FAMILY WINS LOTTERY TO BUY HALF-PRICE NOHO CONDO YOOS ONE OF 3 FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS COMPETING.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer NORTH HOLLYWOOD - In a neighborhood where condominiums sell for $500,000, the prospect of a brand-new, two-bedroom condo at almost half-price seems too good to be true. But not for the Yoo family. They were the lucky winners of a lottery for a below-market-rate condo Wednesday night. They'll pay between $275,000 and $290,000 for their new two-bedroom home, depending on their income, in a building where units have sold for up to $400,000. ``I'm so very happy. This is our first home,'' said an elated Jane Yoo, 46, a South Korean native who has lived in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. for 27 years. Yoo, her husband Simon, 45, and sons Timothy, 14, and Benjamin, 11, will soon move into their Burbank Boulevard home, which was sold at a reduced price under a city affordable housing program. The lottery was held by the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services, which screened and helped prequalify three first-time homebuyers First-Time Homebuyer An IRA owner who is exempt from the early-distribution penalty (which applies to IRA distributions that occur before the IRA owner reaches age 59.5) for distributing funds from his or her IRA to buy, build, or rebuild a home when having had no interest in a for the drawing. Councilman Tom LaBonge Tom LaBonge (b. Los Angeles 1953), member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 4th district. He has served since 2001, taking over the position upon the death of John Ferraro. drew the name. The candidate families are all considered ``moderate-income'' and earn less than $55,100. The median price for a condominium condominium In modern property law, individual ownership of one dwelling unit within a multidwelling building. Unit owners have undivided ownership interest in the land and those portions of the building shared in common. in North Hollywood is $500,000, and you'd have to make about $120,000 annually to afford it. It's nearly impossible for a low-income family to buy a condo or a small house in the current market, said Jo-An Turman, marketing director for Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services. ``Where else can you buy unless you go way out of Los Angeles? It takes a situation like this, where an opportunity comes and you can buy a property below market value. This comes around so seldom.'' Suresh Gupta developed the new 36-unit building at 11124 Burbank Blvd. and he agreed to sell one condo below market rate in exchange for permission from the CRA See Community Reinvestment Act. to build residential dwellings in a commercial zone. ``There's an affordability crisis. It's our goal to get affordable into every rental and for-sale development that's built,'' said Steven Brady, real estate development agent with the CRA. The Yoos' new condo has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a washer washer Orthopedics A flattened disk of metal with a central hole used to distribute stress under a screw head to prevent thin cortical bone from splitting; serrated washers are used to affix avulsed ligaments, small avulsion fractures or comminuted fractures to the and dryer, patio and parking spaces for two cars. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com |
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