The Nugget Newspaper // July 15, 2020
// Partners in Real Estate
13
Hayden Homes offers affordable opportunities
Affordability is at the core of
Hayden Homes9 mission.
Hayden Homes9 Regional
Director Chris Davis notes that
the goal of each community is to
build at <the highest quality at the
lowest possible cost= in order to
serve underserved rural markets.
Starting home prices are based on
the area median income thresh-
old in a community rather than
being driven by market rate of the
homes.
In turn, Hayden Homes9 homes
are virtually always <the most
competitively priced homes in all
of the communities we build in.=
The commitment to afford-
ability is especially apparent in
Hayden Homes9 McKenzie Mead-
ows Village project, which is now
underway in Sisters. The 195-plus-
unit development combines 116
single-family detached homes,
18 single-family attached/ town-
homes, and 61-65 multi-family
units plus 3.32 acres of open
space, and recreational ameni-
ties and supporting infrastruc-
ture. Among the homes built in
the three-phase development will
be 10 homes dedicated to afford-
able housing for families qualify-
ing at the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD)
threshold of 80 percent or below
of Adjusted Median Income.
The homes are being made
available through the First Story
program, Hayden Homes9 non-
profit charitable arm.
<What we9re doing in Sisters is
the largest, most impactful project
the nonprofit has done,= said First
Story Executive Director Claire
Duncan.
Three families have been
selected for First Story homes in
the initial phase of the project,
which is expected to take three
years to complete.
<All three families are the first
in their families to own their own
home,= Duncan said.
Two of the three families cur-
rently live and work in Sisters.
The nonprofit First Story reached
out to the Sisters community to
seek applicants and to help pro-
spective homeowners prepare for
the responsibilities and burdens
of home ownership.
First Story9s affordable loan
program provides zero-down,
zero-interest, 30-year loans to
qualified individuals purchasing
their first home. The First Story
homes are triplex units 4 but they
are only attached at the garage
and do not share a living-space
wall, giving them the feel of a sin-
gle-family detached home. They
photo provided
are 1,058 square feet with three
bedrooms and two bathrooms.
They come with appliances, air
conditioning, fencing and land-
scaping in place.
Since 1989, Hayden Homes
has built over 17,000 homes in
underserved, secondary markets
throughout Oregon, Washington,
and Idaho. Economies of scale
help to keep land and materials
costs down so that Hayden Homes
can be affordable to working fami-
lies and first-time homebuyers.
Every time a Hayden Home
is sold, 1/8 of one percent of the
sale price goes to First Story.
The funds collected are distrib-
uted into the local community,
where First Story makes chari-
table grants in support of com-
munity programs. For the sale
of a new home, Hayden Homes
pays the percentage. When that
first buyer sells the home, they
pay the same percentage and so
on, each time the house sells.
<Deschutes County is one of our
largest recipients of this grant
funding, so hundreds of organiza-
tions have received grant funds,=
Duncan noted. Hayden Homes
and First Story have made con-
siderable contributions to Sisters
High School, the Sisters Kiwanis
Food Bank, the veterans outreach
programs, Central Oregon Council
on Aging and many more projects
and programs.
Through their approach to
building and the First Story pro-
gram, Hayden Homes is offering
an affordable opportunity to many
families to call Sisters home.