Come Home 2 Edina Program

Thanks to a long running, under-the-radar second mortgage program, families and business owners are coming back to live in the community.

By: Andy Greder | From the issue: March 2012

Come Home 2 Edina: Janine Krieter, owner of Flowers of Edina

Photo: Emily J. Davis

Janine Krieter, owner of Flowers of Edina, was finally able to move her home as well as business into the city limits thanks to the Come Home 2 Edina second-mortgage program.

Pssst. Edina has a big secret.

But those in the know rave about it; and they want to let you in on it.

“It” is Come Home 2 Edina, a second mortgage program from the East Edina Housing Foundation that provides loans of up to $60,000 to qualifying, moderate-income families and individuals wanting to purchase a place in the city.

“Some people say this is the best-kept secret, and we don’t want it to be a secret,” says Joyce Repya, a city planner and the program’s point person.

The $2.3 million program has been a bit of a clandestine club since its inception more than two decades ago, and that status has been an enigma even to its leaders.

“It’s been a mystery to me and to other board members that this is such a good program, and that the funds haven’t been exhausted almost immediately,” says Jack Rice, a member of the foundation’s board of directors.

Its recipients had to keep an eye open and an ear to the ground in order to hear about the program. Penelope Watson skimmed its details in a city circular; Charlie Aul heard about it at work; Janine Krieter was clued in by her realtor.

BEGINNINGS AND REASONING

The East Edina Housing Foundation was a non-profit established in 1985 by the Edina Housing and Redevelopment Authority to assist people with condominium purchases in the Edinborough complex.

Loans ranging from $11,000 to $18,000 were provided to prospective homeowners using tax increment financing (TIF) or property tax revenue from increases in assessed values.

Mary Kay McNee was one of the first to partake in the program when she bought a place in Edinborough in 1987. Her loan of $11,000 had a 5 percent interest rate to go with her first mortgage rate of 11 percent.

“Which was, comparatively speaking, free,” said McNee, who added that she was able to pay it off within a few years.

McNee and about 300 others took advantage of the program in Edinborough and Centennial Lakes. And now, with only 25 loans outstanding, the program proved to be a success. With repayments made, the Come Home 2 Edina program redistributed the money and expanded to encompass most of Edina in 2006.

“It’s to encourage home ownership in Edina,” said Rice, who runs the Rice Company, a real estate services business. “Edina sometimes has a reputation of being overpriced and unattainable for people. We would like to have more of our teachers and workforce people living in Edina—nurses, firemen, police officers.”