Selling rehabbed houses in the face of one of the toughest real-estate markets in a generation, Take Two.
That's the situation for the Porch Light Partnership in Ferndale.
The organization is re-evaluating its marketing strategies to find buying prospects for the three homes it brought back from the brink of blight last year. It hopes to buy and rehab another three once one of the original three have sold --which the partnership hopes will happen this spring. To do that, they are going to make another drive into the community.
"We are reinvigorating relationships with area lenders, realtors, the school district and larger businesses to make sure they're aware of the financial education and counseling programs we can offer to their constituents and employees," says Karen Staley, deputy director of Oakland County Lighthouse Community Development, which is overseeing the partnership.
The original three homes were houses that had fallen by the wayside in solid neighborhoods. The partnership acquired them and updated them, giving them new things like roofs, furnaces and siding, among other repairs.
Ferndale, Paramount Bank and Oakland County Lighthouse Community Development formed the Porch Light Partnership early last year with the goal of improving the city's neighborhoods at the grassroots level, one house at a time. The partnership is targeting houses that are starting to slip in strong neighborhoods as a way of heading off blight and urban decay while increasing property values.
The Porch Light Partnership is utilizing $415,000 in federal HUD funds to purchase and rehabilitate six homes in neighborhoods east of Woodward Avenue between 8 Mile and 10 Mile roads this year.
The homes are sold to first-time homebuyers. The partnership also facilitates the process by sponsoring programs for people looking to purchase their first home. Lighthouse has had success with similar programs in Pontiac where it has helped build 64 single-family homes and renovated 25 other houses all for first-time homebuyers.
For information, call (248) 920-6060 ext. 2400.
Source: Karen Staley, deputy director of Oakland County Lighthouse Community Development
Writer: Jon Zemke
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