Monday, March 31, 2008

Want affordable housing? Win a lottery

Brothers John and Michael Ceriello Jr. wanted to buy houses in Brooklyn, but prices were out of their reach. Their solution: a two-family home.

Both make good money, but found they were priced out of the city's real estate market.

Pratt Area Community Council, a Brooklyn nonprofit, was gut-renovating nine houses for middle-income purchasers.

Michael was taken with a two-family Clinton Hill rowhouse built in the 1880s. The price was right: $455,000 after more than $200,000 in government subsidies. He liked its location on a sunny block near Gates Ave. and its brownstone exterior. "It looked robust," he said.

Out of 705 lottery applications, his was drawn second. The house he most wanted was available. And he was a good match for its income requirement — the purchaser would be allowed to earn no more than $88,698 a year.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How exactly does one do this?