The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
The Big Beautiful Bill...Will it actually help homebuyers?
The long-awaited "Big Beautiful Bill" has finally passed, and it's reshaping America's construction and housing landscape in ways both expected and surprising. Donnie and Eric dive deep into this massive legislation to unpack what it really means for contractors, developers, homebuyers, and the future of housing affordability.
As rain continues to plague construction schedules across the Carolinas, Donnie shares invaluable insights about an unexpected side effect – widespread bathroom ceiling mold caused by malfunctioning vent fans. This practical advice alone could save homeowners thousands in unnecessary roof repairs when the real culprit is a simple damper issue.
The heart of the conversation examines the BBB's most impactful provisions. Contractors will celebrate the 100% equipment deduction that's already enabling business expansion, while developers gain advantages through increased Low Income Housing Tax Credits and streamlined permitting processes. The hosts thoughtfully debate whether these benefits will ultimately reach homebuyers or remain primarily with developers.
Perhaps most forward-thinking is the provision allowing 529 savings accounts to fund skilled trade education. With associate degrees in construction technology costing just $1,400 per semester at North Carolina tech schools, this opens crucial pathways into trades desperately seeking qualified workers. As Donnie notes, "You have no idea how far you're separated from the rest of the construction population just by being able-bodied, smart, having a valid driver's license, and showing up on time."
For those discouraged by the seeming lack of direct assistance for first-time homebuyers, the hosts point listeners toward valuable resources through the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. The conversation concludes with cautious optimism that while the initial benefits favor developers and production, a stronger construction sector will eventually create more affordable housing options.
Ready to navigate the changing construction landscape? Visit thecarolinacontractor.com to explore past episodes and submit your housing questions directly to Donnie.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard. Well, there's been so much rain lately we decided to come inside and record a show. It is the Carolina Contractor Show. My name's Eric Smith. Mr Donnie Blanchard, how's the weather affect you? Because I work inside.
Speaker 2:I wish I did some days, but the workload is not the problem. The dry days to get it done is what we're up against right now, so pleased to say that we're booked out for months. We just can't get a dry two or three days to do anything. So I had a mixture of inside and outside work with the roofing company. Of course, you can't open up someone's roof when there's rain in the forecast every single day after noon. Anyway, we're getting there. We got some dry weather ahead. I'm crossing my fingers and just hoping that we can make some progress.
Speaker 2:You coming across anything weird when you have days and days of rain, oh, yeah, Other than the leak calls coming in, you know anything that could be made to leak during this historic rain that we had? What five, six weeks ago? The week after the 4th, everybody came back from vacation and that Sunday, I want to say, the statistic that I heard was it was a one in 1,000 year rain and then there was ath of 1% chance that it would actually happen and it did. So I'm hoping that we're good for another thousand years because I don't want to live like this for the rest of my life. It's just, it's not sustainable. I can work around the clock for a couple of weeks at a time, but man, it's been hard and funny situations that we've encountered. To answer your question, Several things. We get the call.
Speaker 2:When anything shows up on a ceiling, everybody points the finger at the roofer. So you kind of got to go out and I have a little bit of an advantage on most of the roofers in saying that I was a building science major and then I'm also a general contractor, so I kind of understand how your house works top to bottom. And when they point the finger at the roof and I go into their bathroom, for instance, and I see, you know there's mold all over the ceiling and very consistent. It's not like you could pinpoint a place where it started. What I found is in bathrooms and toilet rooms, which are, you know, the little single toilet off of a bathroom with its own door and own vent fan. A lot of people have been experiencing mold on the ceiling, and when I see it I know exactly what it is, because basically it's been a widespread problem, and heating and air guys will tell you the same thing. They said that they've gotten several calls with the same diagnosis, and what's been happening is your bath fan basically has a damper right on the top of the fan and it also has another damper that either goes out of the roof or it goes out of the soffit, meaning the overhangs on the house, and so both have to work in conjunction with one another to make that thing operate like it's supposed to. What's been happening is either one of the two or both have been getting stuck, and they're usually just a cheap piece of plastic. When you buy it from the big box store, or even some of the plumbing supply house or electrical companies sell it with a cheap damper.
Speaker 2:What's happening is it's allowing that hot, moist air, and it's been. There's been more moisture in the air recently than we I can even think of in recent years. So it has a straight path into that bathroom, because if you're not running the fan, you know it's just stagnant there and that hot, moist air is basically sitting on that ceiling. You know heat rises, so that air being hotter than what the condition is inside. It's a perfect recipe. And I tell people all the time that mold spores are everywhere. The recipe for mold growth is you have to have moisture, mold spores and a cellulose or some kind of backer, and that cellulose is the paper on the drywall. So perfect recipe on the ceiling of a bathroom toilet room. And that's exactly what's been happening and I've seen mold patterns that look like beautiful tattoo art.
Speaker 2:But uh, the side note there, if you're pretty handy and you want to fix it yourself, you're going to have to squirrel through the attic. You know, get over there and they make a spring loaded damper. That's pretty universal, It'll fit most bath fans and you can get that pretty darn cheap and fix it yourself. Otherwise, I recommend calling an HVAC guy because that's his world for duct work and the ventilation out of the bathroom. So, um, but yeah, definitely something that we haven't seen this much of that problem ever really, and uh, pretty easy fix, but it usually gets bad before you even see it. So, uh, definitely something to address.
Speaker 1:And I was just thinking, donnie, if, uh, the motor can come on and the fan and you can hear it running, but it doesn't mean it's ventilating properly. So you could do a simple test if if you're a smoker, I guess, or if you get a, a candle and blow it out, or if you're addicted to the chronic, you just need a little smoke, little smoke trail or something right under that vent to make sure you see that vent is pulling it up and out, to verify, because I never knew, until you just started talking about it, that the culprit of mold on a ceiling could be a faulty venting system from a ceiling fan, because we assume they work easy and simple.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, and I think you talked about that one time. You had a scenario where you had a vent fan in a bathroom that blew the opposite direction. Am I remembering that?
Speaker 1:right, it was a replacement because an old one started chattering and I put it in and it was a plug and play, basically. Another simple way to test it is take a single ply of toilet paper and just lay it across the vent and if the fan's strong enough it's going to hold it up there. And it blew it straight down and I realized that one in a million chance, I guess it was wired reverse so it was blowing down even though it was installed in the correct direction. So I returned it, got another one and used the um. I used the stick of like incense or something from I don't know my wife's hippie days Um, and it took it right out. So I knew it was going the right direction, cause it's not a huge thing. You notice like it's not going to blow down on you, but smoke will definitely show what the place that steam would go and moisture would go to.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you said that A lot of people confuse the function of a bathroom fan for smell and those are made for removing moisture from that air because you know it's a wet area, showers, sinks, it all generates too much moisture to be trapped in that bathroom. But people think that they're used for smell and that's not. I mean it helps with the smell but not the primary function.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's just be honest. If you want to help alleviate that secondary problem of smell, two words courtesy flush, courtesy flush, and then that solves so many problems. Have you heard of a product called Poo-Pourri?
Speaker 2:Yes, I've heard of that Go ahead tell them.
Speaker 1:I'll get right back off of it, but it works like it's supposed to. It does. I highly recommend A couple drops and you're ready to get out of the bathroom and not offend anybody. All right, let's jump into today's show, donnie, it is the Carolina Contractor Show, and I want you to go into the Wayback Machine by going to our website, thecarolinacontractorcom, because back in November of 2024, we did a show where we talked about who would win the election, what would they have effect-wise on, especially not just the country, but especially construction and housing, and we addressed what Harris might do and what Trump might do. And, of course, donald Trump won the election. So we really listed a lot of things he was saying he would like to do to help housing, construction, the economy. Well, now we have the big beautiful bill. It's now the big beautiful act because it got passed in July and we've gotten to see a lot of things that are in this that could have a positive impact. Well, is it big, is it beautiful? We're going to find out. Some of it sounds really good, some of it we talked off the air. Donnie, I think people are going to have to be patient for things to happen. I mean it just passed in July and it's going to take some time to really get rolling. But hit the website, thecarolinacontractorcom. We've got all our shows in podcast form, including that one If you want to listen to that. You can also find us on YouTube. We record the shows and put them up there, so there's a direct link to the YouTube page.
Speaker 1:If you have a question about your house, maybe you want to know if your ceiling fan or your vent fan in your bathroom is working, or something about your roof, as Donnie was talking about, or wet spots on the ceiling, whatever it is. Click on the ask the contractor button and Donnie will answer those questions. The reason Donnie is qualified to answer them is because he is a general contractor. He also owns SureTop Roofing. That's why he talks about how busy he is in the roofing business. So if you have a question about your roof, another perfect guy to contact, same one in the same.
Speaker 1:And again, anything you need to know about your house and need to know about the show you can find it there carolinac, carolina contractorcom. What do I do here Aside from make smart ass remarks? Uh, I do inside sales for home builders and uh, wilson and Greenville, so I sell to suppliers or sell to builders like Donnie as a supplier. I do not have a business, though, with uh Donnie at all. We just do the show together, so I don't scratch his back and vice versa.
Speaker 2:I think it may be only a matter of time. E because man like you went from radio DJ station engineer to building supply. Guy slash know it all. You're getting well-versed in this area. I wouldn't put it past you to build a house out in Wilson for anything.
Speaker 1:So I can't divulge everything. Our company is moving Wilson's getting that baseball stadium and they're basically kicking us out. So we're getting a brand new facility on a bigger piece of land in Wilson and a much better location. Our business is going to expand on things we will offer and I'm going to be heading up one of those as a manager, so that'll come out later, but lots of big things happen in that.
Speaker 1:So, to address your direct point, donnie, would I, five years ago, seen what I'm doing today? No, not at all, not at all. It's weird how you just let God take control of the reins and where he'll put you. God is good, my friend All the time and all the time. God is good, my friend All the time and all the time. God is good. All right, so let's jump into this.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do a quick overview, if you don't mind, donnie, of the Big Beautiful Act, the BBA. It was passed again in July and it's massive, as is every federal government bill and program. It addresses, among other things, taxes, spending, housing shortages, construction, homeowner and renter benefits. It's between 2.4 and 4.1 trillion over 10 years. One thing it does is it aims to boost affordable housing and construction. But the first half of this and this is why I said people want to be patient. Is it kind of favors developers and higher income home owners? But what we're going to do today is focus on the big impacts it's going to have on building construction and people looking to buy a home. I like it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to nerd out a little bit here, so I want people to be patient with me and that would mean you also be patient with me, donnie. It's going to increase a thing called the low income housing tax credit. The LIHTC increases it by it by 12.5%. Here's the definition I found for the nerds out there. Developers use the Low Income Housing Tax Credit by applying for credits through state housing agencies, which allocate them based on competitive criteria. Once awarded, developers claim the tax credits annually over 10 years to offset federal income taxes, reducing project costs. That's a good thing. The credits covering up to 70% of eligible costs for new construction or rehabs will attract private investment, enabling developers to finance affordable housing projects for low-income tenants while maintaining financial stability. In layman's terms benefits developers who can build low income housing without their company going into the red and having to close down the negative. The developers get the benefit it would be on the developer to give that benefit to the home buyer. I'm not saying this is bad, but most developers are going to do what Donnie.
Speaker 2:Most developers are cold-blooded dude and they aren't going to pass the savings down to what would end up being the renter or the buyer of a townhome or an apartment or whatever these things end up being. And so, yeah, that's just my speculation. There may be something if they're smart, they may put a requirement in the contract that makes them pass the savings on to the people. But then, if that's the case, what's the incentive for the developer to take the project on in the first place?
Speaker 1:And if we've got a shorting housing shortage easy for me to say we need the houses built so that spurs developers to do it Now. They can't build it in these frou-frou developments with names that sound like you're in a European city. It's designed to benefit builders and developers who are going to build in areas that are more impoverished or not as well off, so it's not going to be also just downtown or urban or suburban areas. A third of the opportunity zones is what they call them are in rural areas, so that would be houses out in the country, out in the sticks, like where Donnie lives. So I personally think if it's going to help boost home building and construction, that's going to also create more jobs and benefit the economy. So I do see it overall is a plus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, same here. I think the only takeaway that I saw as a negative. It's not really a negative, but I was just hoping for something a little different. Personally speaking, we've got younger folks in the family who are right on the cusp of homeownership or building their first house ever and wanting to start families, and I was kind of hoping that there would be a better avenue for homeownership versus the rental approach. And so I think what this does is it just makes, it puts a roof over a lot of people's heads and for for an affordable price. But back to your point. If it doesn't pass the savings of the of the big beautiful bill incentive down to the end user, then you know, like you mentioned before, the developers are the only one reaping the benefits.
Speaker 1:But I do want to say I think we're expecting a lot of things to happen quickly. The bill just passed, as I said earlier in July. The president's only been in office seven, eight months, right, so I'm hoping there's going to be a second tier to this later on. That will help homebuyers, especially younger homebuyers, because we've got to get the houses built, then we can get the people in them. I would love it to happen faster, but the wheels of government move slowly Now. One thing that might speed it up and you've definitely got a position on this, donnie is regulatory relief. It makes it easier to fund affordable housing by cutting the required bond financing for it and speeding up permits. So when you apply for a permit, it could save days or weeks of time to get that project going, and that's got to be good for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, less red tape is always better. But I will say that I watched a documentary I think it was on A&E, about the Trump family and just how they got started land acquisition. On A&E about the Trump family and just how they got started land acquisition. And you know, donald Trump, when he basically got the reins to the family fortune, he took a few swings for the fences and which I thought was very bold. You know nothing crazy. But part of the documentary highlighted the fact that he went round and round with the municipalities as far as just getting permits and a lot of people trying to shut him down and get in his way. You know, everywhere he turned he had a blockade. So I want to say that there may be something personal behind that part of the bill, because he's just been through it as a real estate developer and I'll say that if that trickles down to the little guy, then I'll take it all day long because less red tape is better, less red tape is better.
Speaker 2:Personally, I will say that my experience with the local municipalities that we deal with in central North Carolina it has gotten exponentially harder.
Speaker 2:All love to my inspector, listeners and office staff at the municipalities, at the county and the city, because, depending on where you pull in permits, some places have a very streamlined approach and some places are just all over the place and they're all incorporating a portal system.
Speaker 2:So you have to go through a portal, you have to upload all these documents, and some people just take the documents as a JPEG or a PDF, just whatever you can get, because they understand that. You got a bunch of good old boys out here and you know, imagine a 70 year old contractor who's having to submit everything online and he's not that good with the computer. I think that there needs to be. There needs to be a level of internet experience, and it's not that crazy for us. We're we're pretty savvy, but you could shut a lot of people down because they can't even get a permit from not being able to operate through your, your online system. So, um, but, but they've all tried to go that route in a two to three year span. So I just think that, um, this is a good thing for them and this will help out a lot of people who are not comfortable with all the online systems.
Speaker 1:You know, donnie, I have some contractors that will call me up and say, hey, can you get a price on metal roofing, or I got to get some custom cut lumber, can you get me a quote? Just call me back and leave a message and I'll call their cell phone and their mailbox isn't set up and or it's full and I'll tell them later when I see them in person and they go. Yeah, I can't even figure out how to set up my cell phone. So you're exactly right, they have trouble navigating the bond process of a government. They don't. If they can't work their cell phone, they ain't got no chance with a red tape. Yeah, all right, let's skip the permit part and go to the contractors. I'm not well if you own your own construction company.
Speaker 1:I think this is huge and I want to address it real quick.
Speaker 1:This is huge and I want to address it real quick 100% deduction for equipment and buildings starting this past January 19th 2025.
Speaker 1:And here's how it works A business can deduct the full cost of eligible equipment, like machinery and vehicles and computers and software and cell phones and certain real estate improvements, like the qualified improvement property, which I'll explain in a second.
Speaker 1:They can deduct that in the year they are placed in service, rather than depreciating them over time. This applies to new and used assets and you have a recovery period of 20 years or less if you bought it January 19th of this year and the QPP, the qualified production property, is non-residential buildings that are used for manufacturing, production, refining, like a factory, qualify for full expensing if construction begins between January 20th of this year, which is obviously months ago, and the end of the year 2029, and it's placed in service by 2031. You can't use office space or hotels. But basically it's saying we want you to build manufacturing which is mobile home parts, we want you to build manufacturing which is mobile home parts. Or if you're an LVL builder and you have inside facilities or the trucks and the vehicles to do things, I think that's a great thing. And you're somebody who does deductions, do you see that as a really good positive to be able to deduct immediately?
Speaker 2:Oh for sure. And did you mention the part about did I hear that right? You consolidated to the equipment write-off as well as the production facility. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah. So on the equipment rental trucks, skid steers, trailers, anything that helps improve or further your business is deductible all at once, versus over time a little bit every year, and so that's a big help. As a matter of fact, we took advantage of that when we found out about it.
Speaker 2:I've been flirting with buying a new skid steer, so I just took the plunge and bought a new Bobcat. So it's been a big help already. And you know it's a little extra work to haul that thing from job to job. But not having to rely on a subcontractor to come move a cube of brick or a pallet of mortar or just kind of tidy up things on the job site, it's been a big help, makes your job sites look a lot better, and I think that a lot, of, a lot of contractors are always on the fence about that. Do you buy that skid steer, do you? You know, do you, do you just, do you just, you know, rely on other people? And in terms of a company expansion, it's definitely changed the game for us because we just added an extra tool to our arsenal. But the other part about the incentive to if you have a production facility where you build LVLs, like you said, or maybe not even LVLs I know that's a big to do to take on most of the trust companies, or they have the production facility to build the LVLs on site, and so that'd be a big undertaking. But just from a smaller standpoint, if you were doing something that contributed to another phase of the construction process on a smaller level, that is, for somebody to have a foot in the door just to be able to do that and the government get behind them, I think is all attributed to them.
Speaker 2:Encouraging domestic production. That's probably my favorite part of the bill. That he's saying hey guys, we got your back, you want to produce it here? You know we're going, you know American made all the way and we'll help you get the facility. You put the qualified people and equipment in place and we will do. I think it's more than help. I don't think it's just a little nudge. I think that's half the battle, what they're offering to do. So out of everything that I like about the bill, that's probably my favorite and that pushes.
Speaker 1:That doesn't push you over to the fence, it just kicks your butt over it to make that decision and go. I'm going to build this Now. This is what I think. I'm going to build this Now, this is what I think. I'm married to a teacher, so I'm a little biased in this. But there's something else that I want to get into. So a lot of people out there know who Mike Rowe is. He's the voice of Dirty Jobs. He was on the show. He's the voice of Deadliest Catch. A lot of people don't know this, but I don't know. Maybe two every three months, donnie, we hang out with Mike Rowe and we have a couple beers and we just talk shop.
Speaker 1:Mike pointed out something a month and a half ago that I thought was brilliant. He said back in the Barack Obama era of the presidency. He basically said you need to get out of manufacturing. Those jobs aren't coming back. You need to learn to code. It became a left-wing thing to say to a manufacturing company or the evil blue-collar worker company that shut down well Bish, you better learn to code, we told you. Well, mike Rowe pointed out guess what? Now we hear AI is taking over all the coding jobs because the majority of people can't work as fast and they need to take up blue collar jobs because AI can't do it.
Speaker 1:Well, after you and I flew back first class thanks to Mike Holm, we find out in the big beautiful act, 529 savings accounts, which are what you put money into and then can use for educational expenses, are now going to be allowed to fund skilled trade training like carpentry, plumbing, electrical certifications, things like that.
Speaker 1:So if you're a kid coming out of high school and your parents have been saving up a 529 fund for you and there's $10,000 in it and you're like but I don't want to go to a four-year college, I want to become an electrician and then own my own company, or you can now use that money. So I did a little legwork very cursory, not in detail, but I looked at associates in applied science for building construction technology degree from the average tech school in North Carolina. It's just 1400 bucks a semester. That's 230, some dollars a month. You're done in no more than two years. So, all that being said, you're done in no more than two years. So, all that being said, donnie, how in demand would a young guy or girl coming out of a tech school with an associate's degree in construction technology be valuable in your world.
Speaker 2:Very much so. I think the most popular topic that I hear across the board is that you can't find good help. You can't find people that want to work. And you know I have wonderful guys. They've been with me for almost two decades and I have somewhere for them to go every single day, every week, every month, every year, and they get a paycheck every single week. So there's value in that and I know they stay with me because I'm loyal. I pay them well, but not everybody's like that and a lot of people aren't like that because they can't find the qualified help.
Speaker 2:What are you going to do? Pay a guy more than he's worth just because you need somebody there you know to to hold their hand, and so they have a heartbeat. They have a heartbeat and a driver's license, and that's sad. That that's I will.
Speaker 2:I don't mean to get off subject, but I told buddy you have no idea how far you're separated from the rest of the construction population. All because you're able-bodied, you're smart, you have a valid driver's license and you're a legal citizen. Boom, right there, and you show up to work on time. Oh, he's the first guy at the shop every morning. I love it. He works for my dad still, and he beats everybody to the shop almost every morning. I'd say he's I don't know, batting over 900 with that and I love to rub that in that the young new guy is setting the example for the older guys. But no, I think that that is a great incentive and any way to get more experienced tradespeople in our world is only going to help, because If they're increasing the demand for the construction, there's got to be the qualified people to actually do the work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've always said blue collar jobs are treated like the redheaded stepchild. But my how the turns have tabled, because now those are the guys that are making upper five figures to one hundred thousand dollars just a couple of years into the job, because it's so in demand. And I ain't going to put shingles on a roof or put plumbing under a house.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you just went back to your DJ days. By the way, you said my have the turns have tabled. You were thinking of turntables. Yeah, I liked it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I never you know, I never used turntable. I was straight into, uh, what was called carts and CDs and then computer but but but we're not going down that road. So there is a not beautiful thing about this bill. Before we wrap up and I want to get some of your opinions on something when it comes to housing, energy credits are going to get phased out. These are tax credits for eco-friendly construction like solar insulation, and they're going to be phased out by 2028. That could increase the cost for energy efficient homes and we've done many shows at the website thecarolinacontractorcom you can listen to about the advantages of energy efficient appliances and devices to save you money. But the OBBA terminates the energy efficient home improvement credit after December 31st 2025. That's $3,200 for upgrades for qualifying items like heat pumps and windows. That's going to go away, but you still have several months to do this. So if you've got a heat pump that's over 10 years old or something that's going to qualify for this deduction we talked earlier about making a decision get off the fence. This is the time to do it. Go get that new system. Get the tax break. Need new energy efficient windows If they qualify, do that now, because those things are going away.
Speaker 1:I kind of wondered if it was a stab at Elon Musk when he and Trump had their little sissy girl slap fight and separated like he was. Like, I'll show you and get rid of those. But I think overall for this bill, is it big? Yes, it's massive. It's going to affect housing and construction. Is it beautiful? Developers seem at least the first leg of this to get the advantage. I don't think you're going to pass it down to home buyers. Higher income homeowners also benefit from this. But construction jobs should pop up. More domestic building that's always a good thing. The trade-off I think you get more housing done, but the eco credits hurt and if the prices still don't come down enough and we don't get enough rate cuts, younger home buyers are going to kind of be stuck in that and I think you've got a few ideas because you're kind of in that situation. It's closer to you right now about younger people trying to buy a house today and you did a little legwork on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it hits home. Man, I'd say that that's that. That was what I was really hoping for when I was, when I thought we would do the show. I said I'm going to dig into this big beautiful bill stuff and there's going to be so many things that are going to help me and my family personally, because you know my kids are we got the first wave of them that are all you know, starting families needing houses and and, of course, kicking them out of the nest is a real thing. So, um, you know, uh, stay at home kid is, is, um, not something anybody wants to hear. Stay at home mom's one thing, but stay at home teenager or stay at home adult is not cool. So one thing, but stay-at-home teenager or stay-at-home adult is not cool.
Speaker 2:So there's some good information and all this pertains to North Carolina homeowners or homebuyers, because I thought that would be pertinent to our listeners. And basically there's a website, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, so it's nchfacom. It's not a gov website through the government, but they have a collection of all the most popular programs that are still available. So the big beautiful bill didn't cut out these programs, especially on a state level. So, as discouraging as some of the points sounded, as far as not having incentives for home buyers, more so for renters, and putting roofs over the masses' heads. You know there's still a lot of programs out there and we did a show with a mortgage broker, I don't know, a couple months ago. That was very content, rich. But they have so many incentives out there that will give you they have I'm sorry, not incentives they have programs out there that will give you help with down payments, and I mean to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars, and as long as you're able to maintain that home loan for 15 years or so, a lot of those down payments are forgiven. So you know thousands of dollars up front. They have um, uh programs out there for veterans and uh, things that that it's just worth looking into.
Speaker 2:I would, I would suggest going to that website and seeing if you fit any of the criteria. Again, it's nchfacom and you can just do a simple Google search for first time buyer incentives in North Carolina and it'll lead you all to all that. But I think a bigger point that's probably more helpful to people listening is that we and we talked about this off the air we encourage people. If you're thinking about buying a house and home ownership is something that you're interested in, contact a mortgage broker and contact a realtor. It doesn't cost anything to do that and they're so as far as not being a lot of inventory out there. The realtors are hungry, so they'll talk to you and a lot of those realtors are in cahoots with different mortgage brokers. So while I have my favorites out there, you know I encourage people to talk to a couple of different people. Not everybody is a good fit for you, but I'm sure there's somebody out. Better option had the election gone the other way.
Speaker 1:To be quite honest, I think the building of domestic warehouses and giving them tax breaks, and encouraging domestic workers and getting rid of red tape. All those things are just going to be coming to fruition in the next few months and couple years and I assume you would agree, being in the field. Donnie, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to give it time to play out. I've seen a lot of these things policies that have been real controversial be put in place in a hurry and given just a few months later they seem to be shaking out in a positive light. So I'll give it a chance. Maybe he'll make an amendment and sprinkle something in there for first-time homebuyer incentives?
Speaker 1:Boy, that'd be nice. I'd love to see it. All right, we'll put the show up on the website, also up on the YouTube page. Best place to start is thecarolinacontractorcom. Again, if you want to listen to what we were predicting back in 2024 before the election, that show was up there and we were right on some things. Some things we weren't wrong. We just didn't know what was going to be happening. But it's all up there at thecarolinacontractorcom. We thank you for tuning in and we hope to hear from you and we hope you see and hear us next week on the Carolina Contractor Show. Have a great day everybody. Thanks for listening to the Carolina Contractor Show. Have a great day everybody. Thanks for listening to the Carolina Contractor Show. Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.