Sales Assistance/Purchase Assurance

The primary goal of any airport noise mitigation program, beyond a program that changes the land use such as land acquisition and relocation, is to maintain neighborhood stability. To utilize a Sales Assistance or Purchase Assurance mitigation measure, the neighborhood must be stable to prevent the program from becoming an outright land acquisition program.

The concept behind a Sales Assistance program is to provide aid to homeowners interested in selling their homes to enable them to move away from airport noise. The new home buyer is aware and indifferent to the home’s proximity to an airport.  In exchange for an avigation easement, the airport supports the sale of the property for a defined time period and guarantees the homeowner will receive the appraised market value plus realtor’s commission.  Most importantly, the airport does not take possession of the property.

Purchase Assurance programs are similar in that the object of the program is to assist homeowners requesting to leave a noise impacted area. The program aids homeowners in receiving fair market value for their house after supporting the sales effort for a specific period of time.  If the house has not sold by the end of the sales period, the airport purchases the house for the appraised value, maintains and markets the property until it is resold. In this program, the airport temporarily takes possession of the property.

Sales Assistance and Purchase Assurance programs have been successfully managed by THC as part of an airport noise mitigation program. Services provided by THC include real estate market analysis, public workshops with realtors and property owners, benefit assessments, offers/negotiations, closings, and avigation easement valuation studies.