(RECAP: In 2016, 80 million smart home devices were delivered worldwide, a 64 percent increase from 2015, according to IHS Markit. That includes Nest thermostats and smoke detectors, August smart locks, Ring video doorbells. A huge chunk of it was personal home assistants like GoogleHome, Bosch’s Mykie and Amazon’s Alexa. Analysts say despite the growth last year, 2017 will be the year of the smart home because the companies behind the technology will be smarter about educating their consumers.)

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(RECAP: In the last six years, 1,530 new housing units have been made in the city, but only 73 of these—fewer than 5 percent—are priced to be affordable. The city has set a goal to have 15 percent of its housing be affordable by 2025. Overall, the percentage of affordable units has declined from 10.5 percent six years ago to 10.06 percent. In large part that’s because so many new high-priced units have entered the market. More than half of these are coming from three apartment buildings on West Main Street. Between The Flats at West Village, The Uncommon and The Standard, which is currently under construction, a total of 861 units will have been made. None of them has been priced as affordable for lower-income families. Ever since the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund’s creation in 2007, every developer required by the ordinance to contribute to affordable housing has paid into the fund instead of providing affordable units.)

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(RECAP: Hunt Mortgage Partners announced it is providing financing for the acquisition and moderate rehabilitation of an affordable housing community in Portsmouth, Va. The total investment is $4.7 million. The property being bought is Dale Homes Phase I, a single parcel containing 146 units. The loan has an 18-year loan term, with two-year interest-only payments, and a 35-year amortization schedule beginning in year three. The overall development had been built in 1940 as a 296-unit public housing development by the Portsmouth Redevelopment & Housing Authority (PRHA). Phase I is comprised of 38 one-bedroom, 72 two-bedroom, 28-three bedroom, and eight four-bedroom units. Future renovations for the 150 additional units at the project, known as Phase II, are in the works, but they are not proposed collateral for this Freddie Mac loan. Alden Capital Partners, LLC, provided $7.4M in low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity. In addition to the Freddie mod-rehab loan, Towne Bank of Chesapeake, Va., will provide a $6.3 million bridge loan to be advanced and then repaid by the receipt of LIHTC equity at construction completion.)

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