September 29, 2008
Tina Harring
Tina Harring and Steve Groves were bitten by the homeowner’s bug a while back. But they weren’t serious lookers until the University dangled a new program before their eyes.
“My lease was up in May and I really wanted to buy this time,” says Harring, a laboratory technician in an infectious disease unit at the Medical Center. She and her grown daughter, Shawnta, were comfortable in Rochester’s 19th Ward, yet a chance to rent with an option to buy did not work out. Some landlords on the opposite side of adjoining walls made noisy neighbors. Renting was wearing her down.
A house of her own seemed within reach when she heard TV coverage in March announcing the University Home Ownership Incentive Program, which provides up to $9,000 for regular full- and part-time faculty and staff who become new homeowners in city Sectors 4 or 6 close to the University.
“That’s when I really started looking for a house,” Harring admits. “I was waiting for the right time and the right opportunity to go for it.”
Steve Groves
By July, the 1940s three-bedroom, mint-green shingle home on Lehigh Avenue in Sector 4 was hers. An extra bonus arrived weeks later when city crews added new curbs and sidewalks along her street.
In the first six months of the program, 14 employees have settled on homes and 147 others have received employment verification letters as they consider their future plans.
The initiative to encourage city home ownership was made possible by the University, the City of Rochester, Advantage Federal Credit Union, and Canandaigua National Bank & Trust. The University offers $3,000 toward the down payment or closing costs, with a comparable amount from the City of Rochester and Advantage Federal Credit Union or Canandaigua National Bank & Trust, if the prospective homebuyer meets the necessary criteria.
On the other side of the Genesee River from Harring’s home, Steve Groves had started house-hunting about a year ago. An investment officer for the University with an MBA from the Simon School, Groves liked the quiet and scenic streets near Highland Park. He had rented there once and was drawn back after living eight years in the Park Avenue neighborhood.
He let his house search lag last winter and then started again when he learned about the new program via e-mail.
“I had found two places that I really liked: one in Brighton and the one on Menlo Place off Mt. Hope Avenue in Sector 6,” explains Groves. “This program helped push me to Menlo Place because it was such a great opportunity to have the additional money. I also bought a little bit bigger home than I was targeting.”
While Tina Harring longed for a single house, Steve Groves imagined a townhouse for himself with fewer demands for maintenance—at least that’s his hope. He found one among a group of townhouses built in the late-1970s and he moved in a few weeks ago. His small backyard overlooks Highland Park and inside there are open spaces and living areas on four levels.
In a month when the U.S. economy is wobbling and mortgage lending is tight, Harring and Groves are full of optimism and excitement about the changes in their lives. “I love the location, love being close to campus and the park,” says Groves. “It’s like an undiscovered part of town but close to everything.”
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