University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Program helps employees buy homes

Dawn Reed and Jon Fuller, pictured with their dog, Chaney, bought this house on Pelham Drive with the assistance of UB’s Home Loan Guaranty Program. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI

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• “I think that programs like this are essential to the function of a public institution, and I hope that the program can continue to be funded and perhaps expanded.”

  David Cantaffa

  Associate Director, Teacher Education Institute

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: June 17, 2009

Dawn Reed and Jon Fuller are “city people.”

So when Reed, director of external programs and development initiatives for the Division of Athletics, and her husband, Jon Fuller, director of athletic communications, decided to buy their first house together, they looked at neighborhoods in Buffalo.

“We used to look a lot in the Elmwood area, but the cost of houses in that area has reached an all-time high,” Reed says.

But thanks to UB’s Home Loan Guaranty Program, they recently closed on a home on Pelham Drive off Niagara Falls Boulevard in University Heights and will soon be moving in.

“The program incentives and the affordable housing by South Campus made us focus our search,” Reed says. “We started looking in the University District about three years ago and have just been waiting for the right opportunity.

“There are a lot of terrific things happening around South Campus—some of our favorite spots are the Dipson (Amherst) movie theater, Amy’s Place and Shango. We spend a great deal of time in the neighborhood already, so it will be an easy transition,” she adds.

The goal of the Home Loan Guaranty Program, which is administered by UB’s Office of Community Relations, is to encourage UB employees to buy homes to help revitalize the neighborhood around the South Campus. Since its inception, the program has helped 22 UB employees purchase homes in the neighborhood.

“Over the past year, we’ve been focused on raising awareness among UB employees about the existence of the program,” says Vincent D. Clark, director of the Office of Community Relations. “We’ve seen as many employees close on a home over the past 16 months as we had over the first four years. People are starting to take notice.”

The program enables eligible employees to finance up to 120 percent of the purchase price of a home, including renovation and closing costs. It does not require a down payment or private mortgage insurance, which provides thousands of dollars in savings to university employees over the life of their mortgage.

That was a huge incentive for Reed and Fuller.

“With the 105-percent option [covering purchase price and closing costs], we didn’t have to come up with a large sum of money as a down payment, which allows us to use some savings to buy a few new things for the house,” Reed says.

With the program, “UB is defining its role in the revitalization process, which, I think, is essential for Buffalo’s growth,” she adds.

The financing incentive also was a key motivator for David Cantaffa, associate director of the Teacher Education Institute in the Graduate School of Education, who more than a year ago purchased a home through the program with his partner, Anthony Laulette. The house is located on the brick portion of Niagara Falls Boulevard between Main Street and Kenmore Avenue.

“As an employee of UB, I feel it is important to support and contribute to Buffalo as much as possible, and living in the city is part of how I feel we support and contribute to Buffalo,” Cantaffa says. “We wanted to purchase a home within Buffalo, and this program allowed us to do so with the benefit of some of the ‘perks’ of the program, such as no private mortgage insurance and minimal cash out of pocket at closing.”

He noted that while University Heights initially was not at the top of his list of preferred neighborhoods, the home loan program “brought this neighborhood to the top of the list—in fact, when we began our 'serious' search, we confined our search to the area eligible for the program.”

The character of the homes and the street—“there are not many brick streets” anymore—as well as proximity to work, shopping and restaurants, and UB-sponsored events like the University Community Farmers Market, UB on the Green and the Capen Garden Walk, make University Heights a great place to live, he adds.

“I think that programs like this [home loan] are essential to the function of a public institution, and I hope that the program can continue to be funded and perhaps expanded,” he says.

Clark points out that housing is an important issue within the City of Buffalo, and the South Campus neighborhoods are no exception.

“While the Home Loan Guaranty Program is not intended to be a silver bullet, it does represent a key piece of a portfolio of community outreach initiatives designed to improve the housing conditions in the neighborhood,” he says.

Through the Home Loan Guaranty Program, employees also can refinance a home and include rehabilitation costs in the refinance. Mortgages are guaranteed through the UB Foundation Inc.

The program is open to those who hold an appointment half-time or greater, or who hold an adjunct/part-time faculty position with a term appointment with UB, the SUNY Research Foundation, UB Foundation Services Inc., or UB Foundation Activities, Inc. Homebuyers must purchase in the community near the South Campus bounded by Kenmore Avenue, Main Street and Winspear Avenue to the north; Eggert Road on the east; East Amherst Street, Bailey, Berkshire, Westminster and Hewitt on the south; and Main Street and the former Conrail line on the west.

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