CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — You now have more choices if you buy a house through a certain program.
House Charlotte is expanding. You can get $7,500 or more if you move to any neighborhood in the city but there are a few restrictions.
Potential home buyers will be able to use the program as long as the home is in a neighborhood the city labels "challenged" or in an adjacent neighborhood. Also, half the houses in the neighborhood where homeowners are buying have to be rentals. Another restriction is that the house can't cost more than $147,000 and the home buyer can't make more than 110% of the neighborhood's average income.
Councilman James Mitchell Jr. said, "You say, 'What's in it for me?' This program allows you to have citizens move in that will stabilize your community."
Delisha Guerrier was one of those citizens in December. She's 26 years old and a single mother of three. She said she bought her first home, which was on Nevin Road in north Charlotte, thanks to House Charlotte.
She said, "It's mine. I can say it's mine. I have told people like, 'This is my house.' And it's nice to say that."
Under the rules, police officers can get $15,000 toward a down payment. It's an effort to get law enforcement to live in or near struggling neighborhoods.