Townhomes on Stromquist Street in Mueller, Austin
The Mueller Affordable Program is vibrant, elaborate, and complicated. When the mixed-use development of Mueller was imagined, the City of Austin wanted to do something new: include more affordable housing. A lot more. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Austin was still relatively affordable. A market rate home may sell at $189,000 while an affordable home was sold at $160,000.
Would this even work in a market like Austin?
Well, fast forward 25 years and Mueller has one of the most successful affordable home programs in the city, if not the country. While there are still bugs to figure out and the program is short of perfect, it has allowed hundreds of people and families to live in Central Austin at a reduced cost, with capped property taxes. It’s an incredible opportunity for a lot of people. Just over 25 percent of the homes in Mueller are in the affordable program. It’s incredible. The original plan was to include them in a program for at least one year, but the program has grown and now the long-term success is defined by decades.
But sometimes the program loses a home to the regular market. Why would this happen? Sometimes the buyer pool that qualifies for the program dries up. As of today, Lennar is currently releasing a whole slew of new homes, which is capturing a lot of the currently qualified buyers, which means those homes in the resale program don’t have buyers! Why buy resale when you can get shiny and new?
Also, a lot of the affordable homes are on the smaller side. They’re not built for growing families or aging in place (many are at least 2-story homes). It could be a narrow buyer pool, even for those who qualify.
When a home is sold out of the program, any “extra” money that is made from the sale goes back into the Mueller Foundation, which oversees the program. The Foundation is also there to assist with homeowners who may need a little extra help with a major home repair or capital expense that is unexpected.
While we never want to lose a home out of the program, it does open up an opportunity for someone who does not qualify for the program to buy a home that is less than the average home price for the area. So keep an eye out and maybe you’ll just get lucky!
Example of a home that was recently released from the Affordable Program: 4329 Stromquist