HFH-NYS Summer Symposium
I recently attended the Habitat for Humanity of New York State's Summer Symposium. I was afforded the opportunity to meet with a number of my peers from throughout New York State, most of whom I had never met before or had only spoken to on the phone. Overall, it was a nice event and I did manage to learn a thing or two.
The symposium was held in Owego, NY, I very small, but very quaint town near Binghamton, NY. In attendance from Ulster Habitat were the Executive Director, the Treasurer/Volunteer IT guy, David, and myself.
Once everyone had settled into their rooms and relaxed for a little bit, a small group of us from different affiliates decided to go and have supper at a really cool little restaurant in the town. It is called the Calaboose Grill. The restaurant is actually established in an old historic jail, complete with bars on the windows and tables set up in the jail cells! It is a very cool place and the food was phenomenal. I had grilled salmon and a side of their homemade smoked gouda mac 'n cheese. YUM!!!
It was at dinner at the Calaboose Grill that I first met the Director of Habitat for Humanity of New York State, Judith Nelson. She is a wonderful person and boy does she know her Habitat stuff! She seems to know everything (I think she may be hiding some superpowers). I also had the pleasure of meeting the Executive Director of some of the other affiliates, as well as one of the presenters. We all had a good time and good food...you should've seen the size of the piece of chocolate cake that David ordered....
The next day, we all convened in the meeting room for breakfast before the presenters were to go on. The Symposium opened up with Judith speaking about the History of Third Party Lenders and how Habitat has arrived to the point that we are needing to shift gears from holding our own mortgage portfolios to partnering with third party lenders. She also spent time defining the third party lender relationship for those affiliates who have yet to take the plunge, so to say.
After Judith presented, Sonia Lee from HFHI in Georgia spoke with us about strategy and policy as well as the legal considerations of partnering with third party lenders. Her presentation was crucial in helping us understand the implications of getting on board with third party lenders.
We then broke for lunch. It was AWESOME...pulled pork and marinated chicken, corn bread, coleslaw, baked potatoes and more....oh yeah, strawberry shortcake for dessert, WHAT?!
Completely stuffed, we all filed back into the conference room to hear the afternoon's presentations. First up was Todd Fox from HFHI, who spoke about the Financial Considerations involved in the process and then we heard from Conant Smith from Metro Interfaith, a housing counseling agency about buyer preparation.
At the end of the day, representatives from four affiliates spoke about their own experiences in working with third party lending and answered some questions from the audience.
The day ended with everyone feeling much more knowledgeable about third party lending as we headed to our cars for the drive home. A lot was learned and shared and it was definitely worth the trip. I'm looking forward to going back to Owego in September for the 2016 A.B.L.E. Conference.
