Yes, but you’ve got a fair amount of land, too, don’t you? That has to be in your favor.
Around here land is in short supply. One of the things the County is promoting is “suburban infill” which is a fancy term for subdividing small plots of land (10 acres, for example) that exist here and there and building 20 homes on it. It’s the bane of the surrounding property owners, as it often messes with their existing zoning. For example, just to the east of my old house is an area of 1 acre tracts that’s been there since the 1950s. It’s populated with homes from that time period along with any number of trailers and manufactured housing. It’s zoned RU-1, which is rural/residential with lots no smaller than 1/2 acre. There’s a 15 acre plot in the middle of their area that’s being sold to a developer who wants to get it rezoned to put (originally) 30+ homes on it. The locals have banded together and taken on the zoning commission and run the developer off - twice. He’s back again with it pared down to 20 homes, which is still a higher density than the existing zoning allows. He’s already pussed out once on the latest hearing, asking for a continuance and trying to wait out the locals, but they’ll continue to challenge him as they’re well organized and pissed. I’ve lent them some support myself as an adjacent landowner and spoken to and written the County Commissioners, the one representing our area just happening to have been my former customer at the school district. County government does work around here, and if you’re well organized and represented you’ve got a good chance of prevailing. This developer is not ready to give up, but he’s seeing his plans get pared down bit by bit to the point where it may not be profitable to pursue this much longer. -D > On Dec 31, 2019, at 6:06 AM, Buggered Benzmail via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > I’m going to put my house on the market soon. Some similarities here with > out-of-control development on fill-and-build tracts of too-low land that > needs 6 or 8ft of impervious fill to throw up sh*tty slab-on-grade low > quality vinyl villages that won’t likely survive the next big blow. That’s > not really my competition but it distorts the market by catering to the > younger comyahs who know nothing. > > --FT > Sent from iPhone > >> On Dec 31, 2019, at 5:53 AM, Dan Penoff via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> >> wrote: >> >> First of all, my apologies to Curley and others if I misunderstood. The >> real estate market here appears to be very different than yours. While I >> know that people are all about “new-new new!” as buyers, with the average >> age home being much less in years than in places like the Midwest and >> elsewhere that’s not as much of a driver for the marketability of a house. >> >> I think a lot of the “new-new-new” mentality comes from all of the HGTV >> remodeling shows that have what seems like everyone and their brother >> gutting their houses on a whim to encompass the latest and greatest styles >> and designs. I can’t help but wonder if places like the big box remodeling >> stores are behind a lot of this, as they’re the ones who stand to gain from >> it. >> >> In my immediate area you can find literally hundreds of new homes for sale >> on any given day. Development in this area has reached an insane pace, >> almost approaching the boom of the early 2000s. I see developments of >> 1600-2000 homes going up left and right, and they’re selling as quickly as >> they can put them up. If there’s a market for the “new-new-new!” folks it’s >> satisfied by these places, and we’ll never see those buyers looking at our >> house. >> >> However, with the way things are going, a buyer who wants in a house in >> short order, say less than 90 days, isn’t going to go that route. Inventory >> homes are rarely available, and the lead time on completion of a new home is >> easily 6-8 months from contract signing to occupancy, if not more. These are >> our buyers. >> >> Another thing on our side in the market is an established neighborhood with >> existing amenities and location. The billions of new homes being built are >> in areas where the infrastructure hasn’t been expanded to accommodate the >> influx of people, and as a result traffic and accessibility is nothing short >> of a nightmare. Those infrastructure upgrades will be years in the making, >> maybe as long as 6-8 years or more. >> >> I have a golf course, YMCA, little league, “A” rated elementary school and >> private park, all within walking distance. You won’t get those in a new >> development. Shopping at major stores is 5-10 minutes away, depending on >> where you want to shop. I’m just seven miles to the interstate and less than >> that to the Crosstown Expressway, a toll road going directly into downtown >> Tampa. Want to live in a new home? You’re looking at an hour commute to go >> 25 miles if you work in downtown Tampa. From my house depending on the time >> of day it’s roughly 30 minutes. We have a large contingent of military >> families here, thanks to being one of the highest rated areas by the BHO >> (Base Housing Office) at MacDill AFB, home of SOCOM. >> >> These are all things that make my neighborhood attractive in this market, >> and they’ve always been that way as long as we’ve been here. It’s one of the >> reasons why we built and bought here. >> >> Now - the “new-new-new!” folks will see our roof, AC and water heater as a >> plus, as other properties in the area that might be our competition won’t >> have their physical plants upgraded/replaced yet. With the age of most of >> these homes being in the early 20 year range, if these things haven’t been >> replaced, they’re at the threshold of needing to be. If I look at two >> roughly comparable homes, one that has a new roof and one that doesn’t, the >> one that will need a roof better be $20k less. If not, I’ll move on. That’s >> the average cost of a roof replacement around here. Brokers will definitely >> point this out to potential buyers. Paint is a 10 year item. AC, 20 years. >> Water heater, 10 years. >> >> We’ll list this house like we have others in the past. First, we’ll get an >> appraisal - a real appraisal, not a “market valuation”. That way we know >> where a buyer has to be as far as financing. Then we’ll do a survey of >> comparable sales in the immediate area for the last 12 months. With this >> information, we’ll establish a fair price and list the property for that >> amount. None of this “start high and work our way down.” The listing price >> will be a reasonable amount for the property based on the data we’ve >> collected. We might leave a little money on the table, but we’re more >> interested in selling than making a windfall. >> >> -D >> >> >>>> On Dec 30, 2019, at 10:58 PM, Mitch Haley via Mercedes >>>> <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> On December 30, 2019 at 9:30 PM Curley McLain via Mercedes >>>>> <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> Exactly. His market may be different that the rest of the country, >>>> because of all the people fleeing stupid states and moving to FL wanting >>>> to buy houses. but he needs to consider it is exactly these people who >>>> made their state of origin stupid. >>> >>> I thought Dan bought that water heater 5-6 years ago, shortly after I >>> bought my current house. >>> Mitch. >>> >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
