Affordable housing in Midland Texas

What is Viray?

VIRAY is a business my wife and I started in honor of my late parents Raymond and Viola Coleman. They lived in south Midland (Texas) all of their lives.
The population in south Midland is mostly made up of minorities, and this part of town has not enjoyed the boom in Midland to the extent the rest of the city has. There are many abandoned and neglected properties on this side of town, and city code enforcement here seems a little lax.
My parents left us some rental property, and we were getting lots of calls from folks looking for properties to rent.
So we got the idea to fix up these rental properties, as well as other neglected properties, and sell them to folks at reasonable and affordable prices.
We have been buying properties that no-one else wants, cleaning and remodelling them, and selling to people who would otherwise never have been able to buy a house. This, we feel, is something my parents would have been proud of.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Interesting fact about the current project...

The house we are currently working on, has an interesting history, according to the original owner. He says the house was built in the early 1960's by Carver Senior High School students as a class project. Apparently it was common practice in those days for schools to give their shop students hands-on experience with projects like building homes. It is not known how many of the other brick homes in that neighborhood were built by the students.
The four bedroom two bath brick house remained as it was built for many years. The second owner added a second living room and bathroom on the back of the house.

Our goal is to keep as many of the original features of the house as possible, while bringing it up to city code.

We hope to have electricity to the house by Friday now that we have our city reconnect permit. The electrician will then be able to see how much damage the vandals had done by stripping the copper wires.

City of Midland Funding

In response to the question about city funding: VIRAY receives no funding or assistance from the City of Midland. We met with one city official about receiving rebates similar to what the city gives new home builders, but the idea never went any further than that initial discussion. There remains a critical shortage of affordable housing in the city.