BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO Upscale homes ready for sale after the removal of lead shot

The neighborhood had been a virtual ghost town.
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) -- A neighborhood of upscale homes, once tainted by lead-based buckshot, is cleaned up and ready for sale.
The yards of the 39 houses are freshly watered, trim and green. The bedrooms and baths have a new coat of paint. The homes, in the Butler County subdivision of Liberty Estates, also are certified as lead-free by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The homes are priced at their 2001 levels, when the neighborhood was known as Lexington Manor, between $204,000 and $274,000.
Paul Bettendorf of Centerville, a 29-year-old financial analyst who toured three homes Saturday, said his concern was the homes' market value.
"My biggest worry would be from a resale value aspect. But I'm not worried from a safety standpoint," Bettendorf said.
Moving in
Eight homes sold Saturday, when Ryland Homes was allowing an additional $5,000 off the asking price for the first 10 buyers in a community that was a virtual ghost town just six months ago.
Amie and Donald Lee initially dismissed the idea of living in the subdivision. The torn-up yards and equipment removing contaminated soil worried them. But the St. Bernard couple was drawn to the subdivision's prime location and bargain prices.
"I just wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be a threat to us and our kids in the future," Amie Lee, 28, said.
On Saturday, the Lees bought a five-bedroom, two-bath home for less than $210,000.
"With [the EPA] approval and stamp on everything, I really feel comfortable," Donald Lee, 30, said. "You can totally tell a transformation from before. It makes us feel a lot better."
Source of contamination
The 26-acre development, built on the 1960s Hamilton Sportsman's Club skeet-shooting range, was declared a Superfund site in May 2003 by the EPA.
Lead levels at 10,000 parts per million, above the government's allowable maximum of 400 parts per million, were found in 2002, a year after the first families moved in.
No illnesses were publicly linked to the lead, but the hazard pushed young families out.
Ryland paid about $2.5 million for the five-month cleanup, plus $7.78 million to buy back 27 homes from customers. Ten houses remained empty.
A bargain
John Adams, Ryland's Ohio Valley division president, said remarketing the subdivision presents a unique challenge to the California-based home builder. He also saw it as a rare opportunity for customers, since Ryland has priced the two-story, four-bedroom homes about $45,000 under what he says is market value.
"People are going to want to know what happened ... and we want them to know and want to make sure they get as much information as they can," Adams said.
Butler County records show the houses were sold originally for $207,000 to $291,000, and were bought back by Ryland for $228,000 to $381,000. Similar new homes on one-third acre lots in a nearby Ryland subdivision would sell for an average of $285,000 to $300,000, Adams said.
Ryland refurbished all 39 interiors to what Adams calls better-than new-condition.
Every house was repainted. In some, the company replaced carpet, removed wallpaper and changed counter tops, bathroom fixtures and light fixtures. New trees and shrubs were planted, and the lawns watered and fertilized, Adams said.