FREEPORT, Ill. (WREX) — The
Greater Freeport Partnership and Choice Realty are building two new condos
as they work to lessen the low number of homes for sale.
This comes after only 17 homes have become available in the area since
June.
These are also the first ones to be built in Freeport in three years, all
aiming to boost both the housing and city of Freeport.
Across the Stateline, residents have continued to face challenges when it
comes to buying homes for the past several months due to a lack of
available places.
"We know even in Stephensen County the housing market is very tight so
having more units come online helps kind of create and enrich that
inventory," Andrea Schultz Winter, the Executive Director of the Greater
Freeport Partnership said.
They hope that by doing this, they are able to make the search for housing
easier on not just these new homebuyers.
"In turn would then open up that single family house to maybe somebody
who's looking to expand a family or to grow or who wants multiple
bedrooms. So, it's really an opportunity for this community to grow in a
lot of different ways and it's wonderful to have multiple options for
housing," she said.
They also hope to make a dent in the issue across the Stateline.
"We don't always live in the community that we work in and when you think
about affordability, even if there's a commute, it might be more
affordable to live here in Freeport, in Stephenson County and commute into
Rockford or north to Wisconsin or south to Sterling, Rock Falls," Winter
said.
In turn, the organization looks toward future growth of not just new
residents but throughout the entire community.
"Freeport is a very welcoming community in terms of new
residents, new business growth. We're happy to have more
people move into the community, set down roots, there's a lot of
opportunities here," Winter said.
Aside from these new homes, there are also more open lots just feet away,
opening the door for the potential for more to be built.
"The demand is there, and I think when we're seeing this kind of uptick in
the housing market and prices escalate, having something that's new
construction that's affordable is key," she said.
The new housing is utilizing incentives, allowing the homebuyers to have a
property tax abatement and not have to pay property taxes for three years.
The homebuilders are also had their permit fees waived, and materials
bought in Stephenson County had the sales tax waived.
This all comes as they hope to allow for both Freeport residents and those
looking around the Stateline to have something new to choose from.
"Now there's an even bigger push because we have had lower inventories in
our market and so now, we're going for a stronger push due to the fact
that with the low inventory that people can get a brand-new construction
for a reasonable price," Josh Longamore, a Broker for Choice Realty said.
