[0:26] Coffee with the supervisor, and I have a special guest today, and this is Tetsk House, who is the executive director of

[0:37] LIBOA, and that's L-I-B-O-O, and that stands for Long Island Board of Relatives. Tell me about LIBOA. Now, I understand

[0:46] LIBOA has about 30,000 members. Tell me what LIBOA does. Sure. Well, thanks so much for having me today.

[0:53] As a pleasure to have you.

[0:55] The longer the board of realtors, as you said, is it's 30,000 members, and we are a not-for-profit trade organization.

[1:02] We serve the counties of Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk.

[1:06] It's mostly residential, right?

[1:08] Yes, we do have commercial, and we have commercial, and you have some industrial.

[1:12] There's a separate group for industrial and commercial real estate brokers, but they also can belong and do belong to Libert.

[1:18] But mostly most of the people that belong, who are members, do

[1:23] residential single family homes, condos, apartments, and they do the whole host of real estate

[1:30] things, right?

[1:31] Correct.

[1:32] So everything from buying a selling, representing buyers or sellers, as all types of real estate

[1:39] condos, co-ops, single family homes, even rentals of homes, apartments, condos, etc.

[1:49] So, it handles the whole gamut of real estate issues.

[1:55] And due to our geography, where we cover, we are both one of the largest local associations in the country, and one of the most diverse.

[2:02] Wow. That's interesting.

[2:04] So, you provide the professional impetus for real estate brokers and salespeople because there's a difference.

[2:12] Salespeople only need to take X number of courses.

[2:14] brokers you need to take more and most brokers tend to own the real estate business that they provide.

[2:22] Correct. And our role within the industry is that we are, we're a trade association,

[2:28] so we advocate for our members, which, of course, means we end up advocating for home ownership and, you know, future buyers and future sellers.

[2:35] Things like the mortgage interest deduction, the national flood insurance program.

[2:38] These are perennial issues that are homeowner issues, but there is no national association of homeowners.

[2:45] Absolutely.

[2:46] So we go.

[2:46] So you advocate for homeowners.

[2:49] One of the things that I'm sure you're advocating is the exceptionally high fees that

[2:55] is charged by the County Clerk's Office for recording a mortgages or deeds, a well and access

[3:02] of the cost of providing that service.

[3:04] You know, when municipalities and other entities look to add surcharges, to real estate transactions,

[3:11] what they're actually doing is pricing some potential buyers out of the market.

[3:15] So, you know, some fees are justified, and if they're justified and necessary, then, you know,

[3:19] so be it.

[3:20] But for to add extra taxes to try to just raise revenue off of the backs of purchasers and homeowners,

[3:28] that's not a very good way to encourage housing.

[3:30] Absolutely not, if you ever get on the way, let me know.

[3:34] I was County Clerk and Suffolk County for 16 years, and I think the fees that they're

[3:37] charging now is simply a way of doing a backdoor tax as opposed to a fee related to service.

[3:44] Right.

[3:44] Like mortgage stands and things like that.

[3:46] Right.

[3:46] Abs, mortgage taxes is amongst them, filing fees, etc.

[3:52] We often see that, especially in economic trying times that when municipalities look at where

[3:57] they can get some revenue, they go, oh well, you know,

[4:00] home purchases are so large no one would notice just this. But the problem is, you know,

[4:06] these are large companies making these purchases. These are individual families who save up

[4:10] or individual saving up to buy that home and every dollar added can can price somebody back out.

[4:16] That's important. And I know that as of late,

[4:19] LIBOR has taken a lead with their housing. Yes. Oh, we're making sure everyone has an equal

[4:24] opportunity to live where they want. And one of the things is sources of income. Yeah, talk a little bit about that program.

[4:33] Well, yeah, as you said, you know, fear of housing has been the law since, you know, 1968.

[4:38] In New York, legal source of income protection passed in 2019. So it is actually one of our newest protected classes.

[4:46] And there was a lot of news in the fear of housing world. And what does that mean legal sources of income for people that

[4:52] hearing the phrase for the first time while what that means. So I would encourage anyone to go visit

[4:57] our website, which is home for all of us.org, where we list out a whole list of potential sources

[5:02] of income, but it can be everything from alimony, foster care payments, you know, for military

[5:08] payments. So all of those types of income have to be calculated when you look at someone's

[5:18] purchasing ability to purchase a home.

[5:20] Right. And so they're trying to rent the home.

[5:22] They need to be treated as any other legal source of income. You cannot treat one source

[5:27] of income differently. And of course when we talk about source of income, certain programs jump

[5:32] to mind such as housing choice voucher section eight. Those are also legally protected sources

[5:37] of income in New York. And section eight is? So this is a government subsidy.

[5:42] Some people refer to it in other ways.

[5:46] But Section 8 talks about a government subsidy for housing where if you are of low to moderate income.

[5:54] Yes, and you do have to meet certain program requirements.

[5:58] And it helps offset those friends so that you can afford to live in those communities.

[6:02] And why does the standard for you income?

[6:05] You know, that that I would send you to a housing administrator.

[6:10] 30%.

[6:10] It's 30 percent of your income. No one should pay more than 30 percent of their income.

[6:16] So if your income is zero, you pay no rent. But if your income is $1,000 and you pay

[6:23] $300 towards it in the government, subsidizes the rest on the Section 8 Program. All Section

[6:29] 8 programs that I believe every municipality runs some type of housing program either. We do it

[6:36] In fact, right next door, his housing community development office, most governments have that

[6:43] if they don't, they contract with enough of profit to provide that service, like CDC or

[6:49] something of that community development.

[6:50] And then there's also enhanced vouchers to help get people into communities that the vouchers

[6:54] haven't traditionally been hit the market price within.

[6:59] So there's a couple of different programs out there.

[7:02] And it all falls.

[7:02] There's one waiting list, just so everyone knows that we probably have several thousand on

[7:07] our Section 8 waiting list.

[7:10] And I know people say, oh, Section 8, oh my God, that's not going to help on a boat.

[7:15] But they're wrong because a properly administered Section 8 program has to invoke housing

[7:24] quality standards, which are sometimes even stricter than local building codes.

[7:29] So, I've looked through the standards, and by and large, they are just basic security that

[7:34] you would want in any priority, and I would go on to say that, you know, some of these

[7:40] programs have stickmas attached to them, and as you said, these are unfair stickmas, and

[7:45] in fact, part of the reason we're running an awareness campaign is we want to raise awareness

[7:49] of the benefits.

[7:51] Right now, right in the notorious are very fresh in many housing providers' minds, but those

[7:57] The housing providers that had tenants with subsidies received regular, steady, guaranteed payments.

[8:04] And so now is a really good time to maybe talk about some of the benefits as we let go of some of these old stigmas.

[8:09] Well, I know the state imposed rent moratoriums, which makes it very tough on landlords.

[8:16] Because anyone thinking of investing in real estate has to think twice because if there's a moratorium and you have tenants that don't pay, that makes it difficult to get a return on your investment.

[8:27] but as you point out on the section eight,

[8:30] those reds were paid and the emergency assistance program.

[8:35] We went through that like a hot night through butter.

[8:38] We gave that all of us and we could have used a great deal more money.

[8:42] We were one of the most efficient, quickest towns in getting that money out.

[8:46] And we got that all out.

[8:49] So we used all that money because there's a tremendous need for that,

[8:52] particularly coming out or during and coming out of this pandemic.

[8:57] And so now's a great time to talk about source of income and ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to live where they choose to live.

[9:03] Absolutely. We were a great believer in fair housing and people having the ability to live where they want.

[9:10] Providing they can afford it and they have the legal source of income and talk a little bit about your program about that.

[9:18] sure so we launched a website home for all of us.org and the goal of the program is to

[9:25] to kind of raise awareness again as I said earlier this law was just passed in 2019 a lot of

[9:31] people have the seven federally protected classes from 1995 in their head but that class has been

[9:37] expanded and in New York they added legal source of protection so by making sure that housing

[9:42] providers are aware of legal source of income protection they can make policies and decisions

[9:47] that actually comply with the law and further fair housing in their communities.

[9:52] And how people wind up with a habitable place to live, something that is meet code.

[10:02] We have problems all the time with people.

[10:05] We have an accessory apartment law, but you have to meet certain qualifications for that.

[10:13] We do not permit currently at B&Bs, and people who rent have to get rental permits.

[10:23] And the reason for that is we do inspections of both the towns, villages are responsible

[10:30] for inspecting for building code compliance and fire safety compliance, and we find a lot

[10:37] people choose not to get rental permits because they don't want to go through the inspection

[10:43] process.

[10:45] Right.

[10:45] But the safety part is so important when we talk about affordable housing, it has

[10:48] to be safe and affordable.

[10:49] Two or three blocks, we had someone die in a legal apartment that was a basement apartment

[10:56] in a fire because they didn't have the egress, they didn't have smoke alarms, they didn't

[11:04] have a common monoxide alums, the town wants to see everyone live in a decent house, that

[11:13] will meet whether it's rented or you purchase it or whatever, or it's an apartment,

[11:18] a condo or a co-op, whatever, that it meets basic New York State building codes and fire safety

[11:25] codes.

[11:26] That's why if you're going to rent, we say make sure you land what gets a rental permit because

[11:33] that requires us to do an inspection and certify it.

[11:36] And those permits I believe are good for 15 months.

[11:41] So that's some of the things that happen in the town.

[11:44] What are things ways that the town can help work with LIBOR?

[11:48] So if you have property managers and landlords,

[11:52] we would encourage them to visit our site home for all of us.

[11:55] OK, dot org.

[11:57] And take a look at the information we have.

[12:00] We have an FAQ, about 12 questions long.

[12:02] We also at the bottom have an email info at home for all of us.org.

[12:07] That I think he will grow as we hear from housing providers, as we hear from community

[12:13] partners in fear housing, as we hear from the public, as they add questions to that list.

[12:17] We're going to add answers to that list as well.

[12:19] But I would encourage them to go there and learn about legal source of income.

[12:23] See all of the potential types of source of income.

[12:25] And also look at the consequences for nonabiding by this law, because they are very steep.

[12:32] If willful violation can come with civil penalties of up to 250,000 per cut.

[12:38] And on top of that, someone who has been discriminated against can go after the defendant

[12:45] for emotional distress due to homelessness.

[12:49] And there is no cap on that.

[12:51] And additionally, the defendant could end up paying all of the plaintiffs' turnip fees.

[12:56] So it's important that if you were providing housing

[12:59] that you understand legal source of income protection in New York, that you have policies

[13:04] and you make decisions within your company that follow legal source of protection in

[13:08] coming New York, and give everyone that fair shot at stable, safe housing that lets them

[13:14] go on and build the rest of their lives around there.

[13:17] That's been very helpful to our viewers.

[13:19] Let me ask you maybe, and this very quick segment we're talking about other services that

[13:26] membership provides a general public real estate brokers. They value in real estate transactions.

[13:35] It's hard to underestimate what a broker and an agent actually do for the normal American

[13:43] homeowner. We tend to stay in our homes anywhere from 7 to 12 years, which means that you go through

[13:50] a resale and a purchase baby once a decade. That's not often enough to be good at anything.

[13:55] It's not often enough to keep up with all of the laws and the regulations and the required

[14:01] disclosures.

[14:02] So a broker can help.

[14:04] Having a trusted professional guiding you through this process, telling you what you need

[14:08] to know, what to look out for, you know, home inspections, for example.

[14:13] Home inspection.

[14:14] You're buying a house.

[14:16] When is it due back?

[14:17] Yeah.

[14:18] Get a home inspection, get someone that's in a professional to inspect, make sure all the defects

[14:25] are there accounted for and addressed before you buy or at least some money set aside.

[14:31] So you can deal with it if you want to purchase it, but be knowledge about that.

[14:35] I've known brokers who attend closings, oftentimes, to make sure that everything is smooth,

[14:43] and there isn't a problem at the closing in terms of any of the documentation.

[14:48] Well, another question is that, come up, again, when you purchase a home, there tends to be a stack of papers.

[14:54] Well, title search, it starts off. Make sure that you own this. Make sure that what?

[15:00] You know what you're buying, that, oh, I thought that piece of property over there was part of my property, oh, I didn't realize that.

[15:11] So, a title search is like basic.

[15:13] And surveying and appraisal, all of these things need to happen at certain times in the transaction.

[15:19] Wait, there's a shadow on the property and it's larger than the shed that's normally allowed.

[15:25] So it needs to see, oh, a certificate of occupancy, oh, there's a pool and it has no certificate of occupancy.

[15:36] These are things that can trip by as up.

[15:39] Right, and what about out of market?

[15:41] Or sell it?

[15:42] I came from different markets.

[15:44] I had to learn about, you know, waterfront.

[15:47] I had to learn about septic.

[15:49] I had to learn about garbage disposal.

[15:52] Because, again, it's, you know what you know, but every home, you purchase, especially if it's anywhere outside of where you go.

[15:57] Every town.

[15:58] A lot of questions.

[15:59] Every town is different in brokaving.

[16:04] The town created little garbage districts, which put them out to bed, so it's competitive.

[16:09] And we get the best price.

[16:11] And we serve as 119,000 single and two family homes.

[16:16] We don't service, apartment houses, condos, co-ops, we don't service any commercial industrial, so that's just homes

[16:24] And they get two pickups a week, and one recycling pickup, 471 pickups a year, so that's what we do in this town

[16:32] But other towns are different, Babylon town for example, where your office is located, right, at the junk-child sunrise highway near 109

[16:41] Right, on the south side of sunrise highway

[16:44] is in Babylon handles all garbage, commercial industrial, multi-family, and single-family

[16:51] home, so every town is different in their approach and they obviously have a much higher

[16:56] garbage expenses than we do. So it's interesting to learn and the one person I think that

[17:07] can probably help people who are buying homes is the broker because the broker is local, many

[17:14] that brokers have been around for many years, they know the community and they get your answers

[17:19] to questions that people might have about garbage or sewage. Some of our town is on cesspools.

[17:26] Some of our town is on sewage and it depends on where you are in the town.

[17:33] Right. And so again, having a guide and advisor to kind of walking through answer the questions

[17:38] that you have and also sometimes say you don't you haven't asked me this right you know

[17:43] so it's I've been in the industry almost two decades that I've been working in and around

[17:49] realtor associations with real estate agents and I still have as many questions as I did what

[17:55] about my first time right are you on well water which you will probably we will ask so much in

[18:04] But in Brookhaven, in parts of our town, there are people still on well water, as opposed to what would be called public water.

[18:12] Well, the Suffolk County Water Authority Water.

[18:15] So, these type of questions are so crucial for getting a broker involved, so you know what you're buying.

[18:22] You know the location, and again, what are the three most important things in choosing real estate?

[18:27] I think it's location, location, location.

[18:29] And you know what's interesting is that that is different for every single person, right?

[18:33] You know, when we go back to talking about housing choice, whether it's source of income or anything else

[18:39] Why someone chooses that this is the right place for me. It might be relative to the work

[18:44] It might be relative to family. They wouldn't be close to it. It might be for any number of reasons that would not matter to anyone else

[18:50] Right, and that's why it has to be housing choice that we have to help people get into the homes that they can afford and if they want whether

[18:56] Tell me your source of income. I'll tell you what's available where the communities that you want to look at here are some things that would interest you

[19:05] Yeah, and so so that's yeah again, it's it's realtors and and and real estate definitely go hand in hand

[19:11] Well, I you know

[19:12] It's hard to thank all the realtors for what they do

[19:16] But it's easy today because long Island border of realtives like what represents all

[19:22] or almost of the people who are real estate sales and or brokers either in the

[19:31] residential commercial industrial market. So I want to thank you for coming in

[19:35] and giving us a better view of what library, the professional organization for

[19:39] real estate does. So, Tess, thank you so much. Thank you so much, it's been great to see you.

[19:44] Great, good to see you.

Coffee With The Supervisor: Long Island Board of Realtors

Transcript