LANSING - The Land Bank of Ingham County is giving someone an opportunity to buy a new solar-powered home and build some financial equity on Avalon Street with a focus on sustainability.
The solar home, which has been on the market for two months, is designed for a buyer whose income is 80% or less of the local median income and would make a good starter home, said Roxanne Case, executive director of the Land Bank.
"We're building larger four-bedroom, 1,300- or 1,400-square-foot homes, hoping that's where people will start and we'll move up to a bigger home for them," Case said. “You build wealth, you build equity in that little house, and then you move on. The goal is really to help people move forward."
In a home purchase agreement, the buyer must agree to provide information on the home's electricity consumption and solar panel performance for up to six years.
"We want to keep it that way," Case said. "This is something new in the city of Lansing."
The one-story, two-bedroom house built by the Land Bank is a model of efficiency and sustainability. Solar panels cover one side of the roof and power the home's electrical system. The building has no gas and the home has an instant water heater and highly energy efficient appliances.
It is currently on the market for $145,000. This is the first green home built by the Land Bank, but it won't be the last, Case said: The Land Bank plans to build another solar-powered home in the near future.
Build a city, heal your wounds.
There was a one and a half story building on the site of the new house. The original residence closed in 2016 and was later acquired by a land bank.
It was just over 1,000 square feet and no smaller than the original house that occupied the lot. According to Case, this was done on purpose.
"A big two-story house doesn't fit here," he said Wednesday from his yard at 3316 Avalon St. "We're trying to figure out how what we see fits into the neighborhood. The house we built. Come here."
Size is where the major similarities between an old structure and a new home end.
The 1,040-square-foot home on Avalon Street sits on just over a quarter acre. Painted light green, decorated with white trim. Inside, the open floor plan is filled with large windows in the living room, kitchen and bedrooms that allow light to fill the rooms.
The house has a bathroom but no basement. There is storage space on the veranda.
The house has three pumps for heating and cooling: one in the main living room and kitchen, and one in each bedroom.
"Everyone has their own remote," said Tony Olivares, the project's director of construction. "This is how you switch to heat mode and cool mode."
The controllers also offer timer options for heating and cooling, he said. Ceiling fans help circulate air throughout the rooms.
Olivares, the house has a wall heater in the bathroom and outside vents, and the compressor in the back of the house serves as the boiler and air conditioner.
Excess energy collected by the home's solar panels is billed through the Lansing Water and Light Board, Case said. According to him, the solar panels are environmentally friendly and collect energy in all four seasons in Michigan.
"We haven't even paid the heating bill," Case said. "It's been cold lately and nobody lives here, but the house is completely energy efficient."
The first but not the last branch of Gunesh Toprak Bank.
The land bank, which is part of Ingham County, builds homes on properties acquired after property taxes are collected from unclaimed properties at tax auctions.
According to Ingham County Treasurer Alan Fox, more than $177,000 to build a home on Avalon Street came from COVID-19 relief money the county received from the federal government. He said the money covers the difference between the sale price of the house and the construction costs.
"The goal of this type of funding is to help middle-income people move into single-family homes because the cost of building single-family homes has increased significantly over the past two years," Fox said.
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Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow him on X, formerly on Twitter, @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared in the Lansing State Journal: Ingham County Land Bank's first solar home now for sale.
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