If you are looking for a new home in Two Harbors, there is good news! The Lake County Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA) project house, located at 411 4th Avenue, is complete and has just come onto the local housing market.
This is the first home construction project that the Lake County HRA has taken on. The project was financed with money from the Lake County Housing Trust Fund, which was established in 2022, specifically for the purpose of building affordable and workforce housing in the County.
There are conditions for the sale of the property, which Matthew Johnson, Executive Director of the LC HRA, outlined in an interview. “The house is a homestead property, and someone in the household has to be employed in Lake County. This property is not meant for someone who is looking for a vacation home or looking to open a short-term rental property,” Johnson stated. “If the buyer decides to sell the house within the first three years, 1/3 of the equity each year would be paid back to Lake County. We don’t want somebody to buy this and flip it. The only reason we have that condition is not because we want to have strings attached, but when somebody buys this, they would have to live here for three years before 100% of the equity would be theirs. The asking price for the 4th Avenue house is $360,000. That represents the fixed cost in the construction of the house. That’s what we’ve put into building the house, and we can’t go lower on that. The whole point here is to build homes at cost. We have used local contractors on this project. That was another priority. We didn’t want to use the Lake County Trust Fund and get contractors from far away. The construction started in October of 2024, and the goal is to sell this house and look for our next opportunity. We are looking to work with the cities of Two Harbors and Silver Bay and use tax forfeited properties as building sites. The whole goal of the Housing Trust Fund is to fund revolving projects. The house on 4th Avenue is an example of $360,000 spent. With the sale of the property, that money will go back into the Trust Fund and will help finance the next project.”
Folks who are interested in the project house at 411 4th Avenue should contact Matthew Johnson at 218-834- 8332 or via email: Matthew.Johnson@co.lake.mn.us
An open house is scheduled for September 24th from 9:00 a.m. to Noon.
