CASE STUDY
WESTBROOK, MAINE
Private Capital atWork HERE’S HOW ONE MAINE ENTREPRENEUR IS BUILDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR HIS COMMUNITY AND CHANGING PERCEPTIONS ONE HOUSE AT A TIME.
by John Beacham
s city centers across the coun- try become increasingly unaf-
efforts, he went back to the town that had caught his attention years prior: Westbrook, Maine. Still a little rundown, it had a lot of housing stock that was older, in need of lead abatement, or general renovation and remodeling. Maley started wholesaling, doing general contracting projects, and working on flip homes before solidi - fying his focus on affordable housing. “Affordable housing is how I got started. Where I’m headed is toward doing more of it,” Maley said. “You’re helping out the community and help- ing families—local families—that are coming from overseas into the country, land on their feet.” The 1-4-unit homes he identified were initially valued at $320,000 average; after repair, they are expected to be $431,000 on average, affordable within the market. All the properties are located within the 04092 ZIP code, which has a median annual household income of $55,000 ($4,600 per month). After rehabilitation, the average mortgage payment for the homes is expected to be approximately $1,000 per month, or approximately $500 per unit per month. This represents just 11% ($494/$4,600) of the median household income per family, so it is well below the 30% affordability threshold determined by HUD.
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other companies that support his affordable housing efforts, including a wholesale network he uses to find distressed properties to fix up for the community. He pours the profits back into affordable housing. “We just did one that was mold-damaged and where the floors were buckled; in short, the whole place had to be remodeled,” Maley said. “After we turned it over, the neighborhood loved it. Everybody was happy not to have the rundown house in the neighborhood. Turn- ing that over and then turning it into affordable housing for people was great.” Working as a three-man team and leveraging his electrical background, Maley handles the construction. His partner takes care of the office paperwork. Maley pulls in other contractors to help with projects as needed. Despite his small team, there is no lack of demand for reno- vations given the challenging situa- tion with affordable housing stock. “There’s actually a 5-year wait- list for Section 8 and affordable housing in our community,” Maley said. “When we finish renovating a property and market it to the government, I have around 150 to 200 people reach out in one day, and it gets filled immediately.” Maley communicates with local housing authorities and agents each day to review his inventory and try to find matches for local families in need, even before beginning work on the properties.
fordable, homeowners are looking further afield to find affordable hous - ing options. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made this problem worse as the flight from city centers, com - bined with new migration patterns, continues to raise prices on homes that were previously accessible to those with lower incomes. In parts of Maine, where the waitlist for Section 8 housing can be up to five years, local real estate entrepreneurs are working with lenders to renovate and reposition existing housing to meet growing demand—and improve their commu- nities in the process. SEEING OPPORTUNITYEARLY Growing up in Windham, Maine, Andrew Maley remembers nearby Westbrook as the mill town with a reputation for being smelly and stinky—a place people generally tried to avoid. Although the mill wasn’t entirely shut down, Maley realized mills weren’t going to be around forever. He also believed places like Westbrook had tremen- dous promise for new housing and revitalization. “I grew up seeing this place going through changes every single day and knew it was definitely one of the places to be,” says Maley. When he turned 18, Maley got into real estate. While he was looking for areas where he could focus his
MAKING ITWORK Maley constantly looks for ren- ovation opportunities and owns
78 | think realty magazine :: may – june 2022
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