Stonegate Village

General Information

Stonegate Village is a new 14 unit town home development located on Pratts Junction Road in Sterling, MA. Four (4) affordable two bedroom town homes will be available by lottery to eligible first time homebuyers.

PLEASE NOTE:  Complete financial documentation and a mortgage pre-approval are required to participate in this lottery.  A list of the required financial documents can be found on the left navigation bar.  Your mortgage pre-approval letter must be through a bank.  An online mortgage pre-approval letter or a letter from a mortgage company will not be accepted.  Your application will be incomplete and will not be included in the lottery without complete financial documentation and a mortgage pre-approval postmarked on or before October 26, 2007..

Lottery Applicant Criteria:

• Must be a first time homebuyer (not owned a home as a principal residence for a period of three years.) Exception for displaced homemakers.
  
• Must not exceed the following maximum allowable income for your household size.

• Household assets can not exceed $50,000. Retirement assets are counted.
  
  

  1.	Individual retirement, 401K and Keogh accounts are included at 100% of the account value.
  2.	The value of Retirement and Pension Funds differ if you are employed or are no longer working. If still employed the value is determined using the amount you can withdraw less any penalties or transaction costs. At retirement, termination of employment or withdrawal periodic receipts from pension and retirement funds are counted as income. Lump sum receipts are counted as assets.
  	Refer to the complete Income and Asset Guidelines located on the left navigation bar.

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

• Current Sterling Resident
• Adult Child or Parent(s) of Current Sterling Resident
• Employed by the Town of Sterling

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

Housing Preferences 

Preference for the two bedroom units will be given to households which require two bedrooms based on household size. Second Preference for households 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 two bedroom unit price is $130,000 and the current area median income is $72,800, the Resale Price Multiplier would be $130,000/$72,800 = 1.78.

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 $75,000 the resale price would be determined as follows: $75,000 x 1.78 = $133,500.

In addition, the Monitoring Agent receives a resale fee than can be added to the maximum resale price. The fee is equal to 2.5% of the set new purchase price ($133,500 x 2.5% = $3,338). The total resale price would be $136,838.

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 13.5%), 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.