Incentives for buying homes in downtown Mount Pleasant

Even with the economy going like it has been, the city of Mount Pleasant is still launching a program that offers incentives for residents to purchase and convert rentals back to single-family owner-occupied homes.

The name of the program is the Owner Occupied Residential Incentive Program and the city is looking forward to what this program has to offer.

“Despite the economy, it’s definitely worth having the program here,” said Jeff Gray, Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of Mount Pleasant. “At some point, the economy will turn and it will be a good thing to have this program in place.”

According to the city webpage, the goal of the program is to reduce the number of rental units in a target area of the city and encourage neighborhood stability by increasing the number of owner occupied properties.

The target areas for this program are the neighborhoods in the northeast portion of town, including neighborhoods north of High Street, said Gray.

One of the biggest incentives of this program is money.

“The City will provide money at closing to buy back rental licenses and convert them to owner-occupied homes,” Gray said.

The money distributed depends on the type of license the applicant will be buying back.

“It’s 5% of the purchase price up to $10,000 for family rentals,” said Gray. “And it’s 8% of the purchase price up to $16,000 for rooming and board rentals.”

There is no certain applicant the City is looking for.

“No minimum qualifications are needed for the applicant,” said Gray. “Just someone who is looking to purchase a home in that target area.”

Some residents aren’t even aware of this program that the City offers.

Kathleen Fields, Mount Pleasant resident, said she feels the City doesn’t advertise this program enough. More people might use it if it is more known.

The status of the current economy is having its affects on this program.

“The program is moving much, much slower then we hoped,” Gray said. “The housing market is affecting the rate of applicants to this program.”

Despite the things holding them back, the City plans on moving forward in hopes for changes in the economy and a bigger boost to the incentive program.

For more information on the program, you can visit http://www.mt-pleasant.org/Info/incentive.pdf