By Shauna Jemmott

FABULOUS Homes International, in collaboration with Alleyne and Company, is gearing to make tenants into homeowners by providing affordable homes through ‘Project 500’.Chief Executive Officer of Fabulous Homes International, Karis Munroe, told the Guyana Chronicle that work has already started on the project, and several persons have selected the house they would like to build and the land on which it should be built.

‘Project 500’ employs over 1,000 labourers, skilled workers, counsellors and professional agents to work with individual homeowners. This project is designed for the newly-established ‘Spring Hill Estate’ in La Villeth on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. It is some 20 minutes away from Splashmin’s Resort; 30 minutes from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri; and 12 miles away from the mining town of Linden.

“Project 500 is a programme that we designed for individuals that are tenants right now. Instead of coming into us every day and asking for properties to rent between $18,000 to $120,000 or more, we decided to create a programme for these individuals, where, instead of having to pay your landlord’s mortgage continuously month after month, year after year, and you see no return from it, how about if you had an opportunity to own your own home?” Munroe explained.

She said that while many residential lands along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway are leased, the lands in Spring Hill Estate are transported, and the entire area is residential.

“These lands are not leased, they are titled lands, and the entire area is scheduled for residential (purposes). The land is really beautiful! It has little creeks in there, some little waterfalls, and the end of it borders on the Demerara River.”

“The area will house nursery, primary and secondary schools, a recreational park, supermarket and other businesses,” she explained.

The package of a land and a two or three-bedroom house is worth $6M, and special considerations would be given to individuals based on their ability to pay, she explained.

“We created a programme (wherein) individuals can own a brand new house. They’re getting their land and their homes included in a brand new community. Instead of having to pay $50,000 to your landlord every month, the $50,000 that you’re paying goes to your mortgage,” Munroe expanded.

Munroe said interested applicants are required to provide a down payment of $3.5M, and if they cannot afford to pay all at once, they can reserve their lots and ‘particular house’ with a payment of $100,000 and over.

“If they need financing, we can give them whatever documentation is needed for them to go to the bank. Individuals who cannot get financing through the bank, we can assist them in getting finance; we can finance it ourselves. But the key is that they will need at least $3.5M down, and be able to qualify to pay at least $50,000 every month for 120 months – that is a total of 10 years,” She explained.

The project is a partnership with Scotia Bank. But if anyone is working with another bank, they, too, can be assisted in securing a loan through the project, she explained.

Special consideration would also be given to those who cannot afford $50,000 monthly; they might be asked to pay as little as $15,000 monthly, but the years of payment for their new home would be extended, she explained.

“The key is to change the generational ‘rental mentality’ into a generational ‘ownership mentality’. You can say ‘this is mine, and I can pass this on to my children’. You’re creating a legacy right now, and you have to start somewhere,” she advised.

More information on the housing deal is available at the website Fabuloushomesinternational.com. Persons can go to the tab which says buying, select the Project 500 option, and pick a style of home from the options available.

“Our goal is to get 500 people into their homes by December. So the ‘Home for Christmas’ is a real possibility; very, very real possibility. They just need a way as to how they’re gonna either accumulate their $3.5M on their own, borrow it from a family, get a loan, or they get the entire amount financed from the bank,” Munroe said.