The Willows - Ayer, MA

General Information

The Willows is a new 97 unit development located on Willow Road in Ayer, MA. Twenty five (25) affordable 2 or 3 bedroom town homes and detached single family homes will be available by lottery to eligible first time homebuyers. Due to the extended construction schedule two or three lotteries will be conducted to distribute the affordable units. Each lottery will be a mix of three bedroom detached single family homes and two or three bedroom town homes. The information in this application applies to the first lottery only.

Lottery Applicant Criteria:                     

• Must be first time homebuyer (not owned a home as a principal residence for a period of three years). Exception for displaced homemakers.

• Household income can not exceed the following maximum allowable income for your household size.

• Household assets can not exceed $50,000. A portion of or the entire value of retirement accounts are counted. Refer to Income/Asset Guidelines on the left navigation bar for complete details.

Local Preference Criteria
Households must meet at least one of the following criteria to be eligible in the local pool. Proof of local residency will be verified if you have the opportunity to purchase.

• Current Ayer Resident
• Children or Parents of current Ayer Resident
• Employed by the Town of Ayer
• Employees working in the Town of Ayer

Number of Affordable Units and Breakdown for those who meet the Local Preference Criteria

Housing Preferences 

Unit preference for the two bedroom units will be given to households which require two bedrooms, based on household size. Second preference is to households which require one bedroom, based on household size.

Unit preference for the three bedroom units will be given to households which require three bedrooms, based on household size. Second preference to households which require two bedrooms, based on household size and third preference to household which require one bedroom based on household size.

Deed Rider

YES. Deed restrictions are used to ensure the units are affordable for future buyers and are attached to the property in perpetuity. If you choose to sell your unit, there is a limit on the resale price. The maximum resale price is determined using a Resale Price Multiplier, a figure calculated by taking the initial sales price and dividing it by the area median income. For example, the initial 2 bedroom affordable town home unit price is $164,000 and the current area median income is $82,400, the Resale Price Multiplier would be $164,000/$82,400 = 1.99.

Upon resale, the Resale Price Multiplier is multiplied by the updated area median income number to determine the maximum resale price. For example, if the original buyer decides to sell the unit in 5 years and (we assume) the then current area median income has increased to $87,000 the resale price would be determined as follows: $87,000 x 1.99 = $173,130.

In addition, the Monitoring Agent may receive a resale fee than can be added to the maximum resale price. For example, assume the resale fee is 2.5% of the set new purchase price ($173,130 x 2.5% = $4,328. The total resale price would be $177,458.

Minority Preference

If the percentage of minority applicants in the Local Preference Pool is less than the percentage of minorities in the Surrounding HUD-defined area (currently 20.7% as determined by the most recent Census data), a preliminary lottery will be held comprised of all the minority applications who do not qualify for the Local Preference Pool and applicants would be ranked in order of the drawing. The Local Preference Pool would then be adjusted by adding the required number of minority applicants according to their ranking from the At-large pool to the Local Preference Pool to achieve the appropriate representation.