MIDDLEPORT: FMC offers financial help for residents selling their homes

By April Amadon<br><a href="mailto:amadona@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail April</a>
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

July 02, 2008 12:50 am

— MIDDLEPORT — Homeowners living in areas affected by the FMC environmental cleanup program will soon be eligible to receive some help from the corporation if they decide to sell their homes.
FMC announced Friday its new Home Value Assurance Program, which will take the place of the current Price Protection Program initiated in 2004.
The program is voluntary and will last for three years, said Brian McGinnis, FMC remediation project manager.
If a homeowner wishes to sell, FMC will get two appraisals of the home and average those to find their “protected price,” McGinnis said.
Then, when the homeowner sells their home, they will be eligible for up to a 6 percent selling bonus on the sale price.
If they sell the property for less than the protected price, FMC will pay the difference, up to 10 percent of the protected price.
Homeowners may be able to earn an additional bonus if they sell the home within an established timeframe.
To be eligible for the program, the home must be a one- or two-family home within the area under investigation.
Homes where the soil has been remediated are not eligible. About 46 homes within the investigated area whose property have been deemed “free and clear” will also not be eligible, McGinnis said.
The program will be in effect from Jan. 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2011.
The Price Protection Program will expire June 15, 2009.
Plant Manager Dana Thompson said homeowners had been asking recently what would be done when that program expired.
“As we are continuing to move forward in our environmental studies, we believe this program provides homeowners whose properties are potentially affected with assurance that if and when they decide to sell their home, they will receive fair market value,” Thompson said.
Owners of eligible homes will be receiving letters in the mail.
FMC will hold information sessions about the new program at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on July 29, and 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on July 30, at the FMC office, 15 Main St.
For more information, visit the FMC office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or call 735-9769.
Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.