BY BILL FREEHLING

Courtney and Samuel Parker are raising five children between the ages of 10 and 15, so they know all about the need for space.

The Parkers have been renting a roughly 1,800-square-foot house in Fredericksburg's Mayfield neighborhood. It has four bedrooms.

Thanks to a new program authorized under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Parkers and their children now have more space.

The Parkers recently decided to buy a home at 812 Myrick St. in Mayfield. The price was $119,094, but thanks to a combination of local, state and federal grants, their mortgage is for $93,000.

"We're excited," Courtney Parker said. "We definitely needed the space."

The Parkers' five-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot new home sold for $287,300 in December 2005, according to city property records. It went into foreclosure three years later. The assessed value is now $197,900.

The Central Virginia Housing Coalition purchased the foreclosed home from the Bank of New York in September for $95,000. The money came out of a $5 million grant that the CVHC got earlier this year from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to help revitalize eight Fredericksburg-area neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures (see box).

The DHCD took in $38.7 million in federal funds for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Virginia's grant money is going mostly to Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

The homes are being sold to people with low to middle incomes. DHCD Director Bill Shelton called the program a way to "create additional sustainable, affordable housing solutions in Virginia."

The Parkers are the first Fredericksburg-area residents to buy a home under the NSP.

"We're glad to be the first," said Courtney Parker, who works at a group home for at-risk youths in southern Stafford County. Her husband is on disability.

The Parkers moved into the house last week, but the actual closing was delayed several times due to last-minute problems with the home inspection. The heat wasn't on when they first moved in, and there were a few maintenance issues. But Courtney Parker said her family is thrilled about the new home.