145 – Helping Teachers Own Their Own Properties In The Bay Area with Landed feat. Shannon McQueen

Synopsis

Shannon is the South Bay relationship manager at Landed, an investment company that helps teachers and educators purchase their own homes in pricey markets like the Bay Area. Their profit-sharing down payment assistance program was so interesting that I had to bring them on the show! By creating a self-sustaining business model that helps people, they show us how we can help others without relying on handouts from benefactors or the Government!

If you’re an educator who wants to buy their own home or are an investor looking for a new way to invest in real estate, then you need to listen to this episode.

Key points

How They Help

Landed builds a home buying team around the home buyer, in their case, educators. They support them throughout the home buying process, whether they want to buy a home in the next 3 months or in 2 years. Homebuyers also get connected with partner agents and home lenders.

Their Landed Learner Community offers education and resources to home buyers, where they receive access to webinars and support with budgeting and questions to keep in mind when meeting with their lenders.

Basically, Landed helps home buyers look at where they’re at, where they want to be, and connects them with resources to get them there.

Landed’s Down Payment Program

The home buyers bring in 10% of the purchase price of the home, and Landed will match that amount up to $120,000.

Being able to provide the 20% down payment when buying a property means that the private mortgage insurance drops, and it makes the home buyer’s offer more competitive.

From Teaching to Landed

Landed employs a lot of former educators because they understand the realities that home buyers are facing.

Shannon used to be a teacher. She and her husband had bought a home in a very expensive market that turned out to be a real sacrifice as they ended up using all of their savings.

After she found out about Landed, she became interested in what they do as it would have been helpful for her, so she jumped at the opportunity to work with them.

Benefits of Using Landed

Shannon remembers having to search for an agent via Google. But her agent was not familiar with the area where she wanted to live. With Landed, home buyers get connected with agents that specialize in areas where teachers want to live.

As a first time home buyer, it was very stressful for Shannon. Having an extra set of eyes in everything, and a home buying coach that supports you would have meant a big deal for her.

The down payment program of Landed is probably the most significant perk for home buyers. Shannon and her husband had barely saved up enough money to put a 10% down payment on their house. Had Landed been there, they would have been able to put a 20% down payment.

Selling The Property

Homebuyers can end the partnership with Landed anytime between 0 and 30 years. When a home buyer sells their property and ends the partnership, the home buyer will have to return the 10% down payment put in by Landed and also give them 25% of the appreciation of the home at that time.

But if the market goes down and their home depreciates in value, Landed also shares in the loss.

History and Vision of Landed

Landed was founded in 2015 with the idea of upholding the people who uphold the community. They believe that educators, healthcare workers, and first responders are essential workers that should become long-term residents of the communities where they work and where people depend on them.

To have strong schools and communities, supporting them is key. So Landed started with their idea in San Francisco.

Building Types They Support

Landed invests in single-family homes, condominiums, apartments, and new construction.

Areas They Serve

Landed supports home buyers in Denver, Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, and Washington, D.C.

In the future, they plan to include New York.

Dealing With Challenges

Growth and expansion to new areas are two aspects the company is facing.

Their Relationship Managers work in the regions where they have launched. They make sure to maintain relationships. Launches with new school districts are also being done.

Program Eligibility

To qualify for Landed, you need to have worked in education for 2 years. It could be at a public K-12 school or a higher education public or private school.

Anyone who has worked in a school could take advantage of their program. You could be a school administrator or a custodian.

You also have to qualify for a mortgage with one of their participating lenders.

If you apply, you are required to stay working at your school for another 2 years. You also have to commit to living in the home as your primary residence for at least 1 year.

After living in the home for 1 year, you can choose to use the home as an investment property and rent it.

Their Impact

Landed has helped over 300 home buyers with most of them in California.

Now, they’re expanding to New York and are excited about their recent launch in the Washington, D.C. area.

Landed is not a non-profit, and they have been able to fund their Down Payment Program through funding they received from philanthropic impact investors, investment funds such as teacher’s retirement funds, and other investment capital.

Even if you don’t have the 10% saved up to make a down payment on a house, Landed still wants to support you by providing the education and resources to help you in your journey to homeownership.

You can use Landed to get connected to an agent or learn about other programs that might be a better fit.

References

More from our guest

• Visit their website and book a call at https://www.landed.com/
• You can also contact Shannon at shannon@landed.com