Four buyers can get into the housing market at a discount.
You don’t often see the phrases “affordable housing” and “luxury condominiums” in the same sentence.
Then again, this is Bainbridge Island.
So a partnership between city housing officials and a private development team has created just such an opportunity, with four units in the new Vineyard Land project set to be sold at below-market rates – to qualified buyers, of course.
“My only fear is that we’ll set such a high standard that people will (come to) expect it,” said Carl Florea, executive director the Housing Resources Board.
Bainbridge developers Bill Carruthers and Andrew Lonseth are selling four of the project’s 45 units to the HRB at a substantial discount, adding them to the island’s meager stock of homes accessible to first-time buyers.
The one-bedroom condos range in size from 864 to 1,078 square feet, and will hit the market at $220,000-$270,000.
Qualified buyers will pay closing costs and associated fees, but – and this is a huge “but” for anyone trying to enter the market – no downpayment.
To qualify at the low end, a buyer would need an annual income of $48,000, and would have to pony up just $4,700 at closing.
Monthly payments, including condo fees, insurance and taxes would be around $1,200. The numbers work out so that a buyer wouldn’t be paying more than 30 percent of their monthly salary to housing costs, Florea said.
After 10 years, the owner can sell the condo back to the housing trust or to another income-qualified buyer.
The condominiums’ resale price is capped at 1.5 annual increase. So after 10 years, the seller of condo purchased for $220,000 condo would realize around $33,000 in profit, plus whatever principal they’d paid down over the years.
The resale cap means the owner-occupied units will remain affordable in perpetuity, relative to the rapid appreciation of island homes generally.
“It doesn’t make sense to build affordable units, and then watch them become unaffordable,” Florea said.
The below-market units come with the same posh appointments as neighboring condos.
And they aren’t huddled together in an enclave, or tucked into a back corner of the project. Abundant in natural light, the homes open onto the project’s central courtyard, with a terraced garden and pond sloping down to a community hall.
“This is not like the typical community land trust (project), let’s face it,” Florea said. “But the beautiful thing is, these people did it because they believe in their community. They did it because they believe in the concept, not because there’s anything in it for them at all.”
Lonseth and Carruthers opted to work with the Housing Resources Board instead of simply paying a fee to the city in lieu of providing affordable units.
“They were willing and excited,” Lonseth said.
Florea praised the developers for their initiative, noting that they could have turned a significant profit on the four units had they sold them at market rates.
“They don’t want to blow their own horn,” he said, “so I will.”
The Vineyard Lane project sits on former winery land just east of the highway in Winslow. The project has earned plaudits for environmentally sound design.
Marketing of the four units is the first effort in HRB’s new Community Land Trust program, which aims to create more affordable housing units around the island. Florea said he hopes to develop ownership opportunities for families with incomes as low as $25,000 per year.
Vineyard Lane buyers must show means about twice that.
“But they wouldn’t find anything else,” he said. “It’s still a great deal.”
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Buy low
HRB will host an orientation meeting for interested buyers of four subsidized condo units. The orientation will be April 12. Those who want to attend should call the HRB at 842-1909 for time and location.
