ASHTABULA – The first house built under Welcome Home Ohio, a state program aimed at rehabilitating blighted properties and opening them to low-to-moderate income homeowners, was showcased for visitors on Sunday, July 19.
The open house at 3835 Station Ave. was held by the developer, Community Building Partners, and the Ashtabula County Land Bank
“This is a chance for first-time homebuyers to visualize themselves in the space and get a true sense of what homeownership can feel like,” Jordan Torrence, director of the Ashtabula County Land Bank, said. “We are so excited for the first families to take advantage of this program.”
The house is a two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath on a small lot where the Land Bank had previously demolished a blighted house. It also has a full, unfinished basement, an attached one-car garage and will come with a full suite of stainless steel, energy efficient appliances.
“It’s a very energy efficient unit,” Christian Hickman, project manager with Community Building Partners, said.
The home is assembled by Industrialized Prefabricated Units of Vandalia, Ohio, then everything is shipped to the construction site and assembled there, according to Hickman. The house itself is built in about a month and a half, then construction takes about two months from groundbreaking to completion.
The all-electric house has a heat pump climate control system, with the garage and front porch being the only things built on site. Afterward, it’s simply a matter of connecting the utilities.
Notable features include that the master bedroom has a small walk-in closet and an ensuite full bathroom with a standing shower.
Hickman said this allows residents to age in place, in their own home.
“We want to make sure that this is somewhere that families can actually grow up in and be able to live here through the duration of their lives,” he said.
All the house’s necessities are on the first floor, except for the washing machine and dryer, which are in the basement.
Upstairs, there are two somewhat smaller bedrooms, a large linen closet and a full bathroom with a full-size bathtub.
Prospective buyers must secure a $180,000 mortgage from a bank, the Federal Housing Authority or a Veterans Administration home loan guarantee and must be at or below 80 percent of local median income to qualify, according to Hickman.
Once the home is purchased, there are deed restrictions mandating residents to live in the house as their primary residence for five years before selling.
After five years, they may rent part of the house but must maintain it as their primary residence and the house itself cannot be rented until 20 years have passed, according to Hickman.
The state also requires one year of financial literacy training consisting of four, two-hour sessions with a monthly check-in afterward.
“The state wants to make sure, and all of their restrictions are investments into home ownership – they want to make sure if you’re buying the house, you have the tools necessary to manage your money accordingly,” Hickman said.
The home was funded by the Welcome Home Ohio Grant from the Ohio Department of Development. The project is a collaboration between the Ashtabula County Land Bank and Community Building Partners (CBP), a Columbus-based developer.
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