In today’s real estate market, affordable, sustainable housing is becoming less attainable for many people. To help combat this problem, some nonprofit and community-minded, mission-based organizations are investing in properties to rent or sell to those who might not be able to afford them otherwise. These organizations buy and rehab foreclosed properties that are vacant and may need repair, thereby mitigating the destabilizing effects on neighborhoods. But the process of locating these properties, competing against investors, and then submitting an offer and closing can be tedious and time consuming. Fannie Mae has consolidated this process in the Community First by Fannie Mae program. The program’s approved buyers have early access to view available properties, receive exclusive purchase prices, submit offers, and close before the properties are listed on Multiple Listing Services. Since the program launched in 2020, nearly 300 properties have been purchased by organizations focused on neighborhood stabilization.
A nonprofit in Hyattsville, Maryland, credits the Community First for providing them the opportunity to buy and rehab a townhouse they ultimately sold to a moderate-income first-time buyer thanks to the pricing concessions they received through the program. Although the townhouse was less than five years old, many improvements needed to be made. The non-profit was able to complete the rehab in about six months, mitigating many of the vulnerabilities of vacant housing.
Through Community First, a locally based community-minded organization in New Jersey bought and rehabbed a home for a renter whose household size increased when she began caring for her elderly parents. The organization gutted the house and renovated the exterior as well as the interior. The renter was able to afford a larger, newly renovated house; the neighbors were happy to have it occupied; and the organization contributed to the stabilization of the community supporting improved property values. The project was a win-win for all involved.
When nonprofit and mission-based organizations register for and are approved to buy properties through Community First, they are helping to build better, healthier communities by putting more people in stable, affordable, and sustainable housing. With market competition and the cost of real estate continuing to rise, the services these organizations provide are more important than ever to the health and well-being of neighborhoods and communities across the country.
