The faculty and staff housing program has come full circle since it started in 2004. Not only has the program enabled employees to purchase their first home, it has helped others build equity and move on.
“That is exactly what the program was designed to do,” says Randy Wallace Jr., real estate support specialist for the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation. “A faculty member who purchased their home five years ago was able to build equity, resell to the foundation and move on to purchase a larger home for their family.”
Five homes are available — four townhomes at Fair Oaks Walk and a single family residence in the Kellogg Tract neighborhood. Located in north Pomona and the Claremont school district, Fair Oaks Walk’s 34 units were built in the last couple of years. Closer to campus, the Kellogg Tract house is one of several homes that was purchased by the foundation and extensively renovated.
“It’s essentially a brand-new house — new walls, double pane
windows, appliances, fixtures, flooring and roof. The foundation and
the chimney are the only things that are part of the original house,”
says Meaghan Smith, manager of Facilities Planning, who recently
purchased a home in the Kellogg Tract. Not only does she enjoy her
shorter commute and reduced carbon footprint, she also appreciates
living near other Cal Poly Pomona employees.
“On my street alone, about half of the homes are owned by Cal Poly
Pomona people,” she says. “The neighborhood has gone through a really
positive transformation in the last several years.”
In June, Math Professor Berit Givens sold her home in the Kellogg
Tract community back to the foundation after nearly five years and says
the program allowed her family break into the housing market.
“I liked the neighborhood. We had great neighbors,” she says. “The
best part is the proximity to campus. I walked to school for five
years, even when I was eight months pregnant!”
The foundation provides financial assistance to faculty and staff by
giving 3 percent of the purchase price toward closing costs, offering a
20 percent low-interest loan to help with the down payment and offering
a three-year buyback option. For the first three years, homeowners have
the option to sell the house back to the foundation for the original
purchase price.
To keep the homes affordable for future faculty and staff, the
foundation owns the land, and the home’s appreciation is tied to the
rate of inflation using the consumer price index. This means that
homeowners can enjoy a healthy market appreciation — historically 3 to
4 percent — but may not be part of the wild upswings of the housing
market. With the three-year buyback option, it also means that
homeowners aren’t at risk if the market crashes.
“It is a great time to buy with interest rates at their lowest point
in years as well as the security of the foundation’s home buyback
option,” Wallace says. In addition, first-time homebuyers have until
Nov. 30 to take advantage of an $8,000 federal tax credit.
For more information about the housing program, visit https://foundation.cpp.edu/ha/ or contact Wallace at (909) 979-5555.