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Ave Maria homes available to wider market now
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Ave Maria has become more affordable to more people.
Hundreds of homes once reserved for low-income earners in the new town could now be sold to the next class of buyers.
On Tuesday, Collier County commissioners approved the change with no discussion, as part of their summary agenda.
The town’s developers pushed to loosen the income requirements after struggling to find enough buyers for the Middlebrook community, where 326 homes are planned.
Homes were restricted to buyers earning 50 to 80 percent of the area’s median income. To qualify, a family of four, could have earned no more than $55,850 a year. Now, they can make $83,760, nearly $30,000 more.
"We do have a number of people who are in the moderate income category who have been unable to purchase in there. The first thing we will do is contact those who have expressed an interest before," said Blake Gable, a vice president for Barron Collier Cos., Ave Maria’s co-developer.
The community’s builder, Pulte Homes, has done everything it could to market the project to low-income buyers — even meeting with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and Collier school district. But there has been little success. Of the nearly 50 homes built at Middlebrook, 36 have sold and 32 of those were bought by Ave Maria University for rentals to faculty.
"We will do additional marketing to incorporate the new people that qualify," said Jill Hoffman, vice president of sales for Pulte.
Prices will stay the same. They start in the high $160,000s.
At Ave Maria, up to 700 homes could move from low-income to moderate-income restrictions with the change, which could help sales at other communities in the future.
The change is possible because of a state law that passed in 2007. It was co-sponsored by the late-Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples.
Under the law, developers can ask to lessen the income requirements for affordable housing after receiving a certificate of occupancy and marketing the units for at least six months.
Jeff Holiman, branch manager for Pulte Mortgage, said 16 units in two buildings are immediately available to moderate-income buyers.
The change for Middlebrook required an amendment to the town’s Development of Regional Impact.
Naples attorney John Passidomo, who represented the town’s developers on the request, said what’s happening at Middlebrook is "a reflection of the market now."
With a market slump, there are more affordably priced homes on the market that are competing with Middlebrook. At the same time, a credit crunch has made it tougher for lower-income earners to get financing, and their wages aren’t what they used to be in a slow economy, Passidomo said.
"It’s a spiraling impact," he said.
The new state law is designed to fill homes that may have otherwise sat empty, Passidomo said.
Ave Maria is the first development in the county to request the change since the new state law passed.
In other action Tuesday, commissioners voted to indefinitely postpone a proposal to build affordable housing on county-owned land in the Bembridge planned unit development off Santa Barbara Boulevard, once slated for an emergency operations center.
With homes on the market for under $100,000 in Golden Gate, Commission Chairman Tom Henning said it didn’t make sense to move forward with the project.
"I have concerns about doing anything on this item because of the housing market," he said.
Fellow commissioners agreed unanimously, saying now is not the time to build more affordable housing.
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LOL...Deja vu.....Do you think God told Monahan about the $4/gallon gasoline ahead of time?
Too many properties on the market, and not enough foreign buyers.
Deal with it. To the realtors, lower the prices. 5% of nothing is nothing. 5% of a $100,000 is $5,000.
#1 Posted by volochine on May 31, 2008 at 12:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What incentives were the builders offered in order to build these "low-income" homes. It seems there should be a much closer, very public look at what the deal was. Builders never build low-income homes without being compensated in some way such as with lowered impact fees. Are they going to have to pay back these incentives now?
I have never seen the advertising aimed at the low income buyer. Why weren't the teachers and nurses and other workers earning less than $55,000 recruited harder? With an escape clause of only 6 months of advertising why would the builders feel any pressure to promote the properties more effectively?
The County Commissioners failed the working class of Collier County on this one.
By-the-way, since when is $55,000 considered low income? The median worker income in Collier County is around $40,000.
#2 Posted by sunalsorises on May 31, 2008 at 10:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Classic Collier County stuff.
Give developers an incentive to do something and then change the rules after the developer has pocketed the cash.
Money talks and BS walks, doesn't it?
#3 Posted by 12gauge on May 31, 2008 at 2:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Very good point, Sun......Makes sense.
#4 Posted by volochine on June 1, 2008 at 1:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's make a prediction right now... These "units" still aren't going to sell at 170K either. People aren't interested in townhouses for 170K. The price is wrong, not the income limitations.
#5 Posted by devoutRC on June 1, 2008 at 10:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's NOT make predictions. Any suppositions should carry with them factual case history or economic theory or some other such help.
The pattern is consistent here...
each time an article comes out on Ave Maria in the Naples Daily News, a quick fluster of vitriolic conjecture from a group comes out that very day. None of it based in fact, and almost always using speculation and many time false assumptions. Who, what, or where this group is from is anyone's guess.
Sunorsilrises: The $55k requirement is for a FAMILY OF FOUR, which is NOT comparable to the average county "median worker income".
#6 Posted by billster0756 on June 7, 2008 at 5:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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