Properties that have been rehabbed and put back on the market as part of the Neighborhood Stabilization will soon be on sale.
At the Marshalltown City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night, Michelle Spohnheimer, director of housing and community development, announced that four of the five properties renovated by the grant are set to be put on the market.
Iowa Department Economic Development provided $400,000 for the city to buy and fix up five homes in 2010.
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This newly renovated home shown here at 612 W. Church St., is just one of four properties the city has rehabbed since 2010 as part of a Neighborhood Stabilization grant. The properties should be up for bid by late June or early July.
The city used the grant to purchase foreclosed properties, renovate them and put them back on the market. Spohnheimer said the homes have seen repairs to the roofs, had electrical and heating and cooling system upgrades, new siding and bathroom fixtures and even new windows.
All the homes were foreclosed on because they were in disrepair, she said.
"It's a pretty extensive overhaul," she said. "They will be nice starter homes that will need little repair."
Although the grant stipulates that the city must sell the homes to first-time, low-income buyers, those buyers must still meet certain guidelines, Spohnheimer said. In particular, potential buyers must qualify for a traditional mortgage.
"We want to make sure they are not sub-prime type of lending," she said. "We are hoping we will have some good luck."
Two of the homes - a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom home at 612 W. Church St. and a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house at 107 W. Lincoln St. - require buyers not exceed 120 percent of the area median income, set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to documents presented to the council.
Potential buyers for the other two, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom at 710 Wood St. and a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house at 114 N. 10th Ave., must be below 50 percent of the median income, according to the documents.
Spohnheimer said the city is reaching out to local realtors to sell the properties which will likely be available for bid by the end of June or early July.
The city still has one house to rehab, but effort have yet to begin, Spohnheimer said.