Homes for sale

Several years back your columnist was getting a bit upset that the developers of a set of “55 plus” new housing were being granted tax increment financing. In my opinion, the relief from certain real estate taxes was not quite fair for those building new homes for the market. Then again one aspect of 55 and over housing is that population with no young children does not have need for schools which consume a majority of our real estate taxes. Hmmm.

In order to be more informed on the subject, I went to visit my local banker. I had worked with this area leader years before while serving as the interim director of MEDC, the McCook Economic Development Corporation.

My banking friend explained that McCook, being the trade center of Southwest Nebraska, was suffering from a lack of housing. MEDC had been informed by one of their members, the manager of a large local manufacturing concern, that he would like to add a third shift at his plant but due to lack of housing, he could not get enough workers to expand. Other examples were cited but all pointed to a lack of housing for middle-class families, moms, working dad and children. MEDC had envisioned a plan.

Build new housing designed for healthy but retired older persons already living in the area. Then those persons would sell their long time homes that had grown oversized for one or two adults with their children raised and gone. Those homes in established residential neighborhoods would be of the right size for growing families and be in an affordable price range.

McCook had been blessed with farsighted developers that had built two upscale independent and assisted living facilities for older persons. The area has been long served by a well-run nursing home which also had provided a small number of assisted living apartments. Becky Dutcher the energetic director of the McCook Housing Authority had seized the opportunity to acquire, remodel and add new homes for income limited retired persons at her East Ward Campus in addition to her facilities on Missouri Avenue Circle. All those developments had synergistically served to free up more good single family homes in the area.

All that being in the background your columnist this week was invited to a working meeting with Mr. Earl Redrick, who is head of the federal agency, HUD, Department of Housing and Urban Development, in Nebraska. In his travels through rural Nebraska, Mr. Redrick observed that many communities were scrambling to provide assisted living facilities for their residents and that McCook had already had the foresight to have that need well covered. He also applauded the fact that this area had already provided and was currently building homes for the older segment of our population which in turn was freeing up good homes for those of working age.

Mr. Redrick also informed that an agency the Rural Development Programs a kind of a sibling of HUD has funds for down payment assistance. Qualifiers must be income eligible first time home buyers. Locally Mary Kircher, with the MEDC is the go-to person to assist home buyers and she also teaches new home buyers education.

Times are a’changing. The new generation calls itself millennials. Persons of my generation envisioned success marked by owning a nice home with a large lawn and landscaping. Millennials have different goals in mind. They are happy with smaller accommodations, no lawn to keep and are just as happy to live in an apartment above a shop downtown. Think also tiny houses. Millennials also are not real interested in long term commitments and are eager to move from job to job in the interest of career advancement. The point is that young families are happy to come to this area to work, buy a home but when opportunity beckons they are also happy to sell and move on.

Recently I visited with a local home builder. He informed that it cost him in the range of $100,000 to $210,000 to build a nice home with basement in this area. It was his opinion that homes of considerably more than his $210,000 top are being built and sold locally but those are few and far between.

Drive through McCook and notice the real estate signs denoting “Home for Sale” and you will discover that there are quite a few listed. The far-sighted leaders of this community have developed a successful model. We are configured with the essential elements to grow jobs and a place to live. The demographic is working.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail