Since they were completed and put on the market in mid-April, very little progress has been made in attracting buyers for the 12 new homes targeted for sale to middle-income residents in Agave Place.
Located just east of the intersection of Buttercup Road and state Highway 75 north of Hailey, Agave Place was built as part of the construction of Village Green, a high-end subdivision adjacent to The Valley Club, approved by the Blaine County Commission nearly two years ago.
Sun Valley Development built Village Green and Agave Place.
At the Blaine County Commission's meeting Tuesday, Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority Executive Director Jim Fackrell discussed the difficulty his organization is having attracting potential homebuyers to the project.
So far, just one buyer has come close to purchasing one of the units, Fackrell told the commissioners. That buyer is under contract and may close on the deal sometime later this week, he said.
One issue brought up during Tuesday's discussion was whether the units are correctly priced and in the correct income category. BKHA places potential homebuyers on its waiting list in specific income categories based on percentages of the area median income that are assigned to Blaine County by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Fackrell said the developer of Agave Place claims the units are correctly priced. He said the developer believes the slow sales are due to deed restrictions that limit the homes' annual appreciation. Disputing that notion, Fackrell said the deed restrictions placed on the Agave Place homes are the same ones placed on other affordable housing units throughout the county.
"I believe the primary issue is pricing," he said.
In April, pricing for the Agave Place units was listed as $173,500 for the development's six one-bedroom homes and $262,500 for its remaining six two-bedroom homes.
One potential issue hanging like a dark cloud over the affordable housing project is the apparent suggestion by the developers of the project that if the units are not sold within a certain time frame, they may be able to sell them on the open market at standard pricing.
Hearing this from Fackrell, Blaine County Commissioner Sarah Michael said she would be discussing the issue with the county's attorney.
"I'd like to have us look into that," Michael said. "We need to understand the ramifications of this thing."
