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Community Services grant will buy, rehab and sell foreclosed homes.Contact: Jim Hunter Citrus County Community Services is using a $2.17 million Neighborhood Stabilization grant program to help get foreclosed homes back on the tax roll. The program is to get moderate and low income buyers into the homes after they are purchased and rehabilitated. Applications will be available, Thursday, April 1, and will be processed on a first qualified, first served basis. Community Services Director Cathy Pearson said the program has a number of good spinoffs for the community. Not only will it help reduce the local glut of foreclosed homes and the residential neighborhood blight they cause, but it will also get affordable housing available to some residents who couldn't afford it otherwise. Other good economic effects include: it gives some local contractors work in fixing up the homes, it uses real estate companies to buy them, and it employs title companies to close the deals. The contractors are being lined up for the work. The good news for potential buyers is that they can earn up to 120 percent of the area's median income and qualify as a potential buyer (single person - $39,250, family of two - $44,850, family of three, $50,450, family of four- $56,000). While applications for homebuyers will be accepted beginning April 1, potential buyers should get pre-approved by a lender. Some second mortgages will be available, and the program covers the closing costs. Interested potential buyers can get applications at the Housing Services office in the Citrus County Resource Center, which is located between Beverly Hills and Lecanto on County Road 491 and online by going to the county's site at www.bocc.citrus.fl.us (applications available after 8 a.m., April 1). The county's goal is to get 9 houses ready and sell them and then reuse the money to do the same with more. So far the county has closed on five homes and has contracts on another four. The two and three bedroom single family homes are Fannie Mae foreclosed houses, and the county gets the first look at them before they go on the market. The bank has to be willing to sell for one percent under the appraised value. All the funds must be obligated by September. Citrus is one of 24 counties in the program the Florida Department of Community Affairs administrates, which is a good thing for the county, Pearson said, because some of the larger counties in the program have had problems with other agencies overseeing their larger programs. "Obviously it won't turn our local economy around," Pearson said, "but in helping in so many ways, it will be one of the boosts we desperately need." The target areas are Beverly Hills, Citrus Springs and the Inverness Highlands. Since the homes will be sold on a first come, first served basis for qualified buyers Pearson stressed the importance of pre-qualifying. There will be a homebuyer information meeting on April 7 with lenders present for potential buyers who want information on the homes and program. The meeting will be at the County Resource Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. For information, call 527-7520. The program's second strategy, which is now gearing up, is to buy, rehab and rent foreclosed properties. About $693,000 is dedicated to that. In this part of the program 25 percent of the rentals have to be affordable rentals. The contractor who wins the bid for the program will rehabilitate the homes and then for a management fee rent them out as affordable homes for 20 years. At the end of that period, he will own them. The county would have the first right of refusal if he then puts them on the market. Four properties have been targeted for the program. The contractor for the program is currently being selected. "It's very exciting," Pearson said of the program. "The county's grant consultant, Meridian, has done a bang up job in helping us get the program together." For more information about the program, call the Community Services Department at 527-7520.
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