Being priced out of housing.

[Jkid]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030500074.html

I've read this article on the Washington Post about being priced out of housing.

What do you think about it?

[FarCenter]

1. Zoning laws and other regulations should be changed to encourage more apartments

More supply of multiple dwelling units close to public transportation is the best answer.

[leftofcool]

5. No place to build them

MD is a small state with no room for building more apts and no money to build them with. and if you could build them, they would not be affordable.

[FarCenter]

10. Space is no problem, tear down some single family dwelling units

Montgomery County has nowhere near the population density of, for example, the Jersey City waterfront.

Affordability may be a problem, but even if the price of the new apartments was high, the price of existing apartments would go down due to competition.

[leftofcool]

13. You would advocate tearing down homes people live in and pay for

to build apartments?

[FarCenter]

35. You would pay the people a fair market price for their homes

Their taxes would also be high if they are on land that is close to transportation and suitable for building apartments. Even though the structures would be assessed as single family dwellings, the land should be assessed at its highest use.

[vadawg]

22. not everyone wants to live in a population dense area, for me i moved from montgomery county

due to it being to population dense and relocated to the mountains of the virginias, not everyone wants to live piled on top of each other... and unless you are going to give generous buyouts to people who currently own properties in the county so they can relocate to somewhere else then i would be all for it..

[michreject]

26. I like to be able to shoot when I want

City folk don't like that.

[vadawg]

28. rofl, yup i like to take turkey and deer on my property if i want and have access to the stream

and the ability to grow my own food, but mainly i love the fact my kids can run around and do whatever they want, they can have bonfires, sled, hunt for snakes, build crap or just hang outside and i dont have to worry about other people complaining or them getting hit by a car.. yup the country has some real advantages..

[FarCenter]

36. Where you live also depends on where you can find a job

Certainly, if you can find a job in a less populated county, then take it if you like that life style.

However, with the price of energy in the future, don't expect to be able to commute long distances by car to a job. I'd expect gas to go to $10 / gallon within a decade due to countries like China and India buying up more of the world crude supplies.

[vadawg]

38. hell i still work in the NOVA area, i just do the 100 odd miles commute

the extra money i make working so far from home more than pays for my gas etc, even at $10 a gallon it would still be worth it, and honestly i would not move my family back to the city for anything. I would rather take a lower paying job than have to live in the city or burbs again...

[FarCenter]

40. It's all relative and depends on the life style you want

I've done the hour and a half each way commute myself.

Of course, then there are my relatives that moved to Montana because South Dakota was getting too crowded.

[vadawg]

41. yup what works for some dosent work for others, for me i need space

and i wanted my kids to not be crowded in, best thing we ever did as a family and i actually enjoy my commute..

[enid602]

24. shortage?

And yet, if you go to realtor.com and input 'Baltimore' and specify prices between $0 and $20000, you get 535 hits.

[vadawg]

27. yeah but would you want to live in them, there are a hell of a lot of areas that have empty houses

due to the fact that no one would ever live in them due to the area, the condition of the home and tonnes of other reasons...

[enid602]

30. Balto.

Baltimore has high crime, poverty, etc., but you won't find any cheap properties in similar neighborhoods in New York or LA. I went to high school in the Balto area, and it seems the areas in Maryland that are expensive are that way because the people who live in them want to be among their own 'kind.'

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Zoning changes are usually a chief culprit. Apartments aren't the only solution either.

Townhouses and other single family attached configurations allow for much higher density than most single family lots, and such units generally would be at lower price points than single family detached housing making ownership accessible to more renters.

When producing rental units, they needn't be behemoths to achieve the goal of housing more people on the same acreage. Low rise buildings would go a long way to taking some pressure off of the rental market. You are quite right that placing such development near public transit would be a good solution.

As for the existing land being built out, there are always infill lots and outdated, unused commercial space that could be redeveloped for housing, as well as people willing to sell their single family houses in order to cash out and move to a cheaper area for retirement or other reasons.

[FarCenter]

39. Rent / own and archtecture are separate issues

Since the story was about a renter, I was addressing that. Ownership can be condominium or co-op, depending on laws in the area. It's not clear whether ownership should be favored. Ownership tends to freeze people in one location, due to the transaction costs of selling and buying real property, and it makes it harder for them to pursue new career opportunities. If people can move to be closer to a new job, or even to a job in a new city, they may make more money than they would through home ownership.

If it is near public transportation, then I think that the high-rise building probably works best to develop density within walking distance of the station. Father away, the architectures you describe would work better for car commuters or those driving to public transport. I think that high-rises can be better secured with a guard service, video camersa, etc, and can be made safer. Security in low-rise multi dwelling unit developments tends to vary widely with the neighborhood.

[izquierdista]

2. Time to vote with your feet

For those prices, there are places where you can buy a nice 3 bedroom house.

[leftofcool]

3. I live in MD and it is one of the most expensive states in the US.

There are plenty of jobs here but you better be prepared to pay mega bucks for rent and high electricity bills. Average price for a 2 bedroom apt is 1600 per month and up.

[Jkid]

4. I bet the cheap apartments are in the crime-ridden areas of a city?

[leftofcool]

6. You guessed it!

[4lbs]

9. Yes, in West Baltimore. Famously featured in the HBO show "The Wire".

West Baltimore is like Harlem in New York, or South Central/Watts in Los Angeles.

[vadawg]

29. yup definetly not a nice area to live or bring up a family...

[FarCenter]

11. the $300 / month for electricity seems pretty outrageous

Must be electric heat?

[leftofcool]

12. It is outrageous.

Baltimore Gas and Electric is the only company here and they took a 50% rate hike last year. If she has electric heat, that is cheap.

[FarCenter]

37. We need to get more nuclear generation plants up and running

[laughingliberal]

20. Yes, even before the bust I got an offer from a hospital there and looked into it

Even with the substantially higher pay, I couldn't have met expenses there. And I was living in a part of the country where housing was pretty high.

[Dappleganger]

7. DC is a unique reale estate area...

that does need to be taken into account. They also have a higher percentage of renters than many other areas of the country.

I have a friend who is desperate to move out of a house she shares with her ex-girlfriend but she can't find anything similar which is somewhat affordable w/out a roommate (she's in MD). It's to the point where she's considering moving out to AZ to be near her parents because the rents are more affordable out there. Jesus, I don't think our family could even afford many of DC/Beltway prices.

[leftofcool]

8. You have to be making at least 75k a year to live here

and that is without debt.

[MountainLaurel]

21. That's why we left

When Mr. Laurel and I got married, we realized that we had a choice of living in a 1BR condo for the next 40 years or having a 2-hour commute each way into the city.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Try living in SF or any nearby area.

Even with the house prices tumbling, rents are sky high, housing stock is scarce.
Most urban areas on the West Coast/Puget Sound area are too expensive for the average person.
I have been locked out of that market for decades.

[leftofcool]

15. I have heard that SF is like Annapolis/DC

very expensive to live.

[grasswire]

16. plenty of good apartments for $500-$600 in Portland area

and those are two bedrooms in safe neighborhoods. The unemployment is about 12 percent.

[ben_thayer]

17. Maybe some of the soon-to-be abandoned

commercial real estate could be converted to low/no income housing...?

[leftofcool]

19. The problem with that is, it would cost a great deal

You would have to have an investor with money for that.

[vadawg]

25. would cost a fortune to rehab, wheres the money going to come from

and unless you get rental income they would just become money pits that would quickly go downhill..

[ben_thayer]

32. Where all the money comes from...

CHINA!

:crazy:

[vadawg]

33. rofl, good point but would those chinese capitalists not want rent :)

[northofdenali]

18. Here you can get a no-water, one room cabin -

Toyo stove/wood heat for about $650/month.

If you want water, add $300/month.

I am not kidding. Check our classifieds "for rent" at http://classifieds.newsminer.com/browse/browse.php?pid=6&page=1&sort=

car heated garage, 1/1, 5 acres with garden @23m CHSR, 975/mo+dep, heat inc, pets ok, 907-575-6550

It takes about 75 minutes to get to Fairbanks from this area. No fire services in the area. You must plow your own road. Note that the ad specifically does NOT state "water holding tank" or "private well" cuz that's all that's available IF you have water at all.

3bdr dlt basement apt located in a quiet downtown location close to library & schools, fenced yard,w/d 1300+electric and deposite. ...

dlt basement = daylight basement. Close to library & schools = you'd better have triple locks, a lojack, and a shotgun by the door. + electric = add $250/month.

714 Arkansas - huge 2 story dry cabin - $650+ fuel & elec

At last! Honesty! DRY CABIN = NO running water, outhouse only, +fuel = probably toyo or wood heat. Electric isn't unusual, but damn if water isn't. I think the most recent estimate for the Fairbanks north Star Borough is about 1/3 of ALL rentals are "dry".

Ask the righties and they'll tell you it's because the feds own so much land in Alaska (albeit it's inaccessible and mostly well away from populated areas, i.e., jobs). Everyone else will tell you it's because we have no taxes, so we have no infrastructure.

Many of these "dry" rentals are in city limits.

K&R

[bobbolink]

23. Poor people have been priced out of housing for decades now, and I didn't notice anyone

raising a fuss about that.

Hence, a huge population of homeless people.

Come join us. Living in the street is a great life.

......need I add :sarcasm:

[butterfly77]

34. Thank you..