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Habitat for Humanity Teams with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage to Provide Affordable Homes for Working Families in Marin County Agents, staff will work together to rehab bank-owned properties in new Habitat program; Coldwell Banker to present donation to organization in construction site ceremony NOVATO, Calif. - December 17, 2009 - A dozen real estate agents from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage offices in Marin are taking a day off from selling homes today to swing hammers and help build the first Habitat for Humanity home in Marin County. The Coldwell Banker agents are participating in a special "build day" to assist in renovation efforts at the Novato home as part of Habitat's Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), helping to make the dream of homeownership a reality for local working families. Located at 1674 Center Road in Novato, the first home in the new program was in foreclosure before being acquired by Habitat in September. Instead of building a home from the ground up as Habitat normally does, the NRP takes advantage of the soft real estate market by buying and renovating existing, low-cost bank-owned properties. Since Habitat broke ground on the property seven weeks ago, major portions of the home have been demolished to make way for the renovation effort. The Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage team will assist today with framing work on the home, which is expected to be completed by April of next year. The family selection process is currently underway at Habitat, and the selected family will begin contributing "sweat equity" to the construction effort by early February. "We are very grateful to our community partner, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, which is helping make this Habitat program a reality in Marin County," said Phillip Kilbridge, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco. "Over the years, Coldwell Banker and its team have worked tirelessly to help build Habitat homes and a future for families in need." Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Bay Area, will present Habitat for Humanity with a check for $28,215 to help support the program during a ceremony this morning at 11 a.m. at the construction site of the Novato home. Turley said the new Marin program is especially rewarding for the company's local agents and staff, who have built homes in neighboring counties but never in their own backyard. "Our Marin agents have generously donated their time to Sonoma County and San Francisco builds for many years, and they worked hard to raise funds for Habitat without seeing the direct benefits of their work in their own community," he said. "For our Marin team, this is a great opportunity to directly impact the lives of people in our local neighborhoods. It's a very special holiday gift from our Coldwell Banker team to the families in need in their community." Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage's community foundation this year raised more than $117,000 for Northern California Habitat for Humanity affiliates during the company's annual campaign. Since it began its partnership with Habitat, Coldwell Banker's foundation has contributed nearly $2 million to the organization and the company's agents and staff have volunteered more than 43,000 hours to build 95 Habitat for Humanity homes. About the NRP About Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco About Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage For more information, contact:
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