FAQ: What makes Options a Nonprofit?

Something we hear a lot from people who are't familiar with the Options model is that they don't understand how a condo developer can be a not-for profit company. See below for the definition of a nonprofit:

"The Nonprofit Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Start and Run Your Nonprofit Organization" by Gary M. Grobman discusses a nonprofit as an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit. 

Options fits the definition of a non-profit because any surplus earned goes directly to future community development projects. Options for Homes goal is to provide cost-effective ownership opportunities to everyone in the world that wants it and all surplus funds go towards achieving that goal.

Options for Homes defers our profits and generates funds for future investments in affordable housing and other sustainable development projects through an approach called the Affordable Housing and Community Equity Reinvestment Technique (AHCERT). The key to this approach in the Options second mortgage, which Options retains on each unit until the original purchaser sells or rents out the suite.

All Options purchasers are eligible receive a down payment boost know as the Options Loan. The purchaser must have five per cent of the purchase price and Options will then facilitate a loan of up to 15 per cent of the purchase price. No payments are paid on the loan until the original purchasers sells or rents out their unit. At that time the loan appreciates by the same percentage as the condo. I.e. if the loan is worth 15 per cent of the original purchase price the purchaser will pay back 15 per cent of the sale price when they move.

Options defers its return on investment in a project until the individual units are sold. By deferring the profit Options is able to share in the market appreciation of the unit. For example, if the value of the second mortgage is $20,000, or 10 per cent of a $200,000 purchase price, Options will receive 10 per cent of the eventual selling price, which would be $30,000 if the unit is sold for $300,000. That additional $10,000 then goes into future community development projects.

The Options Loan provides the means that Options can recover the cost savings offered to purchasers during development and construction and reusing them eventually in the development of other sustainable development projects.

By offering the Options Loan we help purchasers get into ownership and by delaying the repayment until the purchasers sells or rents out their unit Options is able to share in the profit and allocate those funds to give more individuals the opportunity to get into ownership.

Options uses the repaid loans to pay it forward and create more cost-effective ownership opportunities for even more individuals and families.





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