With 30+ years’ experience in real estate brokerage and residential mortgage lending, Rob Chrane saw a need for real estate professionals, builders and lenders to easily identify down-payment assistance and incentive programs. The company’s
Down Payment Resource (SM) is a Web-based service providing connection with government-funded assistance programs and clarifying complex eligibility requirements.
Rob, I understand today’s a big day for your organization.
Yes, we have a big launch with
MRED, Midwest Real Estate Data, a 38,000-member MLS in Northern Illinois. Previous to that, our largest launch had been with
My Florida Regional MLS, covering Central Florida. We also are strategic partners with the
Tucson Association of REALTORS® MLS and about to launch with Asheville, N.C. Of course, it was our partnership beginning in February 2010 with
NorthstarMLS in Minneapolis/St. Paul that helped shape our product. Everything is going well. [Other groups partnering with DPR: Empire Access MLS, New York; Northern New England RE Network, N.H./Vermont; Northern Nevada Regional MLS, Reno/Northern Nevada]
What is the fundamental difference between your service and those such as the Nehemiah Program we saw in the 2000s?
There is a significant difference. In October 2008, Congress banned such programs where nonprofits channeled money from sellers. Those sales had seller-funded downpayments, with much higher rates of default.
The programs we track have been in business a long time. They are programs of state housing finance agencies and other government agencies and are HUD-approved. They are in no way seller-funded.
How does Down Payment Resource (DPR) actually work with real estate professionals to help families find assistance? Do you have figures on how many homes have sold via DPR?
The system works in the background to help Realtors and their customers. Prospective homebuyers access DPR through an online form, learning which properties may be eligible for assistance. They then can self-screen for their eligibility and request to be contacted by the Realtor.
We know that over a year during which the system was in place in the NorthstarMLS, 50,000 consumers clicked on a listing icon to learn about down-payment assistance through DPR. Of those, 14,000 answered the eligibility questionnaire (28 percent) and 2,700 actually submitted contact information to the Realtor.
At this point, we only know as a result of a Realtor telling us that a sale came about through the DPR link because the Realtor gets the lead. We are looking for ways to better track actual results and we already have a number of quotes from consumers and Realtors who tell us it’s an overwhelming success.
How did the DPR service come about?
I had been a real estate agent and broker and then spent 20 years as a lender. I was a member of the Atlanta Urban Land Institute when it received a grant to create a workforce housing center. I was placed on the steering committee to implement the center because of my experience in real estate sales and financing.
I realized that to promote affordable housing for workers,we first needed to create a central repository for fragmented information on everything from developer tax incentives to housing programs that Realtors could offer consumers.
You see, it’s a struggle for both agents and lenders to keep up with all of those government-funded housing incentive programs. There are state programs, federal programs – yes, in less-populated areas there are USDA programs, and local, city and county programs. The NorthstarMLS in Minneapolis/St. Paul tracks 300 programs alone. And where we now have launched with MRED in Northern Illinois and parts of five states, there are 500 or 600 programs, some even covering just one neighborhood!
This is not something that every Realtor handles every day, so it’s a specialty market –an underserved market. We realized the Web was the best way to efficiently and effectively put this information in front of consumers, the people who are in the market for a home.
So DPRhas been a success and is rolling out across the country.
We did a survey with the NorthstarMLS at the end of the first 12 months where 500 of their Realtors gave us quotes and anecdotes about the service. We are incorporating those on our Website, in addition to some case studies. We were proud that the NorthstarMLS Board of Governors voted unanimously to continue using DPR at the conclusion of their initial Proof of Concept Trial.
So yes, it is taking hold across the country on an MLS-by-MLS basis.
