Civic Investments Launches Foreclosure Rehab Initiative

One way to tackle the trend of foreclosures in recent years is to get foreclosed homes back into the hands of responsible homeowners. That’s the message being conveyed by Civic Investments LLC, a group of investors that are marketing a foreclosure rehab initiative in Cleveland through Progressive Urban Real Estate.

Civic Investments LLC has invested in foreclosures in city of Cleveland neighborhoods with historically strong housing markets. Specifically, Civic Investments has purchased three homes in the Tremont, Ohio City and Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods of Cleveland.

“Investors can play a key role in getting us out of the foreclosure mess that we’re in,” said Keith Brown, President of Progressive Urban Real Estate and one of the four founding partners of Civic Investments, LLC. “If we isolate foreclosures from the market, then it’s evident that ordinary home sales are still taking place every day in our neighborhoods – albeit at a slower pace and at lower prices.”

“This shows that there is opportunity,” added Brown. “For responsible investors, it’s the combination of rock-bottom real estate prices combined with the fact that homebuyers are still looking for high-quality, rehabilitated homes in strong-market neighborhoods. Rehabbing a home brings it back to life. We want to sell these homes to new owners.”

Progressive Urban Real Estate is currently marketing three homes as a part of its foreclosure rehab initiative:

• 3804 Whitman Avenue, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on an historic street in Ohio City, under rehab and priced at $159,900
• 1302 Mentor Avenue, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Tremont, under rehab and priced at $139,900
• 7212 West Clinton Avenue, a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in Detroit Shoreway, under rehab and priced at $149,900

Tremont, Ohio City and Detroit Shoreway are neighborhoods that have shown significant long-term growth in housing values – in part due to redevelopment initiatives undertaken during the past several decades. Despite the downturn in the regional housing market since 2005, housing values in these particular communities have not dropped as significantly as Cleveland neighborhoods overall. For instance, while sales prices in many Cleveland neighborhoods have dropped by 25-50%, sales prices of non-foreclosure homes in Tremont have only dropped 5-10% since peaking in 2005. This shows the resilience of these neighborhoods – and the potential for investment.

Civic Investments LLC, the developer that is spearheading this effort, has hired Civic Builders LLC, a Tremont-based contractor with 25+ years of experience, to manage the rehab of these homes. Civic Investments has obtained financing for this initiative through a partnership between Shorebank Cleveland and Cleveland Action to Support Housing, two organizations with a history of mission-based lending in the city of Cleveland.

For more information about the foreclosure rehab initiative, please contact Lee Chilcote, Marketing Director at 216/619-9696 x 15 or lchilcote@progressiveurban.com.