Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh

E66: Demystifying Home Ownership with NeighborWorks Western PA: Less Money Down Than You Think

• Leila Carter & Jarid Shipley • Episode 66

Share episode

What makes Jarid Shipley with NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania a good neighbor?

Forget everything you thought you knew about buying a home. In this eye-opening conversation with Jarid Shipley, Director of Operations at NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania, we demolish the biggest myth holding potential homeowners back: the 20% down payment requirement.

"There is this widespread belief that you have to have a significant amount of cash in order to purchase a house," Shipley explains. "And that is so completely and 100% not the case for the majority of homeowners in Pittsburgh and nationally." From programs offering assistance with as little as 1.5% down to grants worth $10-15,000 for first-time buyers, the financial barriers to homeownership are far lower than most people realize.

Founded in 1968 by Dorothy Richardson on Pittsburgh's North Side, NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania has evolved from a neighborhood stabilization initiative into a comprehensive housing resource serving 23 counties. Shipley, a self-described "reformed teacher," made the transition from classroom education to nonprofit work after recognizing the critical gap in financial literacy education. "We weren't teaching children basic financial literacy... but the other thing that was really shocking to me was that we also weren't teaching that to adults."

What makes NeighborWorks truly special is their commitment to unbiased, client-centered guidance through every stage of the homeownership journey. Their HUD-certified counselors provide completely free services ranging from first-time homebuyer education to foreclosure prevention and wealth-building strategies. "We don't sell anything, we don't push anything," Shipley emphasizes. "Our goal is literally getting you to your goal through information, assistance, whatever we can do."

Whether you're just beginning to consider homeownership or looking to leverage the equity in your current property, visit NeighborWorksWPA.org to connect with this valuable community resource and discover how their expertise can help make your housing dreams a reality.

To learn more about NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania go to: 

https://www.neighborworkswpa.org/

NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania

(412) 281-9773


Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a housing counseling and financial literacy agency? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Jared Shipley, with NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania. Jared, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going pretty well. Thanks for having me on the podcast.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for being here. We're excited to learn all about you and your business, so please tell us more about your company.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I am the Director of Operations for NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania.

Speaker 3:

We have been around since 1968. We were actually founded by a woman named Dorothy Richardson on the north side who really was looking around the North side and looking at her neighbors and she realized that it seemed to be, the common thing was to demolish housing instead of helping residents to rate, retain their houses and to to help flourish in the community. And so she she got together a coalition and she strong arms and bankers into giving some funding and because of that they were able to do a lot of renovation and housing stabilization and all of the things that we look for in our communities to help save the north side. So she was an amazing lady and we're very blessed that she took the initiative and was able to start that program. If you look at what used to be Randy Land, isn't that no longer very sad? But across the street from what used to be Randy Land there's a historic marker that actually commemorates where Dorothy Richardson's first office was when she started Neighborhood Housing Services.

Speaker 3:

So we're always very proud in Pittsburgh that we are the original NeighborWorks organization because the model has expanded. They took Dorothy's model and kind of replicated it in other cities, to the point that in 1978, it got recognized federally as NeighborWorks America and currently there are over 250 NeighborWorks affiliates throughout all 50 states, puerto Rico and Washington DC that do a variety of things to try to help impact homeowners and homebuyers and also to stabilize and protect communities. So it's always exciting that I get to work for an organization that started this big, massive foundation that now has over 250 affiliates. So it's very exciting. So we really we're just very blessed every day that you know, we get to, we get to help people realize their dream of homeownership. And and you know there's, there's nothing better than that Watching somebody open the door to their first house. That that makes that makes all the anxiety and the struggle that often comes with homeownership, that that moment just washes it all away.

Speaker 2:

So what a special movement to be a part of. So how did you get into this business, Jared?

Speaker 3:

That's so. I originally was a high school history and financial literacy teacher. I did that for a decade and one of the things I was noticing was that we were not teaching children basic financial literacy, things like budgeting, things like the terms that go that get associated with credit, how credit works, how all of that aspect works. You know how to generate wealth, do all those things. But the other thing that was really shocking to me was that we also weren't teaching that to adults, so they weren't getting it in their formal education and then they weren't getting it outside of their formal education, and so I decided that I could either complain about it or I could make a change and fix it. So that's when I switched from being a teacher over into the nonprofit space to try to really make an impact on people's ability to realize.

Speaker 3:

You know what has kind of become part of the American dream and that you know homeownership has always been seen as like one of those milestones in your life. Right Now it's changing. You know every generation sees it differently and it morphs a little bit, but there's still a sizable amount of the population that still views being a homeowner and having property as one of those things that you do as a way to improve your financial health. So that's how I got into it. I've been doing it now for six years. It's great work. I love doing it. I really. I enjoy connecting with people on their homeownership journey. So that's my story. I call myself a reformed teacher, so that's great.

Speaker 2:

So what is one myth or misconception in your industry that you'd like to address today?

Speaker 3:

Oh, this is amazing. Thank you for asking this question. There is this widespread belief that you have to have a significant amount of cash in order to purchase a house. Most people it translates to the 20% down rule that people believe you have to have 20% of the purchase price in order to put down from your own money in order to be able to buy the house. And that is so completely and 100% like. That is not the case for the majority of homeowners in Pittsburgh and nationally.

Speaker 3:

There are so many programs that are through lending institutions, through nonprofits, through government agencies, that will absolutely make it so that you don't have to come up with that large financial investment at the front end. It can be done through a variety of ways. It can be done through loan programs that lending institutions so banks, brokers, all of those credit unions as well that they can design loan programs that don't require that 20% down payment. And that is a huge game changer for people who are especially, you know, going into their first home like to be able to build up that amount of cash on hand. To be able to put it down on a house is sometimes, in current economic times, is just not feasible over the short term. So we work specifically with a bunch of lending institutions and a bunch of philanthropy, philanthropic organizations. That allows us to also help people not have to put 20% down.

Speaker 3:

There's a bunch of programs where you can put as little as 1.5% down. There's bank lending programs that will actually prevent you from having to put anything down because they will give you some kind of seller assist or some kind of program. So that seems to be the biggest perceived hurdle that people have is that they just I'm never going to get 20% of the house that I want, so you know why would I even try? That's that's not a barrier at this point. There are so many programs that can help you that if you just get in touch with the organizations that are running these or that have information about these, that we can connect you and help you get into your first house. So the 20% down rule is a fallacy. It's not true, and yet it still gets repeated over and over. I actually saw a TikTok this morning talking about how you can save your 20% to get your house down, and I just just makes me grimace.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Would you be able to name drop some of the most helpful or popular programs to help people that can't come up with that 3%? Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there's a bunch of organizations. There's a program called First Front Door that offers large grants to first-time homebuyers. That program typically kicks off in the early to mid the house and they provide a significant amount of funding in the form of a grant, so you don't have to pay it back. It's not a loan. There's no interest on it. The problem with that program is it receives a set amount of funding every year and when it runs out the program's over for the year. So in that instance it's kind of a. It's kind of I don't know what the word I'm looking for is it's basically a timing thing. You know you have to be ready to buy your house within the timeframe that. First Front Door is online and has funding. So that that's one. I would say.

Speaker 3:

Every, yeah, I can say every major lending institution that has a significant presence in pittsburgh. So all the ones that you think of that. You see all the bank branches. You know everything, from pnc chase, west banco, first national citizens, um, um, brentwood bank, uh, ssb, um, you know all of the, the major ones. I know I'm forgetting, but they're all of them. They all at this point. Every single one of them, to a T, offers some kind of credit for first time home buyers. So they don't advertise it a lot, although they're getting much better at advertising the programs that they offer.

Speaker 3:

But I would say if you have a lender that you like, it doesn't hurt you in any way to just go ask them what kind of programs they have for first time homebuyers.

Speaker 3:

And I mean we have, we have lenders that we work with and we work with all of them that are offering like 10, 15 thousand dollar grants to first time homebuyers because they believe in the idea of helping people get into stable housing and protect communities.

Speaker 3:

So but I mean it's a you know I'll take a little liberty and do a shout out to our organization and that we keep a comprehensive list of every program that's ongoing, what the status of it is, what the funding level of it is, every bank program that they offer, every philanthropic program. We keep a very comprehensive list that we update all the time and so any one of the customers that comes to see us we're able to give them those resources so that they can start to connect with those. It's actually at this point it's kind of become, um, a point of pride for us that we don't have a lot of clients that come to see us that end up purchasing a house, that don't receive some form of assistance, and the majority of the time it's not from us. It's from an organization that we've worked with, that we've connected them to. So that's also something that we're very proud of is that we're good at connecting people with the best way to get them assistance, to get them into their house.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. Now is your target market, specifically first-time home owners.

Speaker 3:

So we focus on first-time home buyers because they tend to be the ones that need the most help and guidance, and that's not to say they're not capable, it's just to say that they've never done it before, and consistently. We see psychological surveys that say that buying a house is like one of the top three most stressful events you'll ever have in your life, and so we tend to put a lot of our resources into that bucket. However, we are not exclusive to that, so we have a whole range of housing and financial services that we provide to basically anyone in the 23 counties of western Pennsylvania, so we operate everywhere, from Johnstown to all the way up to Erie, all the way down to the West Virginia-Maryland border and then all the way over to Ohio, so anywhere in there we're set up to do virtual services, online engagement, all that stuff. We also do in-person events throughout Allegheny County and all the surrounding counties as well, but the short answer to your question is no. But to the short answer to your question is no.

Speaker 3:

We we don't just do first time home buyers. We also have an entire education and counseling line for people who currently own their house but are looking for information on things like how to make it more energy efficient, how to generate wealth using the asset that is your property and the wealth that you've created in it, how to prevent foreclosure. And then also NeighborWorks America and NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania. Both of us were on the front lines of the foreclosure crisis in 2007. We shifted a lot of our resources into trying to help people preserve their house and stay out of foreclosure and have a significant hit on their credit. Our first priority is always getting people into stable housing and then keeping them in stable housing.

Speaker 3:

So we basically, from the moment you think you might potentially want to be a homeowner all the way through the end of your life, we have products and services that can help you with education, with counseling. You know, like, if you come and have a question like I think I want to do some renovations on my house, what's going to be beneficial in terms of, like, increasing the resale value, we can absolutely help you with that. We work with a whole bunch of experts in their field that can provide you insight into all of that. And the best part of it is is it's all free. I mean, we never charge customers for our services. That's just. You know, we're a financial, a financial literacy company. It just seems a little odd that we would. We would charge people to help them improve their finances.

Speaker 2:

There's so much to learn in this space. You know, whether people are learning about borrowing against the value of their home, or just trying to avoid foreclosure, or first time home ownership, or just growing your portfolio. I mean, have you ever thought about starting a podcast to talk to all of these different people in these different scenarios?

Speaker 3:

I would, I would love to, and it's been on our to-do list for a couple of years now. The main issue we have one is if we're going to do it. We want to do it really well, and we have so many good models such as you, such as there's a couple of other podcasts in Pittsburgh that are very, very high quality, very good. So if we're going to do it, we'd like to do it well. The other problem is is that we just are involved in so many things that are time sensitive. Right now. You know, we're working on programs with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, we're working on programs with the Allegheny County Housing Authority, working on programs with the URA. We do all of these things and I wish I had more hours in the day, but we just we don't have the time to do it well. But that's not to say that you know, in the future we might not go down that road.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so what else do you do for fun outside of work?

Speaker 3:

I have. I have two children. I have a 10 year old girl and a 12 year old boy, and they are they are immensely fun. They they've gotten to the age where they're like self-sufficient, so like they can, you know, like go get their own food and do that stuff. So now it becomes like I get to be the parent that's not absolutely responsible for their physical well-being all the time. They can self-sustain, and so that's really interesting to see them watch and grow into the little humans that they're going to become. So I enjoy that. I'm a huge baseball fan. I get a lot of flack, but I am not a Pirates fan, but I am a huge baseball fan and I I try to get to, you know, at least a bunch of games I'm. I'm currently on a quest to visit every major league ballpark, which I know is a very like 40 year old man thing to do, but but that's, that's my current quest.

Speaker 2:

I got I got eight more to go. So yeah, I think PNC.

Speaker 3:

Park will still be the best, though we have the best view of the city. Oh, hands down. Pnc is the best stadium in baseball. Like hands down.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so, Jared. Please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania. One thing they should remember about NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania.

Speaker 3:

One thing you should remember about NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania is that we are here to help and that we don't sell anything. So the information you're going to get if you interact with us is going to be non-biased. It's going to be in your best interest, because all of our counselors are highly trained, certified, trauma-informed in all aspects of financial literacy, homeownership, foreclosure mitigation, rental issues, landlord mediation, anything related to housing. We we are, and should be, your first call because all of our services are free. We don't sell anything, we don't push anything. Our goal is literally.

Speaker 3:

I can tell you the first thing that's going to happen is if you go into a session with one of our HUD certified housing counselors, the first question they're going to ask is okay, what's your goal? Why are you here? And then everything after that is going to be based around the idea of getting you to that goal through information, through assistance, through whatever we can do. And then, once you buy your house, we're still there. You can always call us with questions. You know you're talking about leveraging your wealth, or generational wealth, or title issues or any of it. We are here to help. That's the takeaway.

Speaker 2:

What a valuable resource and how can people learn more about NeighborWorks?

Speaker 3:

The best way is to go through our website, which is NeighborWorksWPAorg. There's a whole bunch of information on there. There's a way you can actually get directly connected to our services. Through the online portal, you can reach out to us if you have questions or anything specific. That's the best way to get ahold of us. Excellent.

Speaker 2:

Well, Jared, I really appreciate your time today and having you as a guest on the show. We wish you and the organization the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you very much.

Speaker 1:

I really appreciate the time and exposure. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppittsburghcom. That's gnppittsburghcom, or call 412-561-9956.