Staff writer
A community land trust non-profit organization is rehabilitating two foreclosed homes in Andover that it will sell to low to moderate income buyers.
Two Rivers Community Land Trust (CLT) of Lake Elmo has bought, rehabilitated and sold 27 homes in Washington County and one home in Wisconsin. The two
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The two Andover foreclosed homes that Two River Community Land Trust purchased earlier this spring are currently being rehabbed before the non-profit organization will put them back on the market for low to moderate income buyers. This shows what the kitchen at 732 140th Lane N.W. looked like before renovation (above) and what it looked like in the middle of its face-lift (below). Photos by Eric Hagen
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) dollars from the city of Andover, HOME Investment Partnership funds, foundation grants and in-kind gifts are being used to buy and rehabilitate the Andover homes, vanderBent said.
Village Bank of East Bethel is the mortgage lender.
The non-profit organization bought the 40-year-old 732 140th Lane N.W. home for $120,000 March 30 and the 32-year-old home located at 14360 Partridge St. N.W. for $129,000 on April 29, according to Anoka County property tax records.
Both homes are between 1,200 and 1,400 square feet, vanderBent said.
From mid-July to mid-August, contractors have torn apart the homes to give them major face-lifts. The non-profit Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation sought competitive contractor bids for the renovations, vanderBent said.
TDB Builders of Forest Lake is the general contractor. Professional subcontractors are also working on the project.
The renovation budget for the 140th Lane home is $65,000 and the budget for the Partridge Street home is $56,000, according to vanderBent.
The crew worked on carpentry inside and outside, insulation, drywall, stained the doors, cabinets and woodwork, painting, electrical work, plumbing, flooring, asphalt driveway work and much more.
The properties will probably be marketed at a price range of $110,000 to $115,000. The prices will be set within the next month or so, vanderBent said.
Two Rivers CLT closely monitors the housing market to make sure it is selling the homes at a lower price than comparable home sales.
Two Rivers CLT will continue to own the land to keep the sale price down, but the property owners will pay the full amount of property taxes like any other homeowner, vanderBent said.
When the homeowner sells the home in the future, they take the equity they invested plus 25 percent of the increase in market value of the home. The remaining 75 percent of the market value increase goes to keep the home affordable for the next buyer, according to information from Two Rivers CLT.
Andover contribution
vanderBent and Kathryn Paulson, Two Rivers CLT Housing project manager, called the city of Andover to see if there were any homes for sale in the community that were built prior to 1990 and have at least three bedrooms, said Courtney Bednarz, city planner.
Eventually, Two Rivers CLT with Andover’s assistance located homes at 732 140th Lane N.W. and 14360 Partridge St. N.W.
Both homes have three bedrooms and were built well before 1990. The 140th Lane home was built in 1969 and the Partridge Street home was built in 1977.
The city of Andover was going to lose its CDBG allocation if it did not utilize it, Bednarz said.
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More information
If you are interested in one of these homes,
contact Teresa Howard of Two Rivers CLT at 651-994-9194, extension 203. |
The city had no problems finding qualified applicants to provide the money after it received a $47,000 CDBG revolving loan program grant in 2004, Bednarz said.
However, the qualifications changed by the time Andover received another $50,000 in 2007 and the city had to turn down most applicants because their total household income was higher than the qualification standard, Bednarz said.
The county also had a zero-interest loan program for housing rehabilitation projects while Andover’s interest rate was 3 percent.
The benefits Andover is getting are two more foreclosures will be taken off the list, people who need housing will be assisted and the CDBG money was utilized in Andover instead of being lost to another Anoka County community, Bednarz said.
“That was a no-brainer. Council was on board with that,” Bednarz said.
Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it