Mossville and Brentwood residents have until midnight on Monday to receive a $1,000 early sign-up bonus as part of Sasol’s Voluntary Property Purchase Program.

The program’s early sign-up bonus will be paid to owners who sell their homes to Sasol. Renters are also eligible for the sign-up bonus, as well as a $4,000 moving allowance to help them find a new place to live.

“We would like residents to sign up and at least see what the appraised price for their property might be,” said John C. Mitchell, president of Community Interaction Consulting, the Buckhead, Ga.-based firm in charge of managing Sasol’s program. “They’re not making any commitment to sell, and I would hate for them to, later in December, decide that they would like to sell and they sign up but miss out on the $1,000 early sign-up bonus.”

The initial deadline for the early sign-up bonus was Oct. 4, but CIC reported problems with the phone lines at its Westlake office on Old Spanish Trail, prompting the firm to extend the deadline to Nov. 4.

Sasol’s program seeks to buy homes from residents in Mossville and Brentwood for what has been described as above fair market value. CIC pays for all appraisals made on properties. The program’s deadline is Dec. 4.

Under the program, residents will sell their property to Sasol for a price that is based on an average of two to three appraisals. CIC officials will get the first two appraisals from each resident. If the amounts are within 10 percentage points of each other, an average of the two will be taken to calculate Sasol’s offer. If the difference in the appraisals is greater than 10 percentage points, CIC will order a third appraisal and average the two highest amounts.

The program also has a minimum appraised price of $100,000 for all owner-occupied homes. Rental property owners will be given a minimum appraised price of $75,000. Owners of unimproved properties will receive a minimal appraisal of $5,000.

Mitchell said that if the average appraised price for a home comes in below the minimum amount, CIC will begin to calculate Sasol’s offer at the minimum and owners will get a percentage of the average appraised price.

Residents will also get a $500 professional advice allowance that they do not have to return to CIC if they reject Sasol’s offer.

“We hope that people who are struggling with whether or not to sign up choose to do so,” said Michael Hayes, Sasol’s public affairs manager for U.S. megaprojects. “They should sign up just so we can keep the conversation going. We want these people to take time to explore the opportunity and get the data. Whether they sell or not, we want everybody to be able to collect the $500.”

Hayes said that after Dec. 4 the program will close. He added that Sasol has no plans to extend the program’s deadline date.

Residents who are interested in the program should call CIC’s office at 310-8200.

Online: www.sasolvppp.com.

(Special to the American Press)