Oct 12, 2009 11:57 pm US/Eastern
NYC Housing Lottery A Blessing For Middle Class
Families Earning $50,000 To $60,000 Per Year Making Out Like Bandits; Developers Find Themselves In Literal Win-Win
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
We know that foreclosures have created buying opportunities, but hundreds of families are getting brand new luxury homes. They are finding deals in sought after neighborhoods for 50, 60 even 70 percent off retail price.
As CBS 2 HD found out, you can, too.
Kayle Koepke just won the lottery.
"This is our ultimate dream," Koepke said.
She and her family just moved into their new home -- a two-bedroom in Manhattan at the luxury condo building, leaving behind a cramped one bedroom.
"We couldn't afford anything bigger, so we we're going to have to change states," Koepke said.
The Canfields thought they'd only be able to afford a studio apartment, but check out what they bought.
"We've got a huge gym, real close to the N train. Markets right around the corner," Kevin Canfield said.
Both couples scored these new homes through a city housing lottery for middle income families.
They ended up with a three-bedroom, two-bathroom luxurious corner unit. Marble kitchen, big rooms and lots of light, plus gym and squash courts, roof deck and palatial, art-filled lobby. What'd they each pay?
"Paid about half a mil," Bindhu Thomas said.
"It ended up being $170,000, and it's been appraised at $650,000," Koepke added.
Yet the market value on this Harlem building at 116th Street is double or triple. Five thousand families signed up for the Kalahari's lottery of 125 units.
"Approximately 50 percent of the units are affordable at different income strata, so they range from being affordable to the people in the $50,000, $60,000 income all the way up to the $120,000, $130,000 income range," L&M Developers' Ron Moelis said.
"One of the impacts of the recession is that buildings that were ready to go, maybe even half built, are now stalled, totally stopped," said NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
As a result, Quinn spearheaded the effort to turn luxury condo units into subsidized homes. This year alone, 400 homebuyers will benefit."
Owners, the developer, even the city officials all say this is a win-win situation. Multiple income levels get to share in the amenities of a luxury building. A developer is able to sell out in a tough economy and the neighborhood doesn't have to bear the blight of a half-finished condo project.
Each building runs its own lottery, but with thousands competing you'll still need some luck on your side.
"Put in the applications and live your life and work hard and you get lucky," Thomas said.
For more on who qualifies and the continuously changing list of available lottery condos and homes, please click
here and we'll connect you to the city agency overseeing the lottery program.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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