If you purchase a home from a builder in a Habitat for Humanity Community (Raleigh: sale)

[cphill]

In 2007, my husband and I purchased a home from a builder in a large Habitat for Humanity community in northeast Raleigh. NOTE: We were not the recipients of a habitat home nor did we participate in the program. We were private buyers who just happened to purchase a home within one of the HFH communities.

In February 2010, my husband will retire from the Navy after 20 years of military service and we are looking to relocate into another area. We are currently under a contingency contract to purchase our retirement home and have placed our current home on the market. Although the home has been on the market for a little over a month, we have not had any real prospects for the purchase thereof and were looking at the prospect of renting the home as a last resort.

Well, can you imagine our surprise when in the process of attempting to contracting with a property management complay to rent our home, we were informed by our Homeowners Association that because our home was in a Habitat for Humanity community and because of a restriction within the covenants, that we are not allowed to rent our home for the collection of rental monies.

When both myself and my realtor discussed the issue with my HOA, we were told that the firm who drew up the covenants should know of the legality of the issue and that we needed to contact them. Upon contacting the firm, I was told that the HOA could possibly, due to the circumstance, provide me with permission to rent the home so that we could move to our final home and continue to attempt to sell. Upon recontacting the HOA, they stated that they could not do so and that I should contact Habitat for Humanity. After talking with HFH for several weeks, I was redirected back to the HOA. The HOA had sent HFH an email stating that my husband and I would have to go through an amendment process and that unfortunately it probably would take longer than the time period remaining on my contigency contract with the builder of our retirement home.

So now, I am back at square one and feeling a little more than frustrated.

The origin of this restriction was that the HFH created the restriction as a way to prevent HFH program participants from renting homes that were acquired under special financing. Although the HFH loan program prohibits any owner of a HFH home from renting the home for profit, the restriction was placed on all lots within the HFH community when the land was first developed to further enforce this rule. Unfortunately, many of the lots were sold to a private builder, the restriction was never amended and now homeowners within the community who do not own HFH homes are unable to rent their homes (either).

Although I truly understand the reasonining of HFH, upon HFH's sale of lots to a private builder, the covenants should have been changed or written in such a way to ensure that if any lots were sold to private builders and the resulting homes were purchased by owners who did not participate in the program that those owners had a right to rent their homes if desired.

Because HFH and private builders did not ensure that the restrictions set up for HFH program recipients did not infringe upon the rights of private homeowners who are/were not HFH participants, that my husband and I find ourselves being held hostage against our will. An unfortunately, until our home sells we are unable to move forward.

BEWARE! If you are looking to purchase a home in a HFH new home community, make sure that you ask the builder or builder/seller representative if there is a restriction within the covenants that prevents private homeowners from renting your home. If there is you may want to rethink your decision to purchase your home there. "Why", you may ask?

If in the event that your financial situation changes and you need to rent in order to prevent foreclosure you won't be able to do so. Or if you find yourself in the same situation as myself, where we were going to rent until we found a buyer, you won't be able to do so either.