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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with Michael Gosman. Right after these brief messages from our

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Speaker 1: general sponsors. So the city agreed to that deal, and

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Speaker 1: you guys went out and let the community know what existed.

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Speaker 1: He started getting people in homes. So now I can't

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Speaker 1: help but think just from the business side of me,

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Speaker 1: all right, great, you can buy the home for one

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars or a dollar, but code's not going to

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Speaker 1: let you move into it to it's right. Sure, so

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Speaker 1: you've got to have money to fix it up, which

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Speaker 1: means you got to borrow money, which many families in

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Speaker 1: these situations can't go to Bank of America and get

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Speaker 1: a loan for this. That you guys came up with

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Speaker 1: a fix for them.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right.

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Speaker 3: So we never had any aspirations of being in the

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Speaker 3: mortgage lending business.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this was things kind of roll downhill and get big.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that wasn't.

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Speaker 3: That wasn't on the Bengo card when father Dennis and

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Speaker 3: John Worm were founding acts and we still partner very

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Speaker 3: significantly with banks and credit unions to get provide most

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Speaker 3: of the mortgage financing for our families. But what we

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Speaker 3: saw in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis was that

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Speaker 3: banks were we're trenching. They weren't lending as freely for

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Speaker 3: some good reasons and maybe some not so great reasons,

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Speaker 3: And in particular, they weren't lending to families who were

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Speaker 3: purchasing distressed homes. It's one thing for a bank to

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Speaker 3: lend on a move and ready home, but a distressed home,

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Speaker 3: a home that's not livable, the bank looks at that

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Speaker 3: as a much bigger risk.

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Speaker 1: Right well, and in fairness to the bank, it is

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Speaker 1: it is. Yeah, I mean, how are you going to

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Speaker 1: land fifty thousand dollars on a place that today is

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Speaker 1: worth literally a dollar.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right, And.

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Speaker 1: You can't really blame the bank. It doesn't mean they're predatory,

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Speaker 1: but they answer to a board of directors, they answer

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Speaker 1: to shareholders, they answer to whoever's holding the bag. No

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Speaker 1: loan officer can justify that, So I kind of get

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Speaker 1: why that's a barrier.

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Speaker 2: I think that's right.

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Speaker 3: I think they and so we quickly realized and we

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Speaker 3: had good relationships a lot of local banks. We pushed

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Speaker 3: them to do as much as we could get them

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Speaker 3: to do, and we realized they're not going to do this.

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Speaker 3: There's no way that they're going to land on these

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Speaker 3: homes at the scale we need, and so we piloted.

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Speaker 2: Our own loan product.

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Speaker 1: Hilarious would get it. You know.

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Speaker 3: The idea was sort of a return to common sense underwriting.

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Speaker 3: Let's look at their rental history. Let's make that the

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Speaker 3: most important thing. Are they paying their rent on time

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Speaker 3: every single month? What's their rent okay, what's their new

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Speaker 3: mortgage going to be? That's a great indicator of whether

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Speaker 3: they're going to pay their mortgage right. Are they paying

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Speaker 3: their rent on time?

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Speaker 1: And I read you guys are actually trying to get

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Speaker 1: them into a mortgage that is actually a little less

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Speaker 1: than what they pay for rent, So they're getting ownership

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Speaker 1: and paying less.

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Speaker 2: That's the case scenario.

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Speaker 3: And especially in this period where I'm talking about, where

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Speaker 3: we were offering the ax lending product, we had families

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Speaker 3: who were spending eight hundred one twelve hundred dollars a

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Speaker 3: month in rent who wound up having a new mortgage

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Speaker 3: payment including taxes and insurance that was more like five

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Speaker 3: or six hundred dollars a month, So just many hundreds

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Speaker 3: of dollars of savings for the lowest income families, working

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Speaker 3: families in our in our community. But getting those deals

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Speaker 3: done we're not easy, you know, setting up your own

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Speaker 3: mortgage lending effort. Turns out there's a fair amount of

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Speaker 3: compliance requirements that you got to really pay a lot

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Speaker 3: of attention to. So we had to be very strategic

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Speaker 3: in terms of who our volunteers were, because we didn't

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Speaker 3: have the money to hire a bunch of folks who

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Speaker 3: were going to spend there all their time on regulations.

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Speaker 3: But we had some great lawyers and compliance folks who

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Speaker 3: volunteered for us because they believed in this and thought

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Speaker 3: it could be successful, and.

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Speaker 2: We just started doing We started doing loans.

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Speaker 3: I will tell you when I joined, So I didn't

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Speaker 3: join the organization. I've been on the team now for

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Speaker 3: thirteen years. I was a volunteer for a couple of

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Speaker 3: years before that. When I joined the organization, we just

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Speaker 3: started this lending work, and we'd gotten pretty good at

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Speaker 3: lending the money. So we were doing maybe you know,

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Speaker 3: ten fifteen of these loans a year, lending families purchase

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Speaker 3: and fix up these homes.

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Speaker 2: But we weren't really great at getting paid back.

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Speaker 3: And when I was a volunteer, I was like, oh,

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Speaker 3: that's that's a little bit troubling, Like it would it

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Speaker 3: would be good if we were getting getting monthly payments people.

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Speaker 2: People weren't paying their notes.

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Speaker 3: And so you know, there's a question of okay, well

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Speaker 3: this only works if people are actually paying us back.

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Speaker 3: So let's figure out what's going on. And the organization.

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Speaker 3: You have to understand we were tiny. You know, I

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Speaker 3: was a volunteer for the organization, but there were only

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Speaker 3: six full time staff members, and so as a volunteer,

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Speaker 3: they let me dig in a little bit to the

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Speaker 3: lending work because again, there wasn't someone to do everything.

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Speaker 3: So all right, you got this guy who's volunteering to

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Speaker 3: help out. Let's give him as much as they'll take.

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Speaker 1: And when I.

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Speaker 3: Dug in, I realized that we weren't invoicing families. You know,

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Speaker 3: they weren't getting any sort of monthly reminder that do.

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Speaker 1: So that people get why this might be what would

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Speaker 1: what before this world? You would what was your discipline,

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Speaker 1: your occupation?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was practicing law.

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Speaker 3: I was working at a sort of large Milwaukee Milwaukee

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Speaker 3: law firm and was completely unsatisfied with the practice of law.

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Speaker 2: Where'd you go to law school University of Chicago?

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Speaker 1: You're smart? How'd you pay to go to that place?

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Speaker 1: It's expensive?

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Speaker 2: Oh well, that's that's a whole nother story.

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Speaker 3: I actually so I started law school, and I started law.

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Speaker 2: School in two thousand and four.

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Speaker 3: And I don't know if you're I don't know if

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Speaker 3: you're a poker player at all.

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Speaker 1: Actually, I love like, that's why you wanted me to ask.

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Speaker 1: I'll be in a place out west, in the very

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Speaker 1: southern tip of Nevada, playing poker, fearing about ten nice.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, so I grew up in a card playing face.

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Speaker 3: I learned cards from my grandfather, a lottage and rummy,

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Speaker 3: a lot of jen rummy, a lot of fun and

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Speaker 3: then and then a fair amount of poker. And when

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Speaker 3: Texas Hold Them started to get a little popular in

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Speaker 3: the early two thousands, I started reading Texas Hold'em books

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Speaker 3: because I just I'd always liked poker and I was

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Speaker 3: sort of curious about it and the game. You know,

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Speaker 3: for anyone who plays pot, it just exploded in popularity.

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Speaker 3: It just became it went from being something that most

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Speaker 3: people had never heard of to being something that was

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Speaker 3: televised on.

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Speaker 1: TV and Chris Moneymaker, Chris.

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Speaker 2: The money Maker effect exactly.

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Speaker 3: And and so I'd read, you know, sort of the

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Speaker 3: poker books, the best books of the time.

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Speaker 2: I sort of understood them.

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Speaker 3: And what I found very quickly was and I was

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Speaker 3: playing at fairly low stakes at first, but just having

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Speaker 3: done that little bit of work and also then being

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Speaker 3: able to take what I learned and apply it, it

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Speaker 3: meant in two thousand and four, two thousand and five,

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Speaker 3: two thousand and six, you had a massive edge on

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Speaker 3: a to any game you'd play in. And so I

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Speaker 3: went from playing very low stakes to playing sort of

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Speaker 3: incredibly high stakes a poker, cash games. I wasn't a

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Speaker 3: tournament player, and that wound up being how I how

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Speaker 3: I paid for my law school for my wife's graduate school.

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Speaker 1: You paid for school at the University of Chicago being

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Speaker 1: an attorney playing poker.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it wasn't it was that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I got your wife's graduate school. Yeah it was.

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Speaker 2: It was an interesting period.

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Speaker 3: I never thought that I would I would make a

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Speaker 3: living playing playing cards.

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Speaker 2: I never thought it was going to be a career.

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Speaker 3: But there was a moment where there was that you know,

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Speaker 3: really significant opportunity. And I didn't have the vision at

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Speaker 3: that time to realize the difference that that that that

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Speaker 3: income would make on my life's trajectory. But it's the

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Speaker 3: very rare, I think, like poker success story, because if

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Speaker 3: I had not been able to pay for my graduate school,

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Speaker 3: my wife's graduate school with poker, I think I would

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Speaker 3: have felt compelled to stay working at the law firm,

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Speaker 3: even though I was pretty unsatisfied because I had a

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Speaker 3: lot of debt to pay and you know, we were

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Speaker 3: starting a family, we had kids. But because I had

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Speaker 3: that freedom of not having that debt, when I started

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Speaker 3: volunteering for ACTS, and I just I saw that my

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Speaker 3: work there was making a difference. That this extra you know,

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Speaker 3: the extra effort that they would be able to put

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Speaker 3: forth with another member of the team was significant. I

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Speaker 3: was able to transition into a job that I thought,

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Speaker 3: you know, could be deeply meaningful and not be as

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Speaker 3: concerned with the fact that, you know, the pay wasn't

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Speaker 3: quite quite what I was making at the law firm.

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Speaker 1: Is a credit. Did you you still play?

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Speaker 3: I play very recreationally now, but I still love the game,

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Speaker 3: and yeah, I try and play, you know, ten fifteen

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Speaker 3: times a year.

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Speaker 1: Do you know? For me, it's really not about the stakes.

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Speaker 1: I want to play, right, h I played a lot

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Speaker 1: of chess coming up. Oh okay, so I see the

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Speaker 1: game the same way, and so it doesn't matter if

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Speaker 1: I'm playing one, three or fifty hundred. I want to

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Speaker 1: I just want to play well. I want to play right.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to get had and I want to

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Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to be a fish. So

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Speaker 1: it's it's more about playing the game than it is

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Speaker 1: about stakes for me, is it? Is it the same

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Speaker 1: for you? By any chance? I'm just curious. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So I love and I love playing with people who

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Speaker 3: are trying to win. I think that's really it. If

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Speaker 3: I'm playing with people who all are really trying to win,

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Speaker 3: that's a fun game.

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Speaker 1: That's fun.

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Speaker 3: Is a fun that's a fun game to be a

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Speaker 3: part of, regardless of regardless of.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well I chase like like a squirrel up a tree.

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Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with the story except I

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Speaker 1: think it's that's hilarious. That's the greatest thing in the world.

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Speaker 1: I could talk to you about that for four hours too.

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Speaker 1: All right, So back to where we are. So which

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Speaker 1: you're so you guys start lending money, right, And because

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Speaker 1: you're an attorney and from u Ver Chicago and pretty

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Speaker 1: bright and a volunteer, at this point you found out

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Speaker 1: that maybe one of the reasons people are paying their pills,

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Speaker 1: you guys are sending them a bill. Right.

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Speaker 2: And you know this was.

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Speaker 3: This wasn't a brilliant observation, right, And they knew it, right,

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Speaker 3: they knew they weren't doing it. But the reality was

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Speaker 3: tiny operation, lots of things going on. There wasn't anyone

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Speaker 3: to set out the invoices. So I became the invoice guy. Right,

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Speaker 3: So if I get the invoices out, let's see if

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Speaker 3: that makes a difference. And lo and behold, you know

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Speaker 3: the portfolio went from like being deeply distressed to performing

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Speaker 3: great with the addition of the invoices. Right, we just

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Speaker 3: need to remind people how to pay us. We needed

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Speaker 3: to remind them that we wanted to get repaid. And

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Speaker 3: very quickly the payments started coming in.

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Speaker 1: And so it begs the question because if I'm just

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Speaker 1: listening to story, this is the first thing it is. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so now you're helping people get the houses, did they

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Speaker 1: acts thing? You've got this kind of private public partnership

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Speaker 1: for access to the house. Is it cheap? You've got

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Speaker 1: this this mentorship, and what to do with the house

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Speaker 1: is to fix them up to get code I would

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Speaker 1: imagine the code enforcement department knows what you guys are

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Speaker 1: doing and is somewhat helpful. And now you're lending money.

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Speaker 1: What is the what is the default rate?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so when we started this loan program, there was

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Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of naysayers. You know, a

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Speaker 3: lot of the bankers who saw what we were doing said,

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Speaker 3: you know, this will never work.

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Speaker 2: It's not done that way.

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Speaker 3: You know, you need to focus on credit score, you

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Speaker 3: need to focus you know, look at these loans differently.

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Speaker 3: And what we found was because of the stability that

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Speaker 3: home ownership offers, because of how affordable these homes are,

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Speaker 3: families are, they're going to do everything they can to

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Speaker 3: keep these homes. And so we now have been We've

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Speaker 3: lent more than fifteen million dollars over the last decade

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Speaker 3: to families. That's spread out across two hundred plus loans

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Speaker 3: that we've made, and we've had total write offs in

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Speaker 3: our portfolio of eighty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that's less than time for percent. Yeah, and look

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Speaker 1: at me, do, Matt.

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Speaker 3: That's very good, And it's even better than that because

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Speaker 3: those are the right offs. But typically even on the

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Speaker 3: three loans that we've written off, we wind up getting

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Speaker 3: some of that money back right because you know, right

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Speaker 3: off just means that we decided that the loan isn't

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Speaker 3: isn't doesn't have a highlight gohood of prepaying. But typically

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Speaker 3: we're still able to work with the families to figure

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Speaker 3: out a way either upon transfer or if they need

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Speaker 3: to sell the home.

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Speaker 2: And so it's been a remarkably sustainable program.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: The great thing about there's two things.

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Speaker 1: You mean, the poor people, poor people who don't pay

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Speaker 1: their bills and bad areas. It turns out that actually,

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Speaker 1: if you give them access and a chance, they actually

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Speaker 1: will do what they're supposed to do. Is that what

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Speaker 1: you're saying to me?

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Speaker 3: The strength we see every single day in the community

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Speaker 3: is remarkable.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's probably going to look this up if

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Speaker 1: you don't know the answer, But I'm curious, do you

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Speaker 1: have any idea what the default right is for traditional

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Speaker 1: banking relationships on home loans?

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Speaker 3: Well, so I don't have that answer. That answer is

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Speaker 3: actually a shockingly low number. It's even lower than what

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Speaker 3: what our families have done.

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Speaker 1: I just wonder how compares.

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Speaker 3: But we did an analysis over the last thirty years,

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Speaker 3: looking at all the families who've bought homes through acts

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Speaker 3: and comparing them the foreclosure rate for the four thousand

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Speaker 3: alumni we now have. And these aren't all loans we've originated, right,

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Speaker 3: most of them are loans that banks and credit unions

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Speaker 3: have done.

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Speaker 2: But these borrowers, our borrowers, are.

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Speaker 3: The lowest income sort of you know, on paper, the

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Speaker 3: least prepared for home ownership as compared to the overall market.

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Speaker 3: And we've seen that the foreclosure rate that our families

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Speaker 3: have experienced is about fifty percent lower than what's been

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Speaker 3: experienced overall in the market.

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Speaker 4: So for prime borrowers, look it up because you cued

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Speaker 4: that for me. So for prime borrowers it's one to

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Speaker 4: two percent. For FHA loans it's three to six percent,

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Speaker 4: and for some prime mortgages it's ten percent plus.

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Speaker 1: What is what foreclosure? What's the way? Look is that

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Speaker 1: that's foreclosure saying default rates, default rights.

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Speaker 3: So and what I shared was a little bit I

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Speaker 3: shore I shared write offs, right, So what I would say, well,

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Speaker 3: and that's a different.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is different.

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Speaker 3: What I would say is, and this is maybe important

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Speaker 3: for people to understand our portfolio. Performing well does not

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Speaker 3: mean that we get paid on time every month from

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Speaker 3: every single borrower. In any given month, we might have

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Speaker 3: between three to seven percent of our borrowers who are

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Speaker 3: going to miss a payment because these are the lowest

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Speaker 3: income families who own homes, and if they are in

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Speaker 3: a car accident, if they've got a death in the family,

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Speaker 3: if they lose a job, sometimes there's not enough savings

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Speaker 3: for them to meet all their obligations that month. The

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Speaker 3: beauty of us having the relationship we have with these

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Speaker 3: families is that they let us know when they're having

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Speaker 3: these challenges and we work with them. Right, so, we

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Speaker 3: need to get repaid on this loan, but if we

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Speaker 3: need to reduce the monthly payment on the loan for

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Speaker 3: a few months because we nderstand the challenge they're dealing

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Speaker 3: with to help them get to the other side of that,

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Speaker 3: and then move those payments to the end of the loan,

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Speaker 3: that actually doesn't cost us very much, but it is

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Speaker 3: a huge investment in our vision for what these communities

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Speaker 3: can be and it can be the difference between a

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Speaker 3: family maintaining their home, which are families. Through our program,

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Speaker 3: we haven't needed to foreclose on even one family. Who's

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Speaker 3: who's who we've lent money to. So the sustainability of

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Speaker 3: it's been really significant and it's well worth, you know,

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Speaker 3: for our vision. The last thing we want to do

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Speaker 3: is foreclosed. So so long as it's a hard working

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Speaker 3: family that's trying to make things right, we're going to

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Speaker 3: go on that journey with them right and figure out

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Speaker 3: how to make sure that they can maintain that home.

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Speaker 1: Where do you how do you establish interest rates?

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Speaker 3: So our interest rates are actually set based on sort

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Speaker 3: of the prime rate. We charge a fifty basis point

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Speaker 3: premium over the prime rate a half point a half point,

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Speaker 3: so it's it's, you know, depending on who you ask.

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Speaker 2: These families can't get credits.

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Speaker 3: This is this is you know, you could think of

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Speaker 3: it as reduced rate, but we think it's important that

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Speaker 3: we charge a fifty fifty basis point premium or or

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Speaker 3: a half a percent premium over what the banks offer

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Speaker 3: only because if families can access a banking relationship, if

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Speaker 3: they can get a mortgage from a bank or credit union,

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Speaker 3: that's great. You know, we want them to be full

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Speaker 3: participants in the market, and so we're not trying to

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Speaker 3: be like we don't want to be we're not competing

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Speaker 3: with the banks. But if there's good loans that the

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Speaker 3: banks for a myriad of reasons aren't able or aren't

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Speaker 3: willing to do, we want to be able to do

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Speaker 3: those and we want to be able to do so sustainably.

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Speaker 2: And that's also really important.

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Speaker 3: You know, long term, our lending program is designed to

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Speaker 3: be a self sustaining program. It doesn't require philanthropy in

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Speaker 3: order for us to do this work, and we think

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Speaker 3: that's really important because there's lots of things that require

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Speaker 3: philanthropy and aspects of our program that require philanthropy, and

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Speaker 3: we're going to ask for those funds and we're grateful

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Speaker 3: when partners in the community support us in that way.

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Speaker 3: But it's really important that if we've got an offering

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Speaker 3: that doesn't require doesn't need giving, we.

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Speaker 2: Why would we not make it self sustaining.

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Speaker 3: It's going to be able to do more without needing

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Speaker 3: sort of the community to step up in that way.

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Speaker 1: That's also a selling point when you go up and

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Speaker 1: ask for philanthropy, because if you go to somebody and

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Speaker 1: we want these donations. But let me tell you, the

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Speaker 1: people that you're helping, they're meeting you halfway. Absolutely, So

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Speaker 1: it's not just a giveaway, it's not a handout. That's

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Speaker 1: actually it's a legitimate help AUP because the people that

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Speaker 1: you're your hard earned dollars you're donating to are meeting

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Speaker 1: you halfway because they're in the game with you. That's exactly.

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Speaker 1: That feels like an easier sell when you're out trying

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Speaker 1: to raise money too.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we have you know, we've got our organizations collectively

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Speaker 3: now have around a fifteen million dollar budget on an

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Speaker 3: annual basis, and about three and a half million of

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Speaker 3: that is philanthropy.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: The rest comes from you know, nonfilanthropic sources earned income,

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Speaker 3: and we think it's really important to have as sustainable

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Speaker 3: an organization.

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Speaker 2: As we can.

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Speaker 1: Everything about this makes so much freaking.

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Speaker 4: Bill I got the right off rates. So for prime

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Speaker 4: borrowers it's point oh one percent two point one percent, okay,

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Speaker 4: FHA and VA loans zo point five percent to two percent,

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Speaker 4: and subprime per two thousand and eight it was ten

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Speaker 4: to twenty five percent.

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Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, so we're you're right in there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're right in line with the FH FHA

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Speaker 3: and VA loans.

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Speaker 1: Yeah okay, But the point is you're right in line

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Speaker 1: with FHA on default, but you're making loans that the

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Speaker 1: FHA would never make correct freaking unbelievable. We'll be right back, okay.

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Speaker 1: So you get this partnership with the city so that

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Speaker 1: you can find these places and after thirty sixty days

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Speaker 1: they're done. Then you've got the mentorship on how to

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Speaker 1: fix it up, and now you got the loan to

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Speaker 1: fix it up. And we touched on it earlier. But

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Speaker 1: you also found out that having an in house real

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Speaker 1: estate brokerage helps, So you guys went and did that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a big key to our success.

403
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 3: Was the reality was when our families, you know, these

404
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,200
Speaker 3: mung families, or over time as we helped more African

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00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,119
Speaker 3: American Hispanic families through the program, they often struggled to

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Speaker 3: find the right real estate representation because of their low

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Speaker 3: preapproval amount. They might not be able to find an

408
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,040
Speaker 3: agent that really wanted to work with them, or an

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Speaker 3: agent that was comfortable doing the work of finding the

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Speaker 3: affordable homes. These, you know, often were homes that were

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Speaker 3: there were the dollar homes.

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Speaker 2: They were twenty five fifty.

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Speaker 1: Thousand dollars agent making live in selling a dollar hunt.

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Speaker 2: Not a big commission on those, you know.

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Speaker 1: Seven so it's not much.

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Speaker 3: And so typically the agents who are working in that

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00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 3: part of the market, they're representing investors, right because the

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00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,679
Speaker 3: investors will buy a ton of properties, and you know,

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00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,120
Speaker 3: they'll have some some rate that they're charging that doesn't

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Speaker 3: make sense. And so we gave an opportunity for members

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Speaker 3: of the community that were agents that really wanted to

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Speaker 3: work with families to become a member of our team,

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Speaker 3: be a part of the mission and focus on helping

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00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,520
Speaker 3: families find homes they could truly afford without having that

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Speaker 3: mean that the commission was so low that you know,

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Speaker 3: you couldn't you couldn't give them good service.

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Speaker 2: So that's been a big part of what we've done.

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Speaker 3: We've had we typically have a handful of agents that

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Speaker 3: are actually under our umbrella or our own real estate brokerage,

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Speaker 3: and that's been a key ingredient to helping families be successful.

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Speaker 2: And there's also the trust component.

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Speaker 3: Once a family starts working with us and they're getting

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Speaker 3: prepared to become a homeowner, throughout the journey. They know

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Speaker 3: you've got a team here that wants to help you.

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00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 3: And it's not just that that your home buyer coach

436
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 3: who you're working with now, but we're going to add

437
00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,000
Speaker 3: a real church to your team. We're going to add

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00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,919
Speaker 3: a home rehab coach to your team if you need it.

439
00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,000
Speaker 3: We're going to connect you to lenders, whether that's a

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00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,320
Speaker 3: bank or credit union, or maybe it's a lender in house.

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Speaker 3: And so it gives them confidence knowing that throughout the

442
00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 3: whole process they've got a partner that wants them to

443
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,440
Speaker 3: be successful and isn't just focused on sort of you know,

444
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,000
Speaker 3: what's the largest profit I can generate from working with

445
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:17,800
Speaker 3: this one family?

446
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,639
Speaker 1: So you said, was it cha, Bliah?

447
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:22,960
Speaker 2: Cha?

448
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,399
Speaker 1: Yeah? All right. She retired in twenty seventeen after twenty

449
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 1: four years, and you said she helped eight hundred families

450
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:31,640
Speaker 1: by home.

451
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:33,520
Speaker 3: I think that I think that's right, which is just

452
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 3: I mean, it's sort of stunning to think that that

453
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,119
Speaker 3: number of families is possible.

454
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,600
Speaker 1: But then I think for the Hispanic group, you found

455
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:51,400
Speaker 1: Rios or somebody named Rios or another situation, another type agent. Right,

456
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:52,119
Speaker 1: what's the.

457
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 3: Story critical to our success that we have agents who

458
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,719
Speaker 3: represent the communities that we serve, and so we've had

459
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 3: a lot of success over time, whether it's in the

460
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 3: Hispanic community or the African American community, finding really good

461
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,760
Speaker 3: people who care about their communities and see real estate

462
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 3: and helping families a chief home ownership is something that

463
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 3: can be important, and we've been able to have them

464
00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,600
Speaker 3: on the team, have them earn a nice living, and

465
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,880
Speaker 3: have them just have this incredible impact that I know.

466
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 2: I'm just so proud of what they've been able to achieve.

467
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,360
Speaker 1: So Hilaria Rios is the name I was thinking coming

468
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,639
Speaker 1: up with that. The thing is, if I'm remembering all

469
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:40,600
Speaker 1: this right, is Jah helped in that Washington Park area

470
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 1: around the church, but then there was on the south

471
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,640
Speaker 1: side of Milwaukee, I have a Hispanic area, and then

472
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 1: this Hilario Rio started doing for her community what y'all

473
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 1: did for her community. And now all of a sudden

474
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,919
Speaker 1: access expanding beyond what the priest originally thought for his

475
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,879
Speaker 1: community around as church to the whole city.

476
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:02,120
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.

477
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 3: You know that after a decade or so of success,

478
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,440
Speaker 3: there was a moment where the organization sort of took

479
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 3: stock of itself and said, well, this is great that

480
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,879
Speaker 3: we're doing such a good job serving this refugee population.

481
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,399
Speaker 3: That's that's it's been wonderful for the neighborhood. It's been

482
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 3: good for families. What about the rest of the families

483
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 3: who live in our community. What about the Hispanic population,

484
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 3: mostly on Milwaukee's near south side growing population, They also

485
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 3: are having trouble accessing homeownership. Milwaukee, you know, the largest

486
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,480
Speaker 3: has a large black population, that that community has not

487
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 3: had the same opportunities for homeownership that other families have had.

488
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,360
Speaker 3: How do we make sure that there's a pathway that's

489
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 3: meaningful for them towards home ownership. And through these key

490
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 3: hires of real estate agents, we began making inroads in

491
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 3: those communities and.

492
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,919
Speaker 1: Really community real estate agents from the community that knows

493
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,080
Speaker 1: the market, that knows the neighborhoods and can connect the

494
00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:01,440
Speaker 1: neighborhoods to the community. And candidly, if I'm a Hispanic

495
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:07,200
Speaker 1: person in the South side of was Milwaukee, I'm going

496
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: to connect within trust Hillary Rios a whole lot more

497
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: than I am a white guy named Bill Courtney. So

498
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 1: the connection to the families is in a grole because

499
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: this agent is this from them. Is them right? I mean,

500
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: is that not?

501
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 2: It makes It makes a huge difference in terms of

502
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:26,439
Speaker 2: building trust.

503
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,160
Speaker 3: And that's something that you know, we've taken very seriously

504
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 3: and a huge part of the recipe is that our

505
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 3: agents aren't seen as other you know, they're seeing they're

506
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 3: from and all of the communities that they're serving. And

507
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 3: they also just then build great networks they have. They

508
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:43,880
Speaker 3: come to us already having a network in their community,

509
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 3: and that grows over time. And you have someone like

510
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,399
Speaker 3: Billia who helps eight hundred families purchase homes. You know,

511
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,159
Speaker 3: think about how many how many of those deals, the

512
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,360
Speaker 3: vast majority of them, they wind up being referrals from

513
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 3: from these past families who've been through the program. People

514
00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,720
Speaker 3: look at a new homeowner and they say, how did

515
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 3: you do this and they say, you know, we hope

516
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 3: they say, it was really hard work, but I was

517
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 3: able to do it. You can do it too. By

518
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 3: the way, there's this group X Housing. They could probably help.

519
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:12,479
Speaker 3: They can put you in the right direction, they can

520
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 3: help support you on the journey.

521
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:15,439
Speaker 1: And let me tell let you talk to someone who

522
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 1: looks just like you named Chaw exactly.

523
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 2: Let me make that connection.

524
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: How once again, this really isn't you know, rocket surgery.

525
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 1: It all just makes so much fundamental sense. Okay, so

526
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: that's the beginning from the end of the Vietnam War

527
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,959
Speaker 1: and refugees coming to Milwaukee and the priest and the

528
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,679
Speaker 1: housing and the community and all these things going up.

529
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 1: So now let's get to you. All this is set up,

530
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 1: and so tell me about acts. Once you decided I've

531
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 1: played enough poker that I don't have to be an

532
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 1: attorney anymore, and I think I can do something really

533
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:57,480
Speaker 1: meaningful with my life.

534
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,919
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I was really just so impressed with what

535
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 3: the team had done. And so there were seven employees.

536
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,639
Speaker 3: I became I think the eighth employee. They brought me

537
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,760
Speaker 3: on in the assistant director role. So I was sort of,

538
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 3: you know, a little bit of everything. My job included

539
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 3: answering the door because I was usually the only one

540
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 3: in the office. I was doing our fundraising, I was

541
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:20,520
Speaker 3: doing our marketing, and I was running our loan fund.

542
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,880
Speaker 2: So those were my sort of funds.

543
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,360
Speaker 1: I say, when you said, you know, I've put myself

544
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: through the University of Chicago and got a law of degree.

545
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: I mean a law degree from the Universe Chicago is meaningful.

546
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: I mean, you're humble and everything else, but I'm going

547
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,439
Speaker 1: to say it. I mean, that's top ten boss daddy

548
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 1: stuff right there. What did you and your wife got

549
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: her degree? Or you said her graduate degree and what

550
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:47,600
Speaker 1: in NBA?

551
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 3: I guess no, No, So my wife's a teacher, so

552
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 3: she has multiple graduate degrees in English and in education.

553
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 1: I bet your children are really dumb coming from it.

554
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: But anyway, so what does she say? Yeah, when University

555
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: of Chicago guy who's obviously a tactician. So you because

556
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: you're good at poker, so you read the room, well

557
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 1: says you know, I know you married a lawyer from

558
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:20,679
Speaker 1: the universe Chicago and all this, but I'm gonna go

559
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 1: work for this thing called acts and probably take a

560
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: massive pay cut. What was her.

561
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:30,159
Speaker 3: Reaction, Well, I married exceptionally. Well, so, my wife is

562
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,360
Speaker 3: a teacher. She loves being a teacher. She spent most

563
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 3: of her career in urban education. And she had found

564
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 3: before I did, a career that she found great meaning

565
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,959
Speaker 3: in and she saw how how important that was. So

566
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 3: she was only encouraging of me pursuing this, and you know,

567
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 3: just speaks to the importance of having shared values with

568
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 3: the person you're going to spend spent your life with

569
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,679
Speaker 3: in terms of her support for that transition. And I

570
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,439
Speaker 3: should say one of the great things about Malwa is

571
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,160
Speaker 3: you don't need the most massive income ever to make

572
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 3: it a great place to live. Right, So we lived

573
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 3: in New York City for the better part of seven years,

574
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 3: you know, making this sort of transition. If I was

575
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:12,880
Speaker 3: in that sort of environment, I think would have been

576
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 3: extremely difficult.

577
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 2: It would have required massive sacrifice.

578
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,120
Speaker 3: I feel like in a city like Milwaukee, it's sort

579
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,959
Speaker 3: of the best of both worlds where if you are

580
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 3: in a good income and you've got two people who

581
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:24,920
Speaker 3: are working, you can do well enough and you can

582
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,679
Speaker 3: and if you love the work you do and you

583
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 3: find that there's meaning in it, it's really tough to

584
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 3: imagine doing something else.

585
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, we say almost every show the magic happens when

586
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 1: somebody's passion and abilities intersected opportunity. Sounds like that's exactly

587
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: what happened with you, all right, So you joined as

588
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 1: session director of two years later become the president CEO

589
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 1: of this thing. You're clearly passionate about it. On fire Forward,

590
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,719
Speaker 1: tell me some things you've been able to do at

591
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 1: ACT since you join, give me some success metrics, yeah,

592
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: you know, and any other stories that I know that

593
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to want to hear about ACTS now. Well,

594
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: so that since you became the bram poo Bah.

595
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 3: The thing I'm most proud of is so when I

596
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:18,600
Speaker 3: took over as as CEO, I replaced this legendary guy,

597
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 3: Carl Quindel. He'd been the executive director there for six

598
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 3: or seven years something like that, maybe eight years. Unbelievably smart,

599
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 3: and he knew everything about every aspect of our business.

600
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 3: He was this guy who could do anything in the

601
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 3: world and he chose to devote his energy to ACTS

602
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 3: for that eight year period. Just remarkable. But he he'd

603
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 3: sort of shown a vision of leadership that I wasn't

604
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 3: going to be able to. I was never going to

605
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 3: be the best person at every single thing ACTS. Did

606
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 3: you know this is a guy who knew everything about rehab,

607
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 3: he knew everything about home construction, he knew everything about

608
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 3: the real estate market. And here I'm coming from you know,

609
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,080
Speaker 3: law school and these different you know, different talents.

610
00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: He apparently didn't know anything about invoicing.

611
00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 3: But so when I became the CEO with an understanding

612
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 3: from the board Hey, we're going to need to build

613
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 3: a world class team, because the only way that we're

614
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 3: going to be able to do a lot more is

615
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,920
Speaker 3: if we have someone leading each of these important functions

616
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 3: who is the expert, because I can't be the expert

617
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 3: and everything. If if we're trying to make me the

618
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 3: expert in everything, we're not going to be as successful

619
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 3: as we need to be. And so I'm just truly

620
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,240
Speaker 3: proud at how we've been able to grow our team

621
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 3: and bring in people who are better, more knowledgeable, who

622
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:32,360
Speaker 3: can add value that I couldn't possibly add. And the

623
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,040
Speaker 3: result is sort of magic in terms of how our

624
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 3: program has evolved, how we've been able to offer better

625
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 3: and more services, and how we've been able to set

626
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 3: families up for success at a scale that wasn't imaginable

627
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 3: when I joined the organization.

628
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 1: Tell me, so, what does that look like? Give us

629
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 1: some numbers.

630
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 3: Well, every single year now we're helping more than three

631
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 3: hundred families purchase.

632
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:59,320
Speaker 1: Homes, three hundred a year, three hundred again, three hundred

633
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 1: families get off the rental rolls oftim beating slum lords.

634
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: And now we're talking monks, Hispanics, African Americans, and I

635
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 1: assume even white low in white blue cover brogues across

636
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 1: the space.

637
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 3: Anyone with challenges to home ownership, who wants to pursue

638
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 3: home ownership, we want to support. Right now, more than

639
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,920
Speaker 3: half of our graduates, more than half of our purchaser

640
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 3: are black families. But we serve the whole community, anyone

641
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 3: who needs who needs the support. So yeah, more than

642
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,240
Speaker 3: three hundred a year. We just celebrated our four thousandth

643
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 3: homeowner through the program. So we have four thousand families

644
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 3: who now own homes who you know, previously were renting

645
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 3: in three.

646
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:43,960
Speaker 1: Hundred dilapidated properties on the tax rolls, fixing up light

647
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: in communities.

648
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:47,160
Speaker 4: Well, Michael, did you say, I just want to clarify

649
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 4: before we keep going down that train. I think four

650
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 4: thousand total, and one thousand were from the tax rolls.

651
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, so four thousand total, one thousand foreclosures, I got it.

652
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 3: Of the thousand four closures, it's probably fifty to fifty

653
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 3: between tax foreclosures and bank foreclosures.

654
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 1: Okay, Still, yeah, twenty five percent are crappy. But even

655
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 1: if they're even if they're not foreclosures, there's still houses

656
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: probably that need attention and a lot of it.

657
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, their houses that typically haven't gotten a lot of

658
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 3: a lot of love there. We're helping families typically buy

659
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 3: the most affordable homes in the market. So this is

660
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,800
Speaker 3: the bottom of the market we're operating in. And the

661
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 3: belief is is that transitioning a home from renting to

662
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 3: owning benefits that family and benefits the block, whether it's

663
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 3: a modest amount of work that goes into the home

664
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 3: or a massive amount of work that goes into the home.

665
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,479
Speaker 3: Homeowners they take care of their properties and the way

666
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 3: landlords don't. They're more concerned about putting flowers out right,

667
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 3: they're more concerned about connecting with their neighbors, all those things,

668
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 3: and the stability of home ownership that we've seen is

669
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 3: really remarkable. So, you know, I mentioned before foreclosure rates

670
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 3: for families through our program are about half of what

671
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 3: otherwise has been experience in the neighborhoods we work in.

672
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,680
Speaker 3: And what I think is really important. It's not talked

673
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 3: about a lot. You know, when people look at the

674
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 3: cost of home ownership versus the cost of rent, first

675
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 3: of all, they often look at that as what is

676
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 3: it right now? If I bought a home now what's

677
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 3: the cost going to be, what's my monthly cost going

678
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,320
Speaker 3: to be, and what's the cost of rent? And in

679
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 3: many cases through our program, immediately there's a cost savings.

680
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 2: But there's also times, especially.

681
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 3: As the market is improved, homes are more expensive where

682
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 3: families are spending somewhat more to own than to rent,

683
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 3: but the rent keeps going up every single year.

684
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: I was going to say that fixed on a fixed

685
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:43,080
Speaker 1: rate over fifteen, thirty, twenty years, it says the same

686
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 1: rent goes up. So it may be a little more now,

687
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:47,840
Speaker 1: but in five years it's going to be less than

688
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: what you're eventually going to be paying. And that's what

689
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: you're saying.

690
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.

691
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: That's so true.

692
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 3: And home ownership offers a couple of things. Being you know,

693
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 3: it offers some great things for the family in terms

694
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 3: of the living opportunity, in terms of the structure, but

695
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 3: financially it offers a couple of things. One that people

696
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 3: don't talk about anywhere near enough is the force savings

697
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 3: of home ownership. The fact that every month when you

698
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,960
Speaker 3: pay your mortgage, you're paying some of that payment is principal.

699
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 3: Right when you make your rent payment, that money's gone.

700
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 3: But the contributions you're making to your principle, the paid

701
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 3: down to your principle, that's now equity. And we're working

702
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 3: in communities that often you know, when they start working

703
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:28,799
Speaker 3: with us, these families do not have a positive they

704
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 3: don't have a positive net worth, and every single month

705
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 3: when they make that mortgage payment, they now all of

706
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:38,279
Speaker 3: a sudden, are building equity in their home. Now, appreciation

707
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 3: is also wonderful, right, and so when homes go up

708
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 3: in value, that's tremendous and that adds to that equity.

709
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 3: We now are at a point with our alumni homeowners,

710
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 3: those that still own their homes, that group collectively has

711
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,240
Speaker 3: has achieved and built one hundred and forty three million

712
00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,279
Speaker 3: dollars in equity in the homes that they own. Hundred

713
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,080
Speaker 3: and forty three million dollars right, real wealth, real wealth,

714
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 3: and the difference that that can make in terms of

715
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,520
Speaker 3: their ability to overcome challenges, their ability to invest in themselves,

716
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 3: their ability to provide for their kids' education. It's really

717
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 3: significant that those are funds that can be drawn on

718
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,799
Speaker 3: or if you don't need to draw on it, which

719
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:22,440
Speaker 3: is great. We have a lot of families who are

720
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,120
Speaker 3: passing these homes down, right, I was.

721
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: About to say, and for the first time ever at

722
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 1: these and this demographic is second generational access and opportunity

723
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,440
Speaker 1: that breaks that proverbial generational decline.

724
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.

725
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 3: And we think it's fascinating how clear this is to

726
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,320
Speaker 3: the families in our program when we say, we always

727
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,080
Speaker 3: ask them, as part of our coaching, why are you

728
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 3: pursuing home ownership? Because then that's something their coach is

729
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 3: going to remind them of throughout the journey when things

730
00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:56,759
Speaker 3: get hard, we want to remind them of why did

731
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 3: they say they were pursuing home ownership. One thing they

732
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,320
Speaker 3: always often say say. The first thing they say is freedom.

733
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 3: The freedom to be able to paint my house the color.

734
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 3: I want the freedom to be able to do what

735
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 3: I want to do. No one's gonna tell me so

736
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 3: long as I'm paying my mortgage and paying my taxes.

737
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,839
Speaker 3: No one's gonna tell me what I can and can't do.

738
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 3: No one's gonna tell me I need to leave. So

739
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 3: freedom is a really big one. But the number two

740
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,520
Speaker 3: thing we hear from families purchasing Home Star program is

741
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,959
Speaker 3: I want something to pass down. I want something that's

742
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 3: mine that my family's going to long term benefit from.

743
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,319
Speaker 3: And so that's something that's really important in something that

744
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 3: now you know, four thousand families who are graduates of

745
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,240
Speaker 3: our program are able to do for their for their kids.

746
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Agency and legacy. This is what

747
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 1: you just said. And I don't know a human being

748
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,719
Speaker 1: on earth that doesn't want to have it. Agency and

749
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:05,839
Speaker 1: what they're doing, and a legacy left behind. And you know,

750
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:11,000
Speaker 1: on Maslov's hierarchy of needs, I mean, you're starting to

751
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:15,439
Speaker 1: bring these folks up the pyramid, you really are. You're

752
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 1: giving them self actualization, you're giving them fulfillment, but you're

753
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 1: not giving it to them. You're helping them.

754
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:23,760
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.

755
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,960
Speaker 3: We're not giving them anything, but we're helping to make

756
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 3: the market work for them. We're helping them understand how

757
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:35,319
Speaker 3: to navigate these complex systems, and then they're doing the

758
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,839
Speaker 3: remarkable work of getting it done and then being not

759
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,840
Speaker 3: only successful homeowners but leaders in their communities.

760
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 1: So let's discuss a little bit the state of housing

761
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 1: and America today and your new announcement.

762
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:56,840
Speaker 3: Great So, one of the big challenges that we faced

763
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,360
Speaker 3: in Milwaukee, and this is a challenge that it's not

764
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:01,920
Speaker 3: a Milwaukee challenge. It's a lot of a lot of

765
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,240
Speaker 3: communities throughout the country have seen this is that single

766
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 3: family homes have become an asset class, right, and used

767
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,239
Speaker 3: to say that again, single family homes have become an

768
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 3: attractive asset class.

769
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 1: Okay, what do you mean.

770
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 3: Private equity funds have realized that in a lot of

771
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 3: these markets, homes are relatively affordable, rents are relatively high,

772
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:28,240
Speaker 3: and that buying up large swaths of communities and having

773
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,240
Speaker 3: a rental program, you know, is something that they believe

774
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 3: can be financially viable, can be successful, and they're able

775
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,399
Speaker 3: to attract a lot of equity, a lot of investors

776
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:38,600
Speaker 3: who want to be a part of that.

777
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why forty percent of Memphians rent because so

778
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 1: many of these homes in these neighborhoods are bought up

779
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:50,600
Speaker 1: candidly by people out of New York and Boston and Chicago.

780
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,200
Speaker 1: You would be shocked how many homes in Memphis are

781
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 1: on about people who've never set foot in Memphis. And

782
00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 1: then they've got some kind of management like rental manage

783
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: group that goes around and slaps pain on them, fixes

784
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 1: them up, and then Clucks Front.

785
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:09,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right.

786
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,320
Speaker 1: Well, that doesn't build any community.

787
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not. Listen, our communities need great landlords. Not

788
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 3: everyone is going to own or want to own at

789
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 3: any given time. But it's our firm belief that typically

790
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,360
Speaker 3: great landlords, they typically come from the community, they have

791
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:27,879
Speaker 3: some relationship to the place. When you talk about these

792
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 3: outfits that own thousands and thousands of homes throughout the

793
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:33,880
Speaker 3: country that aren't you know, that are based in other places,

794
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 3: the likelihood that they care about something other than just

795
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:39,560
Speaker 3: sort of getting every last dollar out of this home

796
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:40,919
Speaker 3: is pretty low.

797
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,840
Speaker 2: And so so that's the asset So that's.

798
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:46,120
Speaker 3: The asset class that's you know, all of a sudden,

799
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 3: it's not just competing against maybe a local landlord who

800
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 3: might want to buy another property. It's competing against these

801
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 3: enormous private equity outfits that want to buy up these homes.

802
00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 3: And so increasingly, what we saw over the last handful

803
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 3: years was, you know, we're doing this hard work. The

804
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 3: families are this hard work. We'll have two thousand families

805
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 3: a year that start our program that say I want

806
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:09,880
Speaker 3: to be a homeowner? Can I start home by our education?

807
00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 3: And we've got a great way of getting them started.

808
00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 3: They work with a coach and then they do the

809
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 3: incredibly hard work of getting ready. Sometimes that takes years,

810
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:19,920
Speaker 3: depending on how much work they have to do and

811
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:25,080
Speaker 3: when they're ready. We see them losing consistently in the

812
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,520
Speaker 3: market because the best deals are going to these private

813
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 3: equity and other investors who are making cash no contingency offers.

814
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 3: So our families are often offering more money. It's not

815
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,239
Speaker 3: that they can't compete on price, but they need an

816
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 3: inspection contingency because there's no way we're going to let

817
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 3: them buy a home without knowing what work it might need.

818
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,279
Speaker 3: And they need a financing contingency because they don't have

819
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,960
Speaker 3: enough money to pay cash for these properties. And so

820
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 3: increasingly all the best deals are getting snapped up by

821
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:57,440
Speaker 3: the investors, leaving our families, our alumni who've done all

822
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:58,920
Speaker 3: this hard work sort of with.

823
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 1: The dregs, actually live in the city. You live in

824
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: the community, and got their kids go there and spend

825
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:04,480
Speaker 1: their money there.

826
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:09,319
Speaker 3: It's inverted, it is, and so we felt like we

827
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:12,080
Speaker 3: were letting our community down. You know what we've always

828
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,520
Speaker 3: told families, the promise is if you do the hard

829
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 3: work of preparing for home ownership. We're going to help

830
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 3: you find a good home that you can afford them

831
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 3: meet your needs. And over the last several years, we

832
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:25,839
Speaker 3: found at times that we felt like the families were

833
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:28,279
Speaker 3: doing their part of the equation. And because of this,

834
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,719
Speaker 3: these investors coming in from all over the country, we

835
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 3: weren't actually holding up our end of the bargain because

836
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 3: the only homes available to them weren't really the homes

837
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 3: that were good deals. And so we spent a couple

838
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 3: of years we worked in partnership with some other local

839
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,160
Speaker 3: groups that cared about this cared about this work. We

840
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 3: talked to a number of philanthropies and supporters who you

841
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 3: believed in us, and we were able to launch a

842
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,839
Speaker 3: two and a half years ago a program where we're

843
00:41:55,880 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 3: actually now a large buyer of these homes in the city.

844
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,960
Speaker 3: So we're competing with these private equity groups. We're buying

845
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:09,440
Speaker 3: portfolios of homes. We're buying homes for cash. But unlike

846
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,000
Speaker 3: these investor groups that you know are based wherever they're

847
00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:15,719
Speaker 3: based and are focused just on a financial profit, we're

848
00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:18,760
Speaker 3: focused one hundred percent on converting these homes into owner

849
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 3: occupancy and making them good affordable home ownership opportunities for

850
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,280
Speaker 3: graduates of home buyer education.

851
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,280
Speaker 1: And you're blocking them out and.

852
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 3: And we're we're competing, We're we're doing well. So this year,

853
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:34,959
Speaker 3: our goal from inception was we wanted to be able

854
00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:37,520
Speaker 3: to sell at least one hundred of these homes every

855
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:41,160
Speaker 3: single year to families who graduate Home by your Education.

856
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,880
Speaker 1: So one hundred times what's the average price of a

857
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:45,640
Speaker 1: home in your group, Probably.

858
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 3: The ones that we're selling, the average price right now

859
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 3: is one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.

860
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,160
Speaker 1: Well, then that's twelve million dollars.

861
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:54,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's a big investment, big investment in the

862
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 3: purchase and the rehabit these homes that you need. We've

863
00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:00,160
Speaker 3: been successful at raising most of the philanthropy we need,

864
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 3: so we've got a revolving fund that lets us do

865
00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,919
Speaker 3: this purchase and rehab activity. We've raised just about ten

866
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:10,160
Speaker 3: million dollars actually to do that work. And this year,

867
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:12,680
Speaker 3: two and a half years into launching this initiative, we're

868
00:43:12,719 --> 00:43:14,719
Speaker 3: confident that we're actually going to sell a hundred of

869
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:17,840
Speaker 3: these homes to families who are graduates of our program.

870
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:20,160
Speaker 3: And the thing I'm really proud of is that not

871
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:23,239
Speaker 3: only are we doing it, but it's it's very sustainable.

872
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 3: And so the way this model works is, you know,

873
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:30,399
Speaker 3: we're able to buy the home, rehab the home, sell

874
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,919
Speaker 3: the home at an affordable price, but there's enough enough

875
00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:36,600
Speaker 3: profit and I'll put that in quotes that we're able

876
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 3: to cover all of our staffing costs of doing this wedside.

877
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 1: There's enough coverage, enough coverage that when you sell it,

878
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: that sale goes to the kitty to buy.

879
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:47,520
Speaker 2: More home exactly.

880
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 3: So we're hoping and we believe we can grow this fund,

881
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,120
Speaker 3: this fund beyond ten million dollars just through the operating

882
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:57,960
Speaker 3: of the fund, not with needing additional philanthropy, but because

883
00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 3: you know, we approach this work in a smart way.

884
00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:03,440
Speaker 3: You know, this is we're nonprofit, but this is a business.

885
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:06,200
Speaker 3: We're trying to do it in a strategic and thoughtful

886
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:09,640
Speaker 3: way and the result is a really good product for

887
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,680
Speaker 3: families and a sustainable program that we believe every single

888
00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:15,040
Speaker 3: year now will contribute at least one hundred new owner

889
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:17,600
Speaker 3: occupants in the communities we operate.

890
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:19,799
Speaker 2: So we're really we're excited about that.

891
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 1: I have done two years of shows now and I

892
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:32,480
Speaker 1: have loved all my guests and everything else. Us is

893
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:38,719
Speaker 1: one of the most sensible everybody wins ideas except for

894
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:42,239
Speaker 1: maybe New York slum lords that buy us maybe they

895
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:48,720
Speaker 1: don't like it, But everybody else I am I'm beside

896
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 1: myself thinking about what this need want I want. I

897
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,920
Speaker 1: want this in my city so bad, and everybody else

898
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,040
Speaker 1: should do. Where are you expanding to? You got to

899
00:44:58,080 --> 00:44:59,800
Speaker 1: be scaling well.

900
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:01,319
Speaker 2: I appreciate that, Thank you.

901
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 3: And what I'll say is it has been really cool

902
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 3: to see that the work we do it resonates, and

903
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:10,960
Speaker 3: it resonates across things that normally separate us. And I

904
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:13,239
Speaker 3: think at a time when there's so much division, it's

905
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,000
Speaker 3: awesome to be working in a space where, you know,

906
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 3: we have people with different political beliefs, different religious beliefs,

907
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,160
Speaker 3: all different sorts of beliefs you might have. It is

908
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 3: not controversial that giving families the chance to own the

909
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:26,799
Speaker 3: homes they live in is a good thing for them,

910
00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:29,759
Speaker 3: a good thing for the community, and so it means

911
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 3: that we get to have a lot of partners, and

912
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:34,399
Speaker 3: that's a fun space to be in. We've been really

913
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:40,040
Speaker 3: cautious about growing beyond our current geographies, so we operate

914
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 3: in the city of Milwaukee. That's where we've done this

915
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,560
Speaker 3: work for thirty years, and then we haven't starting with

916
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:49,480
Speaker 3: the exactly wouldn't be here without them? And then seven

917
00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:52,480
Speaker 3: years ago we opened an office in Beloit, Wisconsin, which

918
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 3: is a small a smaller city on the border with

919
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 3: the state of Illinois.

920
00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:58,239
Speaker 1: How far is that from the walk about now ur.

921
00:45:58,239 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 2: And fifteen minutes?

922
00:45:59,200 --> 00:45:59,720
Speaker 1: Why there?

923
00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:02,480
Speaker 2: We wanted an opportunity.

924
00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 3: To see in a community where we had no name, recognition,

925
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 3: no awareness, if we could replicate the success of our

926
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,480
Speaker 3: work in Milwaukee. But we wanted it to be drivable,

927
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,440
Speaker 3: and we wanted to have the support of the local community.

928
00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:18,080
Speaker 3: We needed the churches to want us, We needed the

929
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:21,080
Speaker 3: neighborhood groups to want us, We needed government to want

930
00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,799
Speaker 3: to partner with us, and we needed philanthropic partners that

931
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:28,880
Speaker 3: would support the initiative right and bloy it's an amazing city.

932
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 3: It was pretty incredible to see how quickly things came

933
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 3: together there, starting with a philanthropist who was very excited

934
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,479
Speaker 3: about the work, but quickly then spread into government, doing

935
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:40,960
Speaker 3: a lot of work in community with neighborhood groups to

936
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 3: make sure that you know, we would be seen not

937
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:46,080
Speaker 3: as an interloper but as a group that could really

938
00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 3: help address one of the community's big challenges. And it's

939
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:53,800
Speaker 3: been incredible sort of bringing our work there, it's been exciting.

940
00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 3: It has been a huge challenge. We have learned so

941
00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:00,120
Speaker 3: much trying to you know, it's one thing to do

942
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,520
Speaker 3: something well in one place, and it is a different

943
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 3: thing to all of a sudden, you know, open up

944
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:07,960
Speaker 3: an office somewhere where your brand new hire new people,

945
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 3: trying to track this work, try and do this work

946
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:13,759
Speaker 3: the same way. And pretty often you realize, well, most

947
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:16,479
Speaker 3: of what we do works well somewhere else, and there's

948
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:19,239
Speaker 3: some things that are very different. And so we've learned

949
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,600
Speaker 3: a lot about how we need to approach attracting families

950
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,520
Speaker 3: to the program. It's very different in Beloit than it

951
00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:26,400
Speaker 3: is in Milwaukee.

952
00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:29,640
Speaker 4: Michael's Beloit is that where they had a Forward plant

953
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:32,800
Speaker 4: closure or a GM plant closure. That region had some challenges,

954
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:35,640
Speaker 4: right Jamesville, which is a right nearby, right right nearby.

955
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:38,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's it's a community that you know, has

956
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:41,359
Speaker 3: a sort of a thriving history. Definitely, you know, with

957
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,560
Speaker 3: sort of de industrialization, fell on very hard times. It

958
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 3: Beloit is a remarkable place, extremely resilient, there's a philanthropist's

959
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:53,480
Speaker 3: who's from Beloit, Diane Hendrix, who has made a major

960
00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,239
Speaker 3: commitment to the city, and so she's she's part of

961
00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:58,919
Speaker 3: the reason that Beloit right now is a remarkable place,

962
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:01,600
Speaker 3: great place to visit. You know, They've got a brand

963
00:48:01,640 --> 00:48:05,000
Speaker 3: new minor league baseball stadium, they've got new hotels, they

964
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 3: have extremely low unemployment, and they have actually a big

965
00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:14,239
Speaker 3: challenge around enough affordable housing because it's become a really attractive,

966
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:16,279
Speaker 3: you know, attractive place for people to live and work

967
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:19,600
Speaker 3: and play. But we've learned a lot through that expansion,

968
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,719
Speaker 3: and one of the things we learned was that it

969
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:26,040
Speaker 3: can be it can be a distraction. And so while

970
00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:28,720
Speaker 3: I am very excited about what we've done in Beloit

971
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:30,239
Speaker 3: and we are in a really good place in that

972
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:32,200
Speaker 3: community now and we're going to continue to grow and

973
00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:34,880
Speaker 3: do more in the city of Beloit, there are times

974
00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,359
Speaker 3: where we were asking ourselves, you know, is this work

975
00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:40,640
Speaker 3: that we're doing in Beloit detracting from our ability to

976
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 3: serve what was our primary market, Milwaukee, right And so

977
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:50,200
Speaker 3: this is how we think about expansion now. We believe

978
00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:53,239
Speaker 3: we owe it to the rest of the country to

979
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,520
Speaker 3: take some of the things we've learned and share them

980
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 3: and we're committed to that. That doesn't necessarily mean we're

981
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:01,560
Speaker 3: opening up offices all over the country, you know. It

982
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:04,480
Speaker 3: might mean that certain of the things we do we

983
00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:07,360
Speaker 3: can provide to other communities that have key partners that

984
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:10,640
Speaker 3: are already doing maybe other aspects of the work. It

985
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:14,160
Speaker 3: might mean that we train and develop individuals who are

986
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,160
Speaker 3: excited to sort of start things that look something like

987
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:20,040
Speaker 3: what we do, but then we let them sort of,

988
00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:23,920
Speaker 3: you know, run with it and flourish and develop new

989
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:27,759
Speaker 3: ways to build on the strategy. So we're not we

990
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 3: haven't sort of made that call yet in terms of

991
00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:32,160
Speaker 3: exactly what a larger expansion.

992
00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:33,880
Speaker 1: What scale look like for it.

993
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 3: And a big part of that reason is, you know,

994
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:38,520
Speaker 3: I mentioned the effort to buy, rehab and sell one

995
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:39,480
Speaker 3: hundred homes a year.

996
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 2: That was a big lift.

997
00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:44,719
Speaker 3: We also are right now in the process of massively

998
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:49,279
Speaker 3: expanding our lending function. So we had been doing two

999
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:52,800
Speaker 3: to three dozen loans a year through our affiliate acts lending.

1000
00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:56,520
Speaker 3: Our four year plan has us scaling that to two

1001
00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 3: hundred loans a year. So we're sort of massively expanding

1002
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:04,759
Speaker 3: the services we can provide to the two communities that

1003
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:07,040
Speaker 3: we have committed to, Milwaukee and Beloite.

1004
00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:08,720
Speaker 2: But I have to tell you.

1005
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 3: Now that we are proving that the ax homes model

1006
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:15,040
Speaker 3: works so well, now that we are expanding our lending

1007
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:17,960
Speaker 3: model that has been long term sustainable, it has us

1008
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,799
Speaker 3: thinking much more intentionally about, Okay, how do we take

1009
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:24,319
Speaker 3: these key pieces and how do we make sure that

1010
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 3: if there's other cities that could benefit from them, we

1011
00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:29,279
Speaker 3: have a compelling way to share them that can set

1012
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:30,400
Speaker 3: them up for success.

1013
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 1: Methis, barbeque, music, cool downtown is right for this, but

1014
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 1: for bringing you back, Michael. If people want to hear

1015
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:48,840
Speaker 1: more about this website, where do they go? It's something

1016
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:50,480
Speaker 1: that people can find out more.

1017
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:53,120
Speaker 3: Absolutely so if you go to our website, which is

1018
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:59,280
Speaker 3: actshousing dot org, all sorts of information about our program,

1019
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:02,600
Speaker 3: report that sort of stuff. I do want to caution

1020
00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:05,200
Speaker 3: your listeners. You know, we are providing services now to

1021
00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:09,439
Speaker 3: families who live in the communities where we're located. So occasionally,

1022
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:12,160
Speaker 3: when we're fortunate enough to get some national exposure like this,

1023
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:14,480
Speaker 3: you know, we'll start to get you know, someone who's

1024
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:18,399
Speaker 3: an aspiring homeowner in California or in Texas and Unfortunately,

1025
00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:21,640
Speaker 3: we don't have the capacity to do that yet, but

1026
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,520
Speaker 3: who knows what the future might hope.

1027
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:42,400
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. I dude, I cannot. I just

1028
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:46,880
Speaker 1: this is it's a sweet spot for me again. I

1029
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:51,359
Speaker 1: love all the stories. But ironically enough, a very dear

1030
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,440
Speaker 1: friend of mine, who I've known since high school I

1031
00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 1: played football against, who coached football with me, who played

1032
00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:03,040
Speaker 1: at the University of Alabama, was our Shelby County Assessor

1033
00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:06,400
Speaker 1: at one time, which is a publicly that he had

1034
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:10,239
Speaker 1: to run for office and one and through a couple

1035
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:14,080
Speaker 1: of conversations over copy work, more than a couple mini

1036
00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:16,960
Speaker 1: conversations over wine and beer and coffee with him, I

1037
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 1: learned from him the drag it is on the county

1038
00:52:21,719 --> 00:52:25,400
Speaker 1: and the community to have all of these blighted properties

1039
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,680
Speaker 1: hanging around. And I learned what the drag it is

1040
00:52:28,760 --> 00:52:33,400
Speaker 1: on city revenue not to have these properties producing property

1041
00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:37,799
Speaker 1: tax dollars, and how destructive it is to communities and

1042
00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: the people that live in them. And it has been

1043
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,880
Speaker 1: on my mind for fifteen years, and in this story,

1044
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:49,760
Speaker 1: and you come along, and it's the answer to something

1045
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:51,920
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about for ten or fifteen years and

1046
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:56,040
Speaker 1: bothered by legitimately bothered by. I mean, tell me this,

1047
00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:00,879
Speaker 1: I'm just curious to schools improve in the neighborhoods too.

1048
00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:04,480
Speaker 1: I mean, I would think that even the school system

1049
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:08,920
Speaker 1: gets better. I can't remember who the guest was, Oh,

1050
00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:12,759
Speaker 1: I think it was from Charlotte, but one of the

1051
00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:16,040
Speaker 1: one of the things he taught us was one of

1052
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 1: the problems with elementary education was transiency. Because if a

1053
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:26,640
Speaker 1: kid moves in the middle of their school year in first, second,

1054
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:29,960
Speaker 1: third grade constantly because they're being put out or have

1055
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 1: to change rent or whatever, when the kid goes to

1056
00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 1: the new school midyear, they're having to go all the

1057
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:36,920
Speaker 1: way back and catch up. And if you do that

1058
00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:40,480
Speaker 1: two or three times, by sixth grade, you're just behind.

1059
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:44,160
Speaker 1: And then I have another friend who has a thing

1060
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:48,760
Speaker 1: called coaching for literacy, and his demograph or his metrics

1061
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:52,040
Speaker 1: say that if you're not reading on grade level by

1062
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:56,080
Speaker 1: third grade, that you are three times more likely to

1063
00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:58,319
Speaker 1: be unemployed by the age of twenty one than you

1064
00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:01,319
Speaker 1: are if you are reading on third grade. So if

1065
00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: you know that poverty and unemployment in large part can

1066
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:10,040
Speaker 1: be predicated by whether or not you read on grade

1067
00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:14,279
Speaker 1: level by third grade, and then you also know that

1068
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:19,960
Speaker 1: transiency among renters almost guarantee that the children involved in

1069
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:24,200
Speaker 1: those transients are not going to lead on grade level

1070
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 1: about third grade. You can, therefore, because if agles be

1071
00:54:28,239 --> 00:54:34,120
Speaker 1: in Begal see egle Cee say that unemployment and poverty

1072
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:40,160
Speaker 1: has a lot to do with being transient when you're

1073
00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:43,479
Speaker 1: third grade and before as a result of your parents.

1074
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:49,960
Speaker 1: Mean so, given that if instead of renting and moving

1075
00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:53,560
Speaker 1: and having transient children who end up being unemployed by

1076
00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:55,480
Speaker 1: the age of twenty one because of the school and

1077
00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:57,800
Speaker 1: because of the reading things, if those families own a

1078
00:54:57,840 --> 00:55:03,160
Speaker 1: house and aren't transient, the children will be better two

1079
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:06,160
Speaker 1: decades from now, and the schools will be better because

1080
00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:09,399
Speaker 1: they're not dealing with kids in an out of money time. Now,

1081
00:55:09,560 --> 00:55:09,879
Speaker 1: am I.

1082
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:12,520
Speaker 3: Stretching No, I think that's very well said. You know,

1083
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:15,200
Speaker 3: the average tenure of home ownership through our program is

1084
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:18,640
Speaker 3: fourteen years. That's how long the typical family owns the

1085
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:22,640
Speaker 3: home that they buy through us. And that's stability of home.

1086
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:26,239
Speaker 3: I mean, there's myriad research, whether it's the impact that

1087
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:29,279
Speaker 3: has on education, the impact that has on health, the

1088
00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:33,239
Speaker 3: impact that has on actually violent reductive violence reduction, all

1089
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:35,400
Speaker 3: these things are related, and I don't mean to suggest

1090
00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:38,480
Speaker 3: that if we just solve home ownership, we fix everything,

1091
00:55:38,840 --> 00:55:40,920
Speaker 3: but it is one of those key building blocks that

1092
00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:43,759
Speaker 3: if you can address it in a significant way, it

1093
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 3: makes the education. It makes educating easier, makes the job

1094
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:49,440
Speaker 3: of the police easier, it makes the jobs of our

1095
00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:52,240
Speaker 3: hospital systems easier. And so that's one of the reasons

1096
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:53,960
Speaker 3: I think we've been able to attract a real strong

1097
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:55,520
Speaker 3: coalition around this work.

1098
00:55:56,600 --> 00:56:01,360
Speaker 1: Acts. Everybody acts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has a lot

1099
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:06,919
Speaker 1: figured out. And I'm raying that you guys remain your

1100
00:56:06,920 --> 00:56:11,080
Speaker 1: growth is. You can just see your systematic growth since

1101
00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:15,080
Speaker 1: the beginning to now, and I just have to believe

1102
00:56:16,239 --> 00:56:18,280
Speaker 1: with a guy with a brain as big as yours

1103
00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:20,759
Speaker 1: and a passion as big as yours, that you're going

1104
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:23,000
Speaker 1: to figure out how to scale it. Dude, I just

1105
00:56:24,080 --> 00:56:26,240
Speaker 1: I so bad want you to come back to Memphis

1106
00:56:26,239 --> 00:56:30,279
Speaker 1: and talk to people here. I absolutely believe in what

1107
00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:33,680
Speaker 1: you're doing. And most importantly, I can't thank you enough

1108
00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:35,760
Speaker 1: for sharing your story with the stuff.

1109
00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:38,440
Speaker 3: Well, thank thank you. It's been a real honor. I

1110
00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:41,520
Speaker 3: would I would certainly love to come back. And did

1111
00:56:41,600 --> 00:56:43,320
Speaker 3: you have do you have a second for one digression?

1112
00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:44,040
Speaker 1: Please?

1113
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:46,279
Speaker 3: One because we had something happen to this week that

1114
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:47,719
Speaker 3: was really special and I think good.

1115
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:50,600
Speaker 1: I wanted I was going to say close us with

1116
00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:54,799
Speaker 1: a cool story, so you you you transitioned well for us.

1117
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:57,760
Speaker 2: So we had an event earlier this week.

1118
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:01,480
Speaker 3: It was celebrating our four thousandth alumni homeowner and it

1119
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:03,600
Speaker 3: was a cool event. The mayor came out, he proclaimed

1120
00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:05,920
Speaker 3: it x Housing Day, the mayor of the City Milwaukee.

1121
00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:08,240
Speaker 3: It was really really fun. But we had a problem,

1122
00:57:08,239 --> 00:57:10,080
Speaker 3: which was, you know, we had press there and it

1123
00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:12,440
Speaker 3: was sort of a big event for us, and we

1124
00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:15,839
Speaker 3: had this amazing charismatic alumnus of the program who bought

1125
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:18,600
Speaker 3: a house about eighteen months previous, who was going to

1126
00:57:18,640 --> 00:57:22,680
Speaker 3: be speaking, and forty five minutes before this event event starts,

1127
00:57:22,760 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 3: she gets called into work. So we're not we're not

1128
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,360
Speaker 3: in the business of telling our alumni homeowners that they

1129
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:29,800
Speaker 3: need to put their jobs in jeopardy.

1130
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:31,880
Speaker 2: So, you know, she needs to go to work. Okay,

1131
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:32,600
Speaker 2: we we get that.

1132
00:57:32,640 --> 00:57:36,439
Speaker 1: We will have given her a pass, I know, right,

1133
00:57:36,560 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 1: I know, I know.

1134
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:40,160
Speaker 3: So so we're scrambling a little bit because you know,

1135
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:41,840
Speaker 3: it's not every day we've got events of the mayor,

1136
00:57:41,880 --> 00:57:44,000
Speaker 3: and we got pressed there, and we were hosting this

1137
00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:46,040
Speaker 3: event in the near west side of Milwaukee in a

1138
00:57:46,200 --> 00:57:49,560
Speaker 3: challenge neighborhood, but a neighborhood that's got some some some good,

1139
00:57:49,680 --> 00:57:52,960
Speaker 3: some good momentum. And the venue we were hosting the

1140
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:57,440
Speaker 3: event at had this caterer. She runs Fruition, which is

1141
00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:01,440
Speaker 3: a cafe and a catering company, and she she was

1142
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:04,920
Speaker 3: putting out the beautiful breakfast spread for us, and she

1143
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:08,160
Speaker 3: hears what's going on, and she tells one of my colleagues,

1144
00:58:08,760 --> 00:58:10,800
Speaker 3: do you know I actually I bought my house through

1145
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:12,760
Speaker 3: acts like ten years ago, so I don't know she

1146
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:15,360
Speaker 3: own and she owns, She owns the cafe, she owns

1147
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:17,800
Speaker 3: the catering company. So I don't know if I could

1148
00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:19,920
Speaker 3: be helpful, but you know, if if there's something I

1149
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,640
Speaker 3: can do to help, I'd like to help, righte. And

1150
00:58:23,240 --> 00:58:25,320
Speaker 3: so turns out, and this is the way I bet

1151
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:27,400
Speaker 3: Memphis is the same way. So it turns out once

1152
00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:30,120
Speaker 3: once our vice president of programs gets there, they wound up.

1153
00:58:30,120 --> 00:58:32,320
Speaker 3: They'd gone to high school together, so they like knew

1154
00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:34,920
Speaker 3: each other, right They went to John Marshall High School

1155
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:38,120
Speaker 3: in Milwaukee, and she wound up being like, you know,

1156
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:41,440
Speaker 3: the speaker at our event talking about how she bought

1157
00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:44,000
Speaker 3: her home. It was a home that was taken through

1158
00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:47,200
Speaker 3: tax foreclosure. She'd been renting it. The home got the

1159
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:49,720
Speaker 3: landlord lost it. She was renting it from the city.

1160
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:52,480
Speaker 3: She got introduced to acts. She never thought that she

1161
00:58:52,520 --> 00:58:54,560
Speaker 3: would be a homeowner before. You know, she didn't have

1162
00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:56,360
Speaker 3: She thought she'd have a homeowner, she said, when she

1163
00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:58,120
Speaker 3: had a husband right now, she didn't.

1164
00:58:58,160 --> 00:58:59,720
Speaker 2: She know, she wasn't married, she had a kid. She

1165
00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:00,760
Speaker 2: didn't think she could do it.

1166
00:59:01,120 --> 00:59:04,920
Speaker 3: But she's clearly an incredible person. She put in the

1167
00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:07,120
Speaker 3: hard work, she worked with our teams, she got ready,

1168
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:09,720
Speaker 3: she purchased the home, she fixed it up. The home

1169
00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:12,040
Speaker 3: is just a few blocks from the venue where she

1170
00:59:12,080 --> 00:59:15,040
Speaker 3: now owns the catering business. Right, and she was able

1171
00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:18,000
Speaker 3: to talk so passionately about, you know, the stability that

1172
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:22,360
Speaker 3: home ownership has offered her and her son. And it

1173
00:59:22,480 --> 00:59:25,320
Speaker 3: was so cool because I know these things are happening

1174
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:28,720
Speaker 3: sort of academically, and sometimes families will share their testimony,

1175
00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:31,000
Speaker 3: but this was like in the wild, right, This wasn't

1176
00:59:31,040 --> 00:59:36,560
Speaker 3: a planned thing. This is just this incredible entrepreneur and

1177
00:59:36,680 --> 00:59:40,080
Speaker 3: that we are this footnote in her story and hopefully

1178
00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:42,880
Speaker 3: you know where the services and the support we could

1179
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,520
Speaker 3: offer her could sort of help her take those next steps.

1180
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:47,800
Speaker 3: Who knows where she's going to be, you know where

1181
00:59:47,800 --> 00:59:49,760
Speaker 3: her business is going to be, where she's going to be.

1182
00:59:49,840 --> 00:59:52,280
Speaker 3: But it's amazing that we get to partner with families

1183
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:54,920
Speaker 3: like that. And as those numbers grow, you know, from

1184
00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:57,800
Speaker 3: the early days when it was the dozens of families

1185
00:59:57,800 --> 00:59:59,760
Speaker 3: a year and now it's hundreds of families a year.

1186
01:00:00,120 --> 01:00:02,760
Speaker 3: How can we create more of that opportunity in Milwaukee

1187
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:05,800
Speaker 3: and Beloite and in communities across the country so that

1188
01:00:05,880 --> 01:00:09,560
Speaker 3: more families can experience of the empowerment and the joy

1189
01:00:09,600 --> 01:00:10,880
Speaker 3: and the stability they can come.

1190
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:17,080
Speaker 1: From home ownership. Amen, Michael, I love what you do.

1191
01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:20,880
Speaker 1: I love what you guys have and thank you so

1192
01:00:21,000 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 1: much for sharing it and the last time them to

1193
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:24,600
Speaker 1: say it, promise me you're going to come.

1194
01:00:24,440 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 2: Back well do. Thank you so much. This has been a.

1195
01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:32,000
Speaker 1: Joy, it's been a real treat. And thank you for

1196
01:00:32,120 --> 01:00:35,640
Speaker 1: joining us this week. If Michael Gosman has inspired you

1197
01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:40,760
Speaker 1: in general or better yet, to take action by possibly

1198
01:00:40,880 --> 01:00:46,960
Speaker 1: exploring as Housing's model for you, community, donating to them,

1199
01:00:47,080 --> 01:00:50,960
Speaker 1: or something else entirely, let me know, I really do

1200
01:00:51,040 --> 01:00:53,240
Speaker 1: want to hear about it. You can write me anytime

1201
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:57,080
Speaker 1: at Bill at normal Folks dot us, and I promise

1202
01:00:57,120 --> 01:01:00,520
Speaker 1: you I will read it and I will respond. If

1203
01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:03,480
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this episode, share old friends and on social

1204
01:01:03,680 --> 01:01:08,680
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it. Join the

1205
01:01:08,800 --> 01:01:12,360
Speaker 1: army at normalfolks dot us. Consider becoming a premium member.

1206
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:15,800
Speaker 1: There any and all of these things that will hold

1207
01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:20,800
Speaker 1: us grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.

1208
01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:23,680
Speaker 1: Until next time, do what you can