J.J. White was among the people wondering who would pay up to $300,000 for one of 17 Day Avenue houses that the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority is refurbishing.

After all, the 400 block of Day Avenue Southwest is known for its drug and prostitution problems.

But as it turned out, J.J. and his wife, Samantha White, jumped at the chance to buy the first finished house at 433 Day Ave.

The young newlyweds expect to close on the house July 7, they said.

The Whites aren't the only people interested in buying one of the houses.

The house at 419 Day Ave., which is only one-third of the way finished, is also under contract, said Harry Zulauf, RRHA director of administration and finance.

Potential buyers have expressed strong interest in two more Day Avenue houses, said Thomas Becher, a spokesman for the housing authority.

The century-old house the Whites are about to buy was for years divided into five apartments. Last fall, Christian Housing Fellowship LLC gave the house and 16 others to the housing authority.

The city agreed to pay off $344,000 in outstanding debt on the properties.

The housing authority is refurbishing the 17 apartment houses into single-family homes that will be worth about four times their original value.

Samantha White always thought she'd have a cute home at the end of a street in a perfect neighborhood, a sport utility vehicle parked in the driveway.

So after J.J. White saw the Day Avenue house, he knew his wife was going to be a hard sell because of the dicey neighborhood.

And she was.

Samantha White, 27, looked over an artist's rendering of the finished neighborhood and visited the house five times with her father, sister and best friend before settling on it.

Ultimately, the couple fell in love with the house's oak trim and the character that only an older house carries.

"I was just awestruck at how beautiful it is inside," said J.J. White, 32, executive director of Dale Carnegie Training in Roanoke.

They liked that the house was within walking distance of downtown, the YMCA and Jefferson Center.

They were also lured by tax credits and the Virginia Housing Development Authority's offer of a below-market-rate loan.

Because of various tax credits, the first year the Whites own their home, they will pay real estate tax on their home as if it were appraised at $68,000, as it was in January.

For 14 years after that, they will pay real estate tax on the $68,000, plus any increase in the property value since the first year.

The Whites wouldn't reveal how much they are paying for the house, which was on the market for $285,000.

But using that price it is estimated that in the first year they will save roughly $2,600 in real estate taxes.

With all those incentives, the neighborhood's rough reputation was the only drawback, Samantha White said.

The couple is confident that a sense of community and pride will drive away the lingering drug dealers and prostitutes.

"I think you have to make a decision. You either live in fear and try to live as far away as you can, or you take the first step forward," J.J. White said. "You don't look at this neighborhood for what it is, you look at it for what it will be."

Trudi Mardian has lived on the 400 block of Day Avenue for 24 years, and she has seen the neighborhood at its worst.

There was a time she instinctively dropped to the floor when she heard anything that sounded like a gunshot.

Her girlfriends wouldn't even visit her at home -- they met at coffeehouses instead.

"It was bad. I mean it was bad," she said.

Kevin Earl, president of Old Southwest Inc., said that when he first moved to the 500 block of Day Avenue in 2002, drug dealers hung out on the street corners every night.

"There are definitely concerns here and nobody is hiding that," Earl said, adding that the crime-related problems have abated.

Earl's neighbors on the 500 block said that the renovations caused the drug dealers and prostitutes who lived in or frequented the 400 block to migrate to the 500 block.

However, Roanoke police records show a slight decrease in the number of service calls to the 500 block during the renovations, compared with the year before.

It's too early to know how much of an influence the Day Avenue project will have on the surrounding neighborhood, but city officials and residents said there is already a buzz of excitement.

Anne Beckett, a city planner, said she has received a lot of phone calls from potential home owners asking if buying a house in the neighborhood is a good investment.

"I wouldn't have heard that a year ago," Beckett said.

Alison Blanton, a member of the city's architectural review board, said several home owners in the Day Avenue area have appealed to the board for permission to make renovations to their homes.

"I think you can already start to see the trickle effect," Blanton said.

It is also too early to measure how much the project will increase property values in the neighborhood, but Susan Lower, director of real estate valuation for the city, said the change from multifamily homes to single-family homes is sure to increase the value.

As for crime, residents on the 400 block of Day Avenue said they don't see the criminal activity they used to see on the streets, but said it still lingers in the alleys.

"It's still not as bad as it used to be," said Catherine Mallicote, who is renovating the house she bought a year ago on the 400 block of Day Avenue.

Mardian and her husband now feel safe walking their dog in parts of the neighborhood they didn't dare venture into a year ago.

The project, Mardian said, "is just a stroke of genius."