GLENWOOD SPRINGS — A $221,452 townhome will be resold by lottery in March through the city’s affordable housing program.

“It’s a fantastic deal to win the lottery,” said Dathan Flesner, who won one of the units last year.

The unit being sold sits at 248 Donegan Road in the Timbercreek Townhomes. It’s 992 square feet with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car garage. Two people applying for the unit cannot make more than $61,440 in combined income. The income limit for one person who wants to live there is $53,760. Applications must be turned in to the Garfield County Housing Authority by 4 p.m. Feb. 29. The lottery to select the buyer from the pool of applicants be held March 10.

Patrick McKibben, who owns the Donegan unit, said, “I basically decided to sell it so that I could get into an open market unit in Glenwood.”

McKibben, a banking officer for Alpine Bank, said he wants to get into an open market home to build equity now that he can afford more.

All units sold through the program are deed restricted with an annual appreciation cap of three percent a year or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less.

“I think it’s good, for sure, for anyone who’s never owned before,” McKibben said. “For someone who’s stuck in the monthly grind of renting it’s probably a better option.”

McKibben said one benefit of the affordable housing program is that to sell it, all he’s had to do is notify the city, and it takes care of the rest. But he added, “The thing that’s going to be really hard getting out of it is it’s going to be a major downgrade in living conditions. The one that I was in was brand new and leaning toward the high end.”

Flesner, an IT professional, lives in an affordable unit on White Horse Place near Cowdin Drive. He appreciated the opportunity to get into home ownership and said it’s helped build his credit. But he’s also grown tired of the appreciation cap.

“It’s kind of lame because we’re paying the same mortgage that anyone else would pay, yet I can’t even tap into any of the equity that’s available here,” he said. “I’m still happy I won the lottery and it’s great, it got me into owning a house, but you do get seriously tanked on the whole appreciation thing.”

In March 2007, four units ranging from a $178,526 two-bedroom unit to a $245,368 three-bedroom unit were sold to winners picked by bingo balls. There were 13 applicants. The city made its first unit available under its affordable housing program in 2005, but only one eligible person applied. In 2006, the city held a lottery after six eligible residents applied for a townhouse in the Overlin Park subdivision.

The city’s housing program requires developers of subdivisions and multifamily housing projects to provide 15 percent of their units as housing that will be sold at below-market rates. Alternatively, they can pay a fee into a city fund for affordable housing. The county housing authority helps administer the city’s program.

Call 384-6446 for more information. Visit www.ci.glenwood-springs.co.us for applications and more information.

Contact Pete Fowler: 384-9121
pfowler@postindependent.com




Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO