FLBear5630 said:
whiterock said:
FLBear5630 said:
whiterock said:
FLBear5630 said:
whiterock said:
Frank Galvin said:
The market "should" fix that. If no one can afford those homes, their price will decrease.
Free markets would. But when govt massively interdicts market functions wuth irrational "nudging" such as politically driven subsidies, regulations, and outright fiat price fixing, markets do not work efficiently. Distortions occur, as we see with real estate prices relative to entry level wages.
Are you also against zoning, land use and HOAs?
nope.
Talking about green energy, sub-prime mortgages, artificially low interest rates (to make budgeting of enormous deficits financeable), use of inflation to service national debt, open border policies to stimulate the economy (which simultaneously depresses wages and creates housing shortages(, etc.......... Each one of those things was a solution to a problem real or imagined. Problem is, most of the problems are derivative of solutions to yesterday's problems.
"There are no solutions, only tradeoffs."
--Thomas Sowell
The more government tries to do, the more it distorts market functions. At. some. point. we have to stand back let markets clear. The more we fiddle with them, the more we proliferate the pain.
Well, I agree to a point. For homes, I have mixed feelings. I have spent my career watching Developers distort the market and forcing the local governments spend more than they can afford. Providing transportation, power and water is a *****, very expensive. So, do the developers pick up the total tab for the subdivisions 20 miles in the middle of nowhere? Keep in mind, scratch the dirt off a farmer, you have a developer...
Believe me, I have been a Milton Friedman and Chicago School guy, but watching developers hire the best consultants to abuse local government staff that have no way of ensuring that the development is reasonable. Add on lobbyist to the CIty Councils and County Commissioners. Tax payers are getting raped.
True story, after Christmas about 15 years ago I went to a meeting as a traffic consultant. Lawyers asked what we did over holidays. I said skied. The Lawyer said me too. So did the Developer. They asked where.
Developer - Garmish in Germany.
Attorney - Aspen, CO
Engineer - Upper Peninsula of Michigan...
Not really relevant, but makes a point.
Developers normally do have to put in all the infrastructure within the subdivision, to city spec. Cities might expand network trunks to link up the subdivisions, and that's a decision for P&Z and Councils to deliberate upon pursuant to strategic growth plans. *
Developers are NOT the problem. They are providing housing supply and will do no more on infrastructure than required.
When you increase the supply of money faster than the supply of goods, you have inflation. The responsible parties are not the corporate entities providing products to consumers. The responsible party is the sovereign who is printing fecking money. Further, developers are not demanding anything on energy regulations or energy subsidies (which drive up cost of energy). Etc.....
*federal grant monies greatly impact city decisions on such things, and we STILL have not spent all the Covid money made available.
Developers are a small micro. Our problems are macro macro macro......
The internal infrastructure to some developers 50 acres is peanuts compared to the connective infrastructure. Moving the Urban Service Boundary is Government Bonding type decision. Adding a few local road and drainage is nothing. Most of the time they don't even pay their Developer Agreement contributions, after the fact they contribute to some County Commissioner's election and get it waived.
All of this cost money, big money, and you can't charge the Developer (he may have to go to Aspen rather than Garmish poor abused guy.), you can't raise taxes, and you can't limit services. Govt workers are told how incompetent they are because traffic sucks, there is local flooding and no sidewalks. You do toll roads and user fees are not allowable, another tax. This is one small part of the puzzle. Money has to come from somewhere to build and operate a Nation. There are 350 million in the US, all of them can't have their own little road, off the grid and totally self-sustaining due to wise investments.
Probably doesn't mean **** to you, but I can't remember the last time the US had a top 10 infrastructure project in the world. China, Dubai, Europe and Japan all are out investing us in infrastructure. They don't have the funding problems we do, they use special assessments, taxes and user fees (public and private). We are hamstrung by the Progressives on one hand and MAGA on the other. We have to figure out how to fund roads, ports, rails, airports (NE airports are like 3rd world!), as well as drainage, wastewater, water and electric grid. I don't think people get how much is there. Developers getting sweet heart deals doesn't help anyone but the Developer (See Trump Atlantic City...)
I must agree with the sentiment here... but maybe not the specifics.
Unregulated development has become a disaster in Texas. It is ruining our communities, infrastructure, ecology,... it just needs to stop.
I know we need development, but there needs to be SOME form of macro planning involved.
You go out into the counties surrounding Bexar County (San Antonio), and it is a free for all disaster. Massive neighborhoods are being built, with no roadways, sewage, water or grid planning. I know, I know... the engineering firms will pop in here and claim that I'm wrong. I can tell you from experience that once these developments are complete and they hit over 90% occupancy... the roads are overwhelmed, the sewage treatment becomes a major hazard, there are water issues, and whenever a storm hits the elecrical fails.
The required planning & engineering is just not enough right now. But beyond that... they shouldn't be allowed to drop over 2,000 homes in the middle of nowhere on a 400 acre piece of land. It is just irresponsible.
One example I've seen is in Burnet county. Along highway 281, they are building a very large apartment complex. There is nothing but ranches and roads for miles in every direction... but someone decided to drop a freaking apartment complex out there. What the hell? It's a part of a 2,000 home development on a 1,000 acre site, featuring homes by DR Horton and Lennar. Basically this kind of community is for "starter homes", but it is miles and miles from the jobs those folks will be working in Austin. It's about an hour drive from there to the intersection of 360 & MoPac... without traffic. So they are building about 1,000 apartments and 1,000 postage stamp lots out in the middle of nowhere. The average postage stamp lot home will be over $250,000. The only thing going for this development is that 281 and 71 can handle the load. What about the local water supply? What about the local schools? What about the grid?
To me, nothing is more disgusting than seeing a city-style development dropped in the middle of the country. If you want to live in a city neighborhood, then stay in the freaking city. No one in the country wants those city folks.
ShooterTX
