Above: This 3 bedroom home is at an affordable price. But you’ll need to win the lottery to buy it. (Images from flyer)
Recently, the Town re-acquired an Affordable Housing property at 26 Gilmore Road. The house will be made available for purchase by qualified applicants through a lottery.
An Open House is being held for potential applicants on Saturday, December 19th. From 10:00 am to noon, you can check out the “newly renovated 3 bedroom home” priced at only $198,000.
The drawing will take place on January 5th. Applications to be included in the lottery are due by December 30th.
Applicants must meet specified moderate income criteria:
1. Income Limits:
1 person: $46,100 4 person: $65,800
2 person: $52,650 5 person: $71,100
3 person: $59,250 6 person: $76,3502. Assets Limit $75,000
3. Must be 1st time home buyer (some exceptions apply)
Applications are available online (click here) or you can pick one up at the Town House.
For those who might wonder how it is that the town is offering this house for sale, here’s some background:
1) Our zoning bylaw requires the builder of subdivisions over a certain amount must include a percentage of affordable housing or give the town the amount owed to use in its affordable housing trust fund. In this case, the developer owed us enough that he offered to actually build a house on the land at no cost to us. It represents a good deal for the town and helps us to reach our required percentage. The town had input into the construction/size, etc., of the house.
2) After the house was ready, the first owners were chosen from several bidders who had to be pre-qualified for a mortgage and had an income as shown in the item just above this. You can also find the requirements on the town website.
See more on the town website (and see the new site!) under the two committees with “affordable” in their titles.