Posted on 06/03/2016 11:53:15 AM PDT by Lorianne
I agree. It could provide much needed housing without building endless apartment buildings.
However, it is illegal in most cities to build them. Yet you can build a huge house that has 6-10 times the footprint of a small granny flat.
“the median price for sold new single-family homes just hit record a high of $321,100.”
That is low,very low,in many parts of the country.
.
Yes, and extremely high in other parts of the country.
To build a house with twice the space only costs about 50% more.
No no, I am talking about home in basically a desert environment in CA. Millions of 2-story homes in a hot desert environment, where it can stay into the 90s at night. It a no bueno. They built millions of these cheap homes built with illegal labor and foreign contractors. Not a square corner in them.
To pay for the AC and heat in one of those homes takes big dollars, two incomes, secure jobs etc. In fact I had a friend out there living in a single story home and he was paying $325 per month just for an electric bill. That’s it. They lost the home after just 4 years.
They got suckered bad.
I paid cash for my current two-bedroom home in Florida. I guess those days are over.
looks like a caboose
The Inland Empire. For a time, I commuted through
it from Rialto to Orange. It was two hours each way and basically drove my Jeep Cherokee into the ground.
That song always reminds me of a really strange movie.
“The Chumscrubber”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Ooid6f0sI
I don’t like them either but they meet a market niche.
I’d like to think all those people would rather be able to build a small 1000 sf house on a lot instead ... if it were allowable. People used to raise families in 1000 sf houses so it is not something could be out of reach of single people or young couples just starting out. Today’s “starter’ houses start at about 3,000 sf. which seems absurd to me. It keeps so many people in apartments.
A well designed 1000 sf house would always hold its value and always have a market. People are always “starting”.
Depends on the level of quality ... an other factors such as the lot conditions. In any case, people can always add on or move up later. In the meantime they are saving their capital until they need the space.
“zoning house police”
The zoning size restrictions have to do with trying to make ad valorum taxation fairly fair.
Ad Valorum taxation probably should be replaced by number of rooms taxation to permit tax fairness and to allow a greater mix of household incomes.
An 11-room McMansion might pay $4,400/year in room based taxation, a five-room starter house $2,000/year in room-based taxation.
I’m blessed to have a large house It is the only tax write off available to me On holidays and anytime the family wants to get together I can comfortably put up my parents my married children and grandchildren I can afford the heating and AC bills I like my large house and dare anyone to tell me I don’t need it, that I shouldn’t have it or the like. It sits in a neighborhood of similar houses on 1 1/2 acres and is not an eyesore. Not that it’s anyone’s business
My house is a bit under 2000 SF. It was built 100 years ago when families having 8 and 10 children was extremely common. Somehow they made it work.
I spend a lot of time in my shed — 10x16 — 160 sq ft with loft, solar powered with A/C, etc. If you’re ever trying to find me look there.
It’s driven thousands families into the ground too. The poor slobs who couldn’t afford to buy the outrageous prices on the coastal plains of CA had to go way inland just to afford a home.
The brutal commutes alone turned thousands to alcoholism, divorce, etc, and when they lost jobs, downsized etc, they simply detonated.
Trying to imagine commuting 60++ miles, bumper to bumper, one way to work. That’s a recipe for disaster.
Once we discovered the tax situation, however, we opted to pay more to live in Westmoreland County.
The crooks who run our county at least have reasonable standards vs. Allegheny County. They apparently understand that you can shear sheep twice a year but you can only skin them once.
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