It sounds like dream-come-true for first-time homebuyers. Three-bedroom, two-bath houses on 1-acre lots in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District for less than $200,000.

But it’s become a real-life nightmare for Bill Mullen of Weaver Street Realty. He bought the properties and poured time and money into renovating them, but has been unable to find buyers.

Mullen’s properties — three that match the above description, as well as a detached duplex on another acre-plus lot — meet the county’s criteria for affordable housing, that lofty yet elusive goal of so many local development ordinances. But Mullen has had trouble even getting anyone to come out and visit the properties, let along plunk down an offer.

“My intention was to fix them up for people who need affordable housing in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District,” Mullen said.

He bought them in March of last year and finished construction in September.

Each house has been spiffed out with a new deck, bamboo floors, new bathrooms and a tile kitchen with new appliances.

The houses are near one another — three are on Fair Oaks Road, and the detached duplex is on Jo Mac Road — off Bethel Hickory Grove Church Road west of Carrboro.

The timing for putting them on the market couldn’t have been worse. The sub-prime mortgage fiasco was starting to unfurl and the housing market was starting to tank.

Mullen has been a real estate agent and broker for Weaver Street Realty for 15 years. His good intentions don’t surprise his colleagues, including Jay Parker, who has worked with Mullen at Weaver Street Realty for that entire time.

“What his personal goals have to do with is getting real estate and doing things that really improve it,” Parker said. “He bought some property off Arthur Minis Road and put in a large comprehensive restrictive easement, which calls for minimal development of a lot of land — 40 acres where only one house can be built.

“He is a steward of the land.”

As far as the four houses off Bethel Hickory Grove Church Road, Parker said, the properties had been rentals for years.

“He improved them enormously,” Parker said. “He wasn’t looking for maximal profit, only a modest profit.”

Early on, Mullen turned to the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust and spoke with Crystal Fisher, the sales manager.

“She was enthusiastic when I talked to her,” Mullen said.

Fisher said she put the information out, but “compared to the private market they are affordable, but not with our buyers.”

Fisher said that Orange Community Housing and Land Trust properties, including condos, townhouses and detached single-family homes, “range as low as $95,000. The highest price is $180,000. We help subsidize them. We want them to pay at or less than 30 percent of their income.”

Fisher said the Land Trust both trains homebuyers and finds subsidies for them.

“Land Trust sales are doing surprising well,” she said. “Programs like this assist and provide subsidies. We don’t actually provide financing. But we do lower the cost to buyers. The Land Trust maintains permanent affordability.”

For Mullen, the price of his houses — under $175,000 and falling — compares favorably with those of the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust.

Mullen even tried to sell the houses in one unconventional forum: He put his houses into the mix on March 29 in an auction of Triangle-wide properties at the Airport Hilton in Research Triangle Park.

“Ten properties were to be auctioned,” said Mullen. “There were about 30 people there, but there were four bidders. None of the properties from Chapel Hill were even bid on.”

Mullen is thinking about further price cuts and is considering an on-site auction on April 22. But in a hopeful sign, while he was performing recent routine maintenance on the houses, two couples have stopped to inquire about buying them.

“It’s sad those houses are still sitting,” Fisher said. “People have a real fear of getting in over their heads. It’s a hardship on the Realtors working the private market.”

Parker said that while the Chapel Hill real estate market has not slowed nearly as much as it has elsewhere, it has slowed some.

“Our company as a whole is well-grounded,” he said. “But there is a smaller volume of calls coming in and a smaller volume of inventory, a smaller number of buyers. People are taking a little more of wait and see attitude about our nationwide economic situation.

“Our region is better than the rest of the country, and Chapel Hill better yet.”