services city government the we will put the command staff of the police department department heads out as part of house closings to answer those questions to tell people about the good things that are happening here in schenectady our first open houses really promoted houses that were ready to move into the housing market in schenectady is more complicated than that you have a lot of houses that have not had investment in the long period of time in we're fortunate in the mortgage program the key bank has where he will write a mortgage a hundred percent to value and then loan up to fifty thousand dollars above it amount so that people can buy a house in undertake the rehab of the house so they can fix up the kitchen to modernize the bathroom they can do the heating cooling systems put a new roof on it in take a house that's been somewhat distressed and converted into a that's the bulk of the property that i think will make a big difference in the future it's connected is our ability to deal with those properties that are perceived to be challenge in all too often we look at urban areas and we talk about the negative things but when you buy a house you're really not just played a house you're buying a community and that's why we've been fortunate to partner with our friends over levels of government the school district in today we're here in the north bend where we have representatives from the business community to help talk about the good things that are in schenectady in the north bend like our go so who's coming to make it big presentation but mike is the president of  the north and business booms association and mike bennett is the vice president and i would open up for a couple quick remarks are just coming from both of you know thank you again for participating in this and the members of the happens a lot in the city is connect the it's become a great opportunity for employment but not as much as people who are working here are living here and i think that's where the city and as a group the north side business association has started to look to find people to purchase these homes and make this community what it was for my own take on i grew up a block and a half from here or new raised here i never went the pretty important thing and i had a great thing but then he's forgotten a thing but a lot a lot of really good things here and you know the business is themselves have to start looking at they're looking from within themselves to try years we just invested a large sub sum of money for us in our business and the reason we did that is we believe in this area we believe in schenectady we believe in blue silk the communities that very supportive very good to us for all these have a cocktail i encourage people to look around at all the well maintained homes there's many many many of them there are some that are run down and some that are need repair with this program i feel that some people can it's a great prices on houses they can just a little money and a little t l c and they can become part of a really great community i encourage people to look into the program and to invest  i encourage them to have a stop by say low to mike or myself or louis or any of the businesses ask questions voice their concerns we'd be happy to talk to him and i'm looking forward to seeing people moving in soon i hope thank you thank you notes are really not entered to our superintendent of schools larry spray jumping into this position with a level of enthusiasm and excitement the superintendent of schools that is going to what is very exciting to me is starting this position at a time when we're beginning new initiatives in the city and we're beginning new initiatives in the school district we know work together to help each other one can succeed and thrive without the other and so coming on board now as we think about new initiatives to work with the community to work with our other agencies to work with our business partners everybody on the housing market here in schenectady schenectady county is showing the largest home sales growth in the region schenectady pending sales contracts are up twenty five percent think completed sales are up sixteen percent over last year at this time we're also landlords property owners and most importantly we are huge supporters of the city is going to the key to the city program is just amazing it's always been described as a perfect storm of affordable housing the city has a lot of abandoned homes which need help he bank wants a lot of money and people need affordable housing that's perfect one of the obstacles of getting into an abandoned home or a house that needs a lot of renovations is the assessment of the costs it can be quite arduous parading contractors through your files give them estimates proposals get them on time you take it to the bank and the bank says well i need this so what they do is they say you go back to contractors and you tell them the bank wants have a little different that could take weeks if not months to get you lose your excitement in time passes we're working with the city to try to develop a plan the program by which we can have all that paperwork in order ahead of time so you see a house that needs a lot of work there's a package of what it takes the heating system is going to cost new windows going to cost why the goal is to get these houses up to code so you can look at it as a potential homeowner and so ok the house cost this much i'm going to have that much prepares the bank they're going to roll in some costs for  renovations and it's just a beautiful thing an exciting program that really has it all makes sense that's why it's so exciting and i'm proud to be working with the city to make this happen thank you thank you save the best for i thank you for being a partner helping us get the message out and working with the school district the real others other community leaders to build this program into something that's very successful working with you in the future  one hundred eighteen years of business serving our readers an advertiser's of the community and we thank you for that at the same time if you have some time after this presentation i'd like to take you on a tour of the facility  i promised a short version so we can enjoy the rest of the day but the one thing that makes the they get that so unique is our family and mike and mike and that i can tell a family or just like them and that's really special to the employees there special to our community that we are still an independent newspaper service and again we appreciate everybody coming down today and sharing and sharing because it makes thank you will give the tours just a few minutes frank gilmore struck a raw thing gilmore who spends some of the design work in some of the houses we're going to initiate this program we're going to do some of the rehab susan moos models are examples of the potential of converting an old that have moderate you know middle class homes some of them not of the best shape are really laid out in a beautiful community manor their houses have separate lots but they're close together they're close to the sidewalk so that neighbors can walk by and have a conversation in conversational tones of someone sitting on the front porch the actual homes are built some have smaller spaces what we're doing with the first house and then branca and is to open up some of the interior spaces to give of a larger and more contemporary feel to the  layout inside but with perhaps a slight addition a new front porch or renovated porch you're really in a neighborhood that is classic  today modern communities new communities are built with what's called newer been ism and essentially we have it in several of our older neighborhoods so i think we're starting with excellent infrastructure homes this is what's called smart growth in the urban planning world we're saving all of the energy that has gone into it human fuel would materials of all sorts and  rehabbing what we have because it's pretty darn good to start with