Workforce housing sale comes with $3K

Palm Beach County offering finder’s fee

Palm Beach County, needing to turn over its affordable housing stock quickly, is offering a cut to real estate agents who can make a sale.

The agents, along with nonprofit agencies, can earn $3,000 if they sell any of the housing available as part of the county’s workforce program, designed to be affordable to middle-class employees such as teachers and police officers. There are 131 units currently on the market in Boynton Beach, Lake Worth and West Palm Beach.

Studies have shown Palm Beach County’s median home price of about $277,000 is out of reach for most of its households. Costs continue to rise: Zillow reports prices have increased 6.6 percent over the past year and will rise 5.1 percent in the coming year.

To respond to the high prices, the county has been encouraging developers to build moderately priced housing. These homes range in price from about $156,000 to $290,000. The county offers grants and down payment assistance, depending on the family’s income.

But if the developers build the

units and they remain unsold for 180 days, the developers are allowed to opt out of the program and market their units at more expensive prices. That’s why the county is calling in assistance to help sell the housing.

Most of these apartments and townhomes had not been of interest to real estate agents because they could not earn a commission. The website for Colony Reserve in Lake Worth, which is selling workforce housing units, warns “No broker participation.”

So real estate agent Judy Guilbeault of Boynton Beach called the plan “a pretty good incentive.”

“It’s decent,” she said. “The more business, the better.”

But Bill Bathurst, a real estate broker and Delray Beach city commissioner, wondered why the county needs extra help in marketing the properties. He said affordable housing in Delray Beach has a waiting list.

“If it’s so needed and priced right, they should fill up,” he said.

The county launched an initiative in 2006 to require developers to set aside a certain percentage of new homes and apartments as price-capped workforce housing. In exchange, developers could build more homes than allowed by county development rules. To qualify for workforce housing, a family of four would need to make between $40,740 and $95,060.

A typical commission is 6 percent, split between the real estate agents for the buyer and the seller. A 3 percent commission on the workforce units would range from about $4,700 to $8,700, but the county says its funds are limited in this program, which is paid through developers’ fees.

The county has sold 15 homes so far and 11 are in the closing process, according to county documents.