On Valentine’s Day 2015, Newark, N.J. held a highly publicized land sale that sold 98 vacant lots for $1,000 each and offered the opportunity to eventually build a house on the land. However, the program hit a few snags, and only one of the purchased lots has broken ground on a house.
Now, Newark has issued a new phase of the program in an effort to remove many of the obstacles individuals have faced and speed up the process, according to The New York Times.
The city has announced it will team up with about half of the people who purchased lots a year ago and build a house for them. This house would then be sold back to the landowners.
This phase will help the lot owners with designing a home, obtaining the necessary permits, and finding a bank that will provide a mortgage and a construction loan. This last part is no easy task considering Newark has one of the slowest real estate markets in the U.S.
With more open lots available, Newark is hoping to iron out some of the issues they have had and possibly offer another sale next year.
