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Farmers Branch offers home improvement incentives
Will Montgomery's landscaping project didn't start out to be an overhaul, but the prospect of getting some of his cost back from the city led him to expand his plans. "I just got carried away," he said of the transformation of his front and back yards on Tanglewood Drive. Mr. Montgomery is one of 48 people who in the last 14 months have received gift cards, cash grants, rebates on permit fees and free city services under the city's Residential Incentive Program, which encourages people to spruce up their properties or tear down old homes and build new ones. "The program gave me incentive to do more than I might have otherwise done," he said. "It's one of the things that made me invest more in my property." Under the program, Mr. Montgomery got back 2 percent of his more than $50,000 investment, plus half of the city permit fees. He also received free services, including a year of water and wastewater, a family membership to the fitness club at the city recreation center and a social membership at Brookhaven Country Club. The incentive program, implemented in February 2007, rewards residents who spend at least $2,000 to improve their homes' exteriors. It offers perks for exterior makeovers, major remodels and teardown/rebuilds. Mayor Tim O'Hare said that in a city where neighborhoods were deteriorating and property values stagnant two years ago, signs of rejuvenation abound, and property values are rising. On a recent drive through several neighborhoods, Mr. O'Hare pointed out lot after lot where a home had been torn down and the site readied for construction, or where a new home was already going up. He pointed to others where homeowners had added stonework to facades or landscaped their yards. It's too early to know whether to credit the incentive program, marketing aimed at prospective residents and developers, or a combination, he said. "You have to look at it five years later, or 10 years later." But "if you ask me, it is working, and it is only going to get better." City officials said they know of no other city with such a program. It was the incentives for buying newly built homes in older neighborhoods that caught Derek Archibeque's attention. He and his wife were looking to move out of a Dallas townhouse and checked out a home for sale in the Branch Crossing neighborhood. It wasn't right for them. But the real estate agent told them about the incentives, including a cash payment equal to 2 percent of their purchase price. That, coupled with an immediate attraction to the traditional neighborhood and the redevelopment going on there, made them look harder at Farmers Branch. "We made sure we weren't going to leave that neighborhood until we exhausted our search," Mr. Archibeque said. He, his wife, Karlan, and their Pomeranian, Laci, and Shepherd mix, Ally, fell in love with a newly built two-story, three-bedroom home on Leta Mae Lane. Since the purchase, the couple have used their fitness center membership and are looking forward to joining the country club. Mr. Archibeque said the free memberships would help them make friends in their new hometown. Like Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Archibeque, Linda Cotton said the incentives were easy to apply for and receive. She received a $600 Great Indoors gift card for installing more energy-efficient windows and a new garage door and doing some landscaping. "I was planning on doing them anyway," she said of the projects, "but it probably prompted me to do more of them right now, so that I qualified." Mr. O'Hare said some changes may be in store for the incentive program. He'd like to stop giving cash back for teardowns/rebuilds and instead focus more on exterior makeovers and remodeling. "I think it has served its purpose of creating a buzz," he said of the incentive program. "It has served its purpose of showing homebuilders, real estate agents and homebuyers that we're serious about revitalizing this town, we're serious about cleaning up neighborhoods, and we're willing to put our money where our mouth is." Mr. O'Hare expects the city staff and elected officials to discuss the program and potential revisions this summer. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/ 071208dnmetfbincentives.3d852f5.html |
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