By: Krysten Schmidt, Content Marketing Manager
When I started working for CREA, straight out of college, it was the first time I had ever heard of “tax credit syndicator”. I found myself smiling and nodding on the outside, and completely clueless on the inside.
What does that even mean? How am I supposed to market that? And who’s this LIHTC guy they keep talking about?
I was proud that I had landed my first job out in the real world, but I was running into a real-world problem when people asked me what my company did. I started by simply saying that they were a tax credit syndicator and quickly realized that 95% of the people I spoke to were just as clueless as I was. The other 5% were liars. I finally started asking questions and slowly, over years of time, started making sense of it all.
Today, I tend to describe CREA as being a matchmaker between investors and developers in creating affordable housing. People really get into a true love story like that.
Once upon a time, there was a developer who competed and earned tax credits from their state housing agency. They couldn’t find an investor to buy the credit and were down on their luck with what to do without proper funding. When along came a company, called CREA, to save the day. They all lived happily, and affordably, ever after.
All fairytales aside, gaining a quick understanding of the basic who, what, when, where and how of LIHTC can truly be hard to come by. So, for those who are new to the industry, curious about LIHTC, or want to help their daughter figure out what she just signed herself up for, we’ve put together a high-level LIHTC 101 video for you. This is by no means a full scope of LIHTC (if only it was!), but we hope it provides a good starting point for your understanding.