A largely empty Grantsville subdivision that became emblematic of homebuilders’ speculation run amuck may soon see families filling houses.

Grantsville’s Silver Fox Estates subdivision, where 37 homes priced over $300,000 currently sit unoccupied, was primarily built by a Boise, Idaho, company called K2 Construction. Most of the homes were constructed without buyers lined up, according to Andrew Van Noy, owner of Salt Lake City-based Velocity of Money, a private financial company now working to refinance some of the homes in Silver Fox.

“We’ve gone into a partnership with the owners of 12 homes in the development, and what we did was take a beneficial interest in these properties, which allowed us to market them,” Van Noy said.

Van Noy said he is working to refinance 12 of the 41 homes in Silver Fox.

“We were introduced to Silver Fox by a retired business owner from Salt Lake, and because she liked our process she figured we could help out this development, which only had two of its homes sold,” said Van Noy. “We’ll help people own a house by giving them a straight rent or a lease option — which is where they lease to own and make payments based on purchase price. We can also do a trade scenario, where we’ll trade a bigger or smaller house for one here, but the house has to meet our underwriting guidelines.”

Van Noy said he works with new subdivisions and individual builder-developers. He said he has worked with people who can’t get lending, have bad credit, can’t save up for a down payment, or can’t sell their current home — and has put many of them in new homes.

“We’re already working with people on all 12 of the homes we represent in the development, and they should be filled up in the next three or four weeks,” Van Noy said. “We still get phone calls all the time from people who are interested in these homes, and the majority of people we’ve worked with come from Grantsville, Tooele and Stansbury Park.”

Van Noy said his company is currently refinancing and reselling properties in Park City, St. George and Utah County. He also said if market demand is available, the company might refinance the remaining homes in Silver Fox.

“It all depends on the demand, and if the demand is there and we’re finished selling our 12 homes, we may try to do the same for the other homes in the development,” he said. “There are 21 investors, so most of them own about two homes each in the development, and we’d help them out if they’re interested and willing.”

Shauna Kertamus, zoning administrator for Grantsville City, said she is thankful that a group was willing to get the Silver Fox development filled with people who may have not been able to buy a home on their own. She said she also expects more homes in the area to sell as the neighborhood fills up.

“We anticipate that this development will fill up with many families soon,” she said. “We think this will eventually be a very successful development.”

Vicki Griffith, broker for Prudential Real Estate in Tooele, said she is happy to know that the Silver Fox subdivision will slowly become less of a desert of unoccupied homes, and more of a vibrant community.

“It’s good to finally get people and families living there, because you never want to see homes unoccupied with weeds growing and everything,” she said. “Once those homes start to sell, a dark cloud will start to go away. This will be great for the group and the people moving in, as well as the housing market in general.”

dougrad@tooeletranscript.com