They didn’t bring the shrubbery, but they did plant it so as it to get sort of a pathway effect.
Employees and agents associated with Keller Williams Realty came out this week to help Albemarle Housing Improvement Program crews put final touches on the Covesville home owned by Bertha Johnson, 79.
The home is nearing completion and the swarm of red-shirted real estate professionals/home repair apprentices helped with the time-consuming little things.
“We’re pretty good at doing labor, landscaping and swinging a paint brush to help out, and it’s a good excuse to get outside,” laughed Robert Peery, an agent with Hegarty & Peery Realtors, a local Keller Williams Realty affiliate. “This is a tear-down and rebuild for the lady who lives here and we thought we’d come out and lend a hand where we can.”
Mrs. Johnson’s former home, which was more than 80 years old, lacked indoor plumbing and safe electrical service. She had lived in the home for most of her life on property that has been in her family for at least four generations. When her husband died, she sought assistance.
She has been staying with family in Richmond since November, when AHIP crews knocked down the home. Although she couldn’t be reached to talk, the workers at her home could.
“This old house had plumbing so bad and electrical systems so bad that we did a comparison to see what it would cost to repair and what it would cost to simply tear it down and build a new home,” explained James Cook, carpenter and crew leader for AHIP. “It came out that it was more cost effective to just build a new one.”
For AHIP, the Johnson home is a bit of a rarity. AHIP normally works to preserve and provide affordable housing, mostly through repair and renovation.
“We do a lot of home restorations and emergency repairs and improvements, but we don’t do too many rebuilds,” Mr. Cook said. “This is our second since October. We’ve got another in Greene County.”
Keller Williams Realty is a Texas-based real estate franchise company with almost 80,000 agents operating in more than 700 offices across this country and up into Ya-Sure Land, also known as Canada.
The influx of local help came as part of the firm’s annual corporate-wide RED Day — renew, energize and donate — during which associates are encouraged to give back to their communities.
“Three years ago [Keller Williams] decided that they wanted to have a day to stop everything and help out others,” Mr. Peery said. “The idea was that, with an organization this big, the amount of volunteer hours and the work that could be done in communities would be astronomical.”
For this year, local realty offices decided to focus efforts on one agency and came out to give AHIP a hand.
“They’re definitely saving us some time,” Mr. Cook said. “They’re taking care of a lot of detail work that would take us much longer to do.”
“We’re not exactly skilled labor,” Mr. Peery laughed, looking at house paint on his hands, “but we’re doing the best we can.”
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