Prince William County is weighing the expansion of a program in which county employees buy houses at discounts, after 323 people applied for 167 program spots in February.
The new program’s first participants so far have bought less expensive houses than expected, which has allowed more slots to open up, said Finance Director Chris Martino.
“We have more capacity — we don’t want to sit on it,” he said. “We want to get as many people as we can into a good buying situation.”
The county staff wants the Board of Supervisors to approve immediate open enrollment in the program on a rolling first-come, first-served basis through Sept. 18. It is expected the program could accept about 100 more applicants, according to county documents.
The program, known as Home Help, is designed to reduce the supply of houses for sale and provide countyemployees with opportunities to live closer to where they work.
Less than one-third of participating employees have applied for mortgages, and 10 have withdrawn from the program. Ten have already closed on a home, and six are scheduled to close by mid-August.
But Martino said the program was still in its early stages. He said staff would talk with the more than 100 employees who haven’t contacted SunTrust, which holds about $40 million in certificates of deposit from the county’s investment portfolio for the program. He noted that they could be at various stages in the process, such as attending required homeowner education classes or discussing plans with a real estate agent. Participants have to close on homes by May 31, 2010.
“We think it’s gone well,” he said. “There’s been a number of successes.”
He cautioned that consumers were still struggling to navigate the real estate market and some houses were attracting a number of bids.
“It’s similar to eBay, except there’s no clock,” he said.
Elijah Johnson, director of Housing and Community Development, agreed: “Everybody is dealing with the increases in market activity.”
Prince William’s large volume of foreclosures is showing signs of improvement from last year, according to its Assessments Office. The number of year-over-year monthly foreclosures has dropped for four straight months after more than doubling from 136 in January 2008 to 313 in January 2009.
“Hopefully the board will concur with what we want to do,” Martino said.
Month; 2007; 2008; 2009
January; 98; 136; 313
February; 122; 448; 339
March; 116; 545; 354
April; 143; 522; 254
May; 172; 668; 254
Year; 2,805; 6,549; 1,514*
*Through May
Source: Prince William Assessments Office
