
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 1, 1991                   TAG: 9103010362
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: STATE  
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ROCKBRIDGE GROUPS GET VHDA FUNDS

The Virginia Housing Development Authority has awarded money to the city and two private groups for low-interest mortgages that will enable low-income families to buy their first homes.

Rockbridge Housing Partnership received $400,000 to bring seven new modular homes to Buena Vista. Partnership members are Lexington Building and Zoning Administrator Bill Blatter, Lexington Code Enforcement Officer Phillip Ehlinger and Thomas Kelly, a contractor.

Blatter said the three-bedroom homes will be in the Hillside Subdivision off Long Hollow Road and will be sold for an average of $55,000. At a 7.625 percent interest rate, monthly payments will be about $389.

Blatter said he and Ehlinger are involved as private individuals. There is no conflict with their official Lexington positions because the project is planned for Buena Vista, he said.

Lexington received $90,000 for two new houses in the low-income Diamond Hill/Green Hill neighborhoods. The modular homes will sell for $40,000 to $50,000 at 4.75 percent interest.

They will be on Marble Lane and Peyton Street.

Koogler Construction Co. of Fishersville received $315,000 to build six houses in the county that will sell for an estimated $52,500. They will be town houses, said John Koogler, one of the partners, who said he is happy to have received the allocation. "It helps out people that can't afford [homes] and work as hard as anybody else."

The Rural Home Ownership Opportunity program, which was announced by Gov. Douglas Wilder at his Rural Development Conference in September, was created to enable low-income rural families to buy their first homes. A total of $12.4 million was awarded to 32 organizations.

All houses built through the program will have 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with interest rates of 4.75 percent or 7.625 percent. The low 4.75 percent interest rate will make it possible for families with annual incomes as low as $10,000 to buy a home.

Families interested in buying a house through this program should contact one of the groups that received allocations.

by CNB