Bernie Fallon

For the past 2 years, I have been representing a small employer in the Rochester metro area who provides zero interest home purchase loans to his employees. The rationale behind his generosity is to help stabilize the employee/family lives with home ownership and equity buildup. As you might realize, these new homeowners would never have qualified with traditional lenders due to their lower income situations. This win-win approach has resulted in 4 home purchases in the last 2 years, with a 5th soon to be transacted! All the stakeholders in this arrangement have been extremely pleased with their outcome. It has been a gratifying experience for me as a Realtor to work with these people and see how home ownership has improved their lives. My hat is off to this employer and his employees for working together towards a successful future!

I recently attended a seminar held by Murray Gould (www.PortCityPreservation.com) on the use of federal and New York State (NYS) tax credits to aid in the purchase and redevelopment of physically or functionally obsolete historic properties. Once a property has been registered with the National Register of Historic Places, a gateway to funding can be opened! Rehabilitation tax credits can be utilized to help offset the purchase and rehab of both residential and commercial properties. This tax credit is currently 20% at the federal level and hopefully soon to be 10% at the NYS level. There are also additional tax credit and grant programs which can serve to bridge financing gaps in the restoration of historic unique buildings. Some of these include a New Markets tax credit and grant programs such as Community Development Block and Main Street grants. These funding sources are an excellent method to aid in the reuse and redevelopment of structures which are architecturally significant. They are most often valuable to a municipality's history, character and image.

Please contact me with any questions, ideas or comments! Thanks for your time.