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Will Mueller Remain Affordable now TCAD has backed down?

By
Real Estate Agent with Sherlock Homes Frisco TREC #574729

The Mueller affordable program is designed to make home buyers have a choice of getting a budget friendly house. The said homes are generally reserved for families who are earning 80 percent of the median family income in Austin.

Recently, the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) has reached an agreement with the owners of three affordable home developers in Mueller who sued the district claiming their appraisals were too high due to them not being allowed to sell their homes at a market value. This is affecting the homeowners who are worried that they might have to sell their homes because they will not be able to afford to pay the taxes under the increased appraisals.

Because the Mueller Foundation sold some homes at the market rate instead of at an affordable rate, TCAD raised appraisals for all homes after a certain period of time to the market rate. However, the Mueller Foundation has now agreed to keep all of the affordable housing units to be at an affordable rate if the homeowners will agree.

Both the Mueller Foundation and TCAD agreed to allow the continuation of the Mueller program which guarantees that 25% of the home developers in Mueller will be maintained at affordable prices. Under the program's basic terms, homeowners in the program will be eligible for Foundation-subsidized housing prices. Should they choose to sell the homes, under the Foundation's first-refusal purchase option they will only receive annual 2% in equity over the original purchase price.

The Mueller Foundation has entered into a memorandum of understanding with TCAD in order to reach a settlement and they are now rewriting the agreements it has with the residents living in Mueller's affordable housing.

Now that both parties have done legal actions, their Memorandum of Agreement states that the Foundation will issue new purchase option agreements that more precisely define sale restrictions, and there will be stricter restrictions on the number of homes the Foundation can release from the program for market-value sales.

Should you wish to learn more about the Muller Affordable Program, read more here.

Comments (5)

Ginny Gorman
RI Real Estate Services ~ 401-529-7849~ RI Waterfront Real Estate - North Kingstown, RI
Homes for Sale in Southern RI and beyond

Hi Garreth, great info for the local TX marketplace...you can join & post up to 5 groups which you should do to get more coverage.

Jul 14, 2016 09:02 PM
Gabe Sanders
Real Estate of Florida specializing in Martin County Residential Homes, Condos and Land Sales - Stuart, FL
Stuart Florida Real Estate

Good morning Garreth.  This sounds like a fairly complicated issue.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Jul 18, 2016 08:43 PM
Robert Vegas Bob Swetz
Las Vegas, NV

Hello Garreth

Great plug for the Local Texas Market Place!

Jul 18, 2016 11:33 PM
Curtis Van Carter
Better Homes & Gardens Wine Country Group - Yountville, CA
Your Napa Valley Broker Extraordinaire

Garrath

Interesting read. We have the same 25% affordable rules here but not certain how they handle the property taxes. I presume it is the 2% max annual increase that applies for all homes here. cheers cvc

Jul 20, 2016 04:35 AM
Curtis Van Carter
Better Homes & Gardens Wine Country Group - Yountville, CA
Your Napa Valley Broker Extraordinaire

Garreth

thanks for the follow and sorry about the a and not an e, cheers cvc

Jul 28, 2016 02:24 AM