The City of Scottsdale announced Wednesday Morning a program to subsidize the purchase of foreclosed luxury custom homes priced at $1.5M and above. The program, the Custom-Homeowner Initiative, was unveiled by Scottsdale Mayor, W.J. “Jim” Lane in response to the large number of foreclosed homes within the Scottsdale custom community.
“We have to make the purchase of custom homes in our communities affordable again and get these foreclosed luxury homes out of our neighborhoods due to their impact on valuations,” says a city representative.
The program sets aside nearly $300M to subsidize the purchase of a home from 32% to 48% of its current list price. There are a few requirements though. First, only homes priced above $1.5M are considered as part of the program. Second, homeowners must show that they can’t afford the home without the subsidy. If the buyer qualifies based on this, then the buyer could easily get a $2M home at nearly half the price.
Initial response to the program has been very positive with 30 home buyers already signed up to take advantage of the program.
“I was looking for a home priced around $1M before. But because of the subsidy, I can now look at homes for nearly $2M and pay the same amount for a much better home in Scottsdale! I’m excited about the program,” says David Foolsonya of Chandler.
But not everyone is happy across the other communities in the Valley. Phil Selamahoma, a home seller in Chandler trying to sell his $999,900 home just received word that his buyer has cancelled his contract.
“I’m not very happy about this at all. This affects the value of my property so that I will have to either drop my price or petition my City Council to take similar action and implement these subsidies here too. If they did, then maybe I could sell my home and upgrade to one in Scottsdale,” says Mr. Selamahoma.
To sign up for the program, call the City of Scottsdale to learn more but before you do….Happy April Fool’s Day!
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Very nice Dave! Let me know if Scottsdale actually picks up on this, I may get in line for a new home
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