A new home stands on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise, on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
A new home stands on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
A new home stands on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise, on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
The cozy back yard of a new home on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
A new home stands on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise, on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
A new home stands on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise, on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
BOISE — Chris Sabala, manager and owner of Hornet Construction, is attempting to bring more relatively affordable housing to Harris Ranch — one of the most expensive places to live in the Treasure Valley.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1 this year, the average new home closed for $1,472,750 in northeast Boise, said Matt Weston, manager and owner of Western Real Estate Services.
Sabala is selling the 1,020-square-foot home he built on South Durham Way for $429,900.
“This is more of an experiment for me,” Sabala said in an interview. “I’ve tried to acquire in there for years. And then this popped up and it was perfect because there was only a garage on it, the trailer had been removed.”
Sabala works with Weston, who finds land opportunities for Sabala to acquire, develop and build on. They are currently looking at two other properties in the Harris Ranch area. Sabala said one of them is a tax deed sale and the other burned down last month, making both properties unoccupied. Weston and Sabala specifically look for places that are on their way out rather than displacing mobile home owners, Weston said.
A new home stands on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
“What we’re trying to do is take this high-end area of northeast Boise, where the average new home sales $1.4 million, and then we’re trying to reinvest and redevelop a spot there that needs it, it helps the community and it’s such a smaller number at $430,000 than $1.4 million,” Weston said.
Sabala purchased a lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, which is in the middle of the Harris Ranch development. The mobile home park has single- and double-wide mobile homes, and approximately half of the homes are rentals, said Clint Wheeler, who lives in the park.
He said half of the rentals are owned by corporations that “don’t give a hoot,” leaving weeds to grow and homes to fall into disrepair, which is why he and his wife Deb Wheeler are “thrilled” about Sabala’s recent build.
“It’s a big improvement to the neighborhood,” Deb Wheeler said. “This is a 50-plus-year-old mobile home park.”
But the process of building the new home was not easy. Sabala had a lot of cleanup to do, Clint Wheeler said. The previous owner on the lot had passed away, leaving an old garage and messy space. It took a while, but when the property finally went up for sale, Sabala immediately bought it.
The cozy back yard of a new home on a purchased lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, a 50-plus-year-old neighborhood in the Harris Ranch area of Boise on Aug. 25. At 1,020-square-feet and $429,900, the home is considered affordable for the area.
“Chris did such a good job because he actually built a home that fit the neighborhood,” Deb Wheeler said. “There’s plenty of parking, there’s grass in the back, there’s a shed.”
The mobile home park has had two other homes, both of which are older, go up for sale, according to Sabala, and they’re each about $300,000.
“We’re old timers so we’re always shocked at the prices in this area and Harris Ranch, and all around here million dollar homes. $450,000 is certainly affordable in comparison,” Clint Wheeler said. “A new home in that price range is pretty hard to find, with that quality.”
Sabala’s home was built by two or three people, Clint Wheeler said.
This is the fourth stick-built house in the neighborhood, and the Wheelers said there are four empty lots that they’re hoping get a similar upgrade to the one Sabala built.
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