Fairfax County passed legislation today that will help the real estate market deal with the many foreclosures in the county. The county is purchasing 10 foreclosed homes outright and helping middle income people, with incomes up to about $75,000 purchase foreclosed homes also.
The 10 properties the county is planning to purchase will be chosen by the impact the purchase will have on neighborhoods in Fairfax County. The goal of purchasing the homes is to keep specific homes from driving down the values of other homes in Fairfax County neighborhoods.
The other initiative, helping middle income people purchase foreclosed homes, will be done through existing loans available through the VHDA (Virginia Housing Developement Authority). This program is available to first-time buyers on purchases up to $385,000. The program is a shared equity program, where Fairfax County will have equity in homes purchased that will be repayed when the homes are sold. If you are interested in looking into the program, find a good loan officer at a local mortgage company to help you navigate the program. If you email or call me I will be glad to help you find one.
Now that is cool!!! Kudos Fairfax!
Bob, it is cool…and not a hugely expensive program for a county of Fairfax’s size.
Great post Jeff. I know Prince William County is in the process of introducing new programs to help their service employees purchase homes with hopes of moving its REO inventory (will be blogging about it once detials come out).
I’m sure all of us who are selling real estate in Fairfax County can point the FFX Government to neighborhoods that need to be saved. I look forward to seeing the program in action!
[...] posted yesterday about Fairfax County’s plan to buy and help others buy foreclosures in the county. NBC 4 did the following report on the issue, which includes the viewpoint of those [...]
Cindy…you can almost here the battles begin about where the county should purchase these 10 homes. Of course, everyone will want them to start with the home next to them that is vacant and falling apart. I’d think the downside of the county buying the home next door is that they’ll likely sell it below market after they fix it up.
Sell it below market value – and then live where, with that “below market” windfall? I’ll take a house of my own over a quick flip, personally. Which is just the kind of attitude that has kept me a renter all of my life.
Dan…I meant Fairfax County would sell it below value. That would be a negative on the value of your home, of course, if the county sold the one next door at a discount.
Jeff or any bloggers,
Please tell me the addresses of the Fairfax foreclosed properties having the worst curb appeal. Pictures would be great. Thanks!
Don’t know if there is a good solution to get the foreclosures moving. Just have to hope none are in your neighborhood so the regular sellers/buyers can increase their opportunities.
It would be nice to see actual numbers on the effectiveness of this program. The average person ersied in a home about 5 years. This doesn’t seem like enough time for the home to appreciate to payoff the silver lining second.
Jeff
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