In this course, the first in the HDFP Certification Program™, participants learn the skills and techniques that successful housing development finance practitioners use to create affordable, owner-occupied, single family housing. This four-day course takes an in-depth look at the financing of housing and how financing affects affordability—of both the unit’s sales price and the buyer’s monthly mortgage payment. Specific topics include:

• Home Ownership Development Overview
  • Achieves a public purpose
  • Stabilizes neighborhoods
  • Promotes economic growth
  • Establishes markets
• Home Ownership Development Process
  • The players
  • Non-profits and public sector roles
  • Selecting and developing the site
• Financing and Deal Structuring
  • Construction financing
  • Profit and loss statement
  • Cash flow statement
• Qualifying Home Buyers
  • Calculating ratios
  • Verifying information
  • Evaluating credit reports
• Home Buyer Income and Credit Barriers
  • Down payment and closing costs
  • Debt/income ratios
  • Credit history
  • Monthly payment
  • Methods of overcoming barriers
  • Lease-purchase
• Permanent Mortgage Programs
  • Federal programs
  • Private programs

The second course in the HDFP Certification Program™, HD420 takes a detailed look at the analysis, financing and development of affordable rental housing. In this five-day course, participants learn the underwriting criteria used by lenders and the rates of return demanded by private equity investors in order to determine their investment in a rental housing project. This course also explores the methods practitioners can utilize to attract the maximum amount of private capital to rental housing projects as well as the techniques to fill financing gaps with public resources. Specific topics include:

• Rental Housing Development Process
  • Key actors and their concerns
  • Steps in developing rental housing
• Financial Projections
  • Pro forma income and expense analysis
  • Sources and uses of funds statements
• Private Sector Financing
  • Permanent lender ratio analysis
  • Construction lender analysis
  • Construction management
• Appraisals
  • Three approaches to value
• Tax Credits
  • Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
  • Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
• Discounted Cash Flow Analysis
  • Present value theory
  • Internal rate of return
• Syndication
  • Pricing benefits
  • Investor concerns
  • Key partnership issues
• Deal Structuring
  • Altering rates of return
  • Debt and equity investment vehicles

The third course in the HDFP Certification Program™, HD422 incorporates the use of computer spread sheets designed to give participants the ability to apply the financial analysis techniques presented in the previous two courses. In this three-day course, participants learn to use spread sheets as a tool to locate and interpret key financial information and to restructure a housing transaction based on revised assumptions. More time is available to consider structuring options for affordable home ownership and rental housing case studies. Specific topics include:

• Spread Sheet Basics
  • Navigating financial analysis forms and spread sheets
  • Entering data into computerized spread sheets
  • Implications of changing project assumptions
• Home Ownership Spread Sheets
  • Development budget
  • Profit and loss statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Home buyer mortgage analysis
  • Interpreting data
• Rental Housing Spreads Sheets
  • Development budget
  • Pro forma income and expense statement
  • Sources of funds
  • Tax and appreciation benefits
• Debt and Equity Investment Vehicles
  • Alternative mortgage instruments
  • HOME
  • CDBG
  • Other financing programs

The fourth and final course in the HDFP Certification Program™, HD430 blends the financial analysis techniques learned in the previous courses with the problem solving and negotiating skills that housing development practitioners use to close complex projects. This five-day course challenges participants to analyze and structure financing packages for home ownership and rental housing deals that are complicated by a variety of factors, both financial and non-financial. Participants become skilled at the methods used to structure financing that most effectively leverages public dollars. Specific topics include:

• Deal Structuring
  • Identifying financial and non-financial issues
  • Assessing participants
  • Problem solving process
  • Devising a negotiation strategy
  • Mixed-use deals
  • Low-Income Housing Tax Credit deals
  • Creative gap filling techniques
  • Lease-purchase housing projects
• Fees and Reserves
  • Developer’s compensation
  • Investor requirements
  • Permanent lender requirements
  • Types of reserves
  • Credit adjusters
• Other Issues
  • Appraising LIHTC deals
  • Exit strategies for LIHTC deals
  • Zoning
  • Environmental issues