Water’s Summer Tips page.

Looking for an energy-efficient, cost saving home in Memphis? Check out our Wolf River Bluffs Development: http://www.uhinc.org/14-featured-articles/47-a-testimony-to-homeownership.

United Housing Partners With Grace-St. Luke’s Church To Develop First GraceBuilders House

United Housing, Inc. has partnered with Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to create the first Grace-St. Luke’s GraceBuilders House. The church’s GraceBuilders volunteers will work with United Housing Construction Manager Mike Brunk to completely rehab a foreclosed house in Northwood Hills for a family in United Housing’s Homebuyer Education program. 

Grace-St. Luke’s Church donated $25,000 to the home renovation project, which United Housing matched with Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) funds obtained through the Federal HOME funds granted to Shelby County.

“We are honored to partner with Grace-St. Luke’s and CHDO, who have generously embraced this great project,” said Tim Bolding, Executive Director of United Housing. “We look forward to working with the GraceBuilders and other community partners to increase homeownership across West Tennessee.”

Over the course of five weekends beginning July 11, volunteers will perform tasks related to demolition, painting, blind installation, deck and fence construction and home landscaping. Volunteer sessions will take place on Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., as noted below. Anyone can sign up to volunteer for one or more days of work by emailing gracebuilders@gracestlukes.org.

·                July 11 and 12: Demolition

·                July 25 and 26: Landscaping

·                August 8 and 9: Construction

·                August 22 and 23: Painting

·                September 12 and 13: Clean-up

Following the renovation, United Housing will sell the house to one of its clients who have completed the organization’s Homebuyer Education program and are in need of assistance. Furthermore, Grace-St. Luke’s Church will purchase and donate appliances to the new homeowner during a special ceremony.

United Housing’s Homebuyer Education program encourages self-empowerment and self-sufficiency, as well as provides the tools for families to become financially stable. Clients who take part in the program must complete the course and one-on-one counseling before earning their Homeownership Diploma. This designation provides participants access to lower mortgage interest rates and down-payment assistance. 

For more on this project, read this feature article in The Commercial Appeal: http://bit.ly/1rbetbY

Client Success Story: Lamar Perry

When Mid-South Food Bank Receiving Warehouse Manager Lamar Perry and his wife, Lakeva, purchased a home through United Housing, Inc., the transaction was an example of how members of Memphis nonprofits serve each other. The Mid-South Food Bank aids Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, with a network that reaches 4,200 people through churches, shelters and food pantries.

Last winter, the Perrys enrolled in the HUD-certified Homebuyer Education class, in order to satisfy the requirements for their FHA home loan, which they received through Evolve Bank and Trust. There, they learned about United Housing’s program, the Memphis Shelby County Helping Homebuyers Program (MSCHHP), which the couple could use to add a down payment assistance loan to their FHA mortgage. The loan, in the amount of $14,700, would be forgiven after five years of residence in the home.  Studies have shown that down payment assistance loans are one of the most effective loans in helping homebuyers bridge the cusp between renting and homeownership. Borrowing these funds ensured the Perrys could concentrate all of their purchasing power into the home price of their house of choice.

Becoming homeowners has created opportunities for the Perrys to improve their children’s lives, such as choosing their neighborhood based on the quality of education provided by area schools and its safety status. The Perrys did plenty of research before choosing their home, utilizing internet queries on the best Memphis-area schools, and finally decided on Bartlett, Tenn. Not only schools, but neighborhood safety, was an important factor for the Perrys, as the family’s three children are between the ages of 2 and 8. “We did it for our kids, because we want them to grow up in a safe neighborhood and environment,” Lamar says.

The family is also happy to be in a neighborhood that values neighbors so highly. During the purchasing process, the sellers had mentioned there were two retired neighbors on their street. After their neighbors welcomed them to the neighborhood, the Perry's continue to receive friendly offers from their neighbors to borrow their tools and to keep an eye on their house.

By using MSCHHP, the couple was able to choose a house in a safe neighborhood with good neighbors and excellent schools. This little bit of extra purchasing power went a long way in serving a homebuyer who is already giving back to the community through his work with Mid-South Food Bank. “I recommend everybody who’s going to get a house to use United Housing,” said Perry.

Scenic Hills 2013 Community Survey Report

During the summer of 2013, United Housing worked with residents in the Scenic Hills neighborhood of Raleigh in Memphis, Tenn., to administer surveys about their experiences in the neighborhood. NeighborWorks America, a national entity that funds nonprofit organizations, asked us to measure its impact on a neighborhood where we have provided assistance to its residents.

We chose the Scenic Hills area because we have partnered with its residents for several years, and have used Federal Stimulus dollars to purchase and renovate 12 homes in the neighborhood – all for homeownership.

Review our survey findings in the infographic below.