INHS to build two homes in Freeville next spring

Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) has 65 Community Housing Trust-based properties in Tompkins County. In the spring of next year, they will be adding two more to its list. According to Lynn Truame, INHS’s director of real estate development, the homes will be built in the village of Freeville.

Each of the houses, which Truame said are affordable for-sale structures, are three-bedroom modular homes. The property as a whole is 1,200 square feet, she added.

The location of the one-story houses will be 10 Fall Creek Rd. and 25 Cook St., respectively, Truame said. Each house has Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEP) standards, all-electric, a large yard space, luxury vinyl tile flooring finish and “basically everything a new home would have,” she added.

Truame mentioned the home will be affordable to families who earn less than 80% of the area’s median income. Placed in the Community Housing Trust, this means the houses will be “permanently affordable resources for the community,” she said.

According to Truame, the Community Housing Trust is “a mechanism by which we are able to make homeownership permanently affordable in the community. You buy the house, but the land is retained by INHS. It’s on a 99-year lease, which can be renewed in perpetuity. The structure allows us to reduce the initial purchase price of the land.

She noted that municipalities within Tompkins County “put in money” to apply for funds for the housing projects.

“The subsidized amount brings down our money to sell the house down for,” Truame added. “We’re able to sell the house for far less than we are appraised for.”

Truame noted that the homes that INHS builds are appraised around $250,000, which is about $350,000 to build.

“In rough numbers, we sell them for about $175,000,” she added.

The benefits to having a Community Housing Trust home from IHNS, Truame said, is paying lower taxes.

“The house is assessed at a lower value than its market value. People are generally eligible for assistance from INHS for down-payment assistance,” she said. “It’s a way to get into your first home when you have a modest income.”

When the houses are on the market again, Truame said, it will sell in the amount “that’s affordable for a person earning [the less than 80%] of median income.”

“I think people have been happy with them,” she added. “If your goal is to have a house and live in it for a long time and you like the community, this is a good way to get started.”

Truame said INHS was planning to build the homes this upcoming fall season. However, with supply and manufacturing delays, the projects have been pushed to spring of next year.

“I thought we’d be in construction by now, but it’s a little bit on hold,” she added.

Truame mentioned that once the project breaks ground, it is anticipated that construction will last six months until the homes are “ready to go.”

Dryden High School grad awarded $3,000 scholarship

Dryden High School graduate Natalie Day was recently awarded a $3,000 scholarship by the Syracuse Chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) Society.

Day, a resident of the city of Cortland who graduated this year from Dryden High School, was one of three students in the central New York area to receive the scholarship.

“It’s a really good honor because I worked so hard for it,” Day said.

According to a release about the scholarship, applicants were welcome to visit insuremypath.org to answer questions to “reveal their ideal risk management and insurance career.” The scholarships were handed out based on an essay that students wrote on their potential careers in risk management and insurance industry and how earning the CPCU designation would “help them in their ideal career.”

Day wrote her essay on customer service and how customer service compares to the average person.

“I worked really hard on it,” said Day, who noted she received some assistance from her business class teacher at Dryden High School.

Day said she learned about insurance in her business class and hopes to intern with an insurance company soon.

Day plans to study business administration at Wells College, while also playing softball for the Express.

During her time at Dryden High School, Day was a member of the National Honor Society and the Business and Marketing Society. She also participated in the Lions’ softball and volleyball programs.

Dryden Dispatch appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

Soccer camp at Dryden High School next month

The Dryden Recreation Department will be holding a soccer camp at Dryden High School between Aug. 8 and 12.

Each day of the weeklong camp will go from 9 a.m. to noon. The cost of the camp is $25. To register, go to drydenrec.recdesk.com.

The camp will be instructed by Dryden High School soccer coaches and players. The camp will focus on building core skills, game play, small group activities and help to gain confidence.

Each child participating in the camp is asked to bring a water bottle, shin guards and sunscreen.