KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — One woman in the Kennebunkport area is now a homeowner thanks to a unique "lottery" offering a price tag well below the average for the area.
Right now, the average home price in the town of Kennebunkport is a little over $1 million, according to Heritage Housing Trust Executive Director Larissa Crockett.
Forming after a housing feasibility study done through the town, the end goal of the organization is to offer more homes at lower prices for the average buyer.
"Especially since the pandemic, we've really seen house values double, triple in some areas," Crockett said.
This summer, the organization hosted a lottery for the opportunity to buy a home priced a little over $300,000; well below the average home price in town. Surprisingly, Crockett said only a handful of people actually applied for the lottery.
Realtor Jesse Green then heard about the lottery and informed her client who had been looking for her dream home for a little under seven years.
"I was like, 'Sure, I never win anything, but [it] doesn't hurt to try!'" the buyer told NEWS CENTER Maine anonymously.
Then she got a call about six weeks later saying she won the chance to purchase the home.
"I was so excited, so terrified, like, this is my first home!" the buyer said. "I'm a single mother [with] only one income. ... It's tough out there."
The buyer will now be purchasing the home as the housing trust still remains the owner of the land it sits on, allowing the group to take care of any property taxes and to ensure the house stays affordable if it ever is sold to another buyer.
Crockett said she is aiming to host another housing lottery in the upcoming year.