Looks dreadful. I never want to be that close to my neighbors. Nothing like reaching out and touching your neighbors house.
Des Moines Metro Real Estate Market
- Thread starter ClonesFTW
- Start date
Looks dreadful. I never want to be that close to my neighbors. Nothing like reaching out and touching your neighbors house.
I know that costs have increased, but with all the modern equipment it takes crews way too long to complete projects. Have a friend that lives in the Southlawn area in Ankeny and it took two years to complete a quarter mile of sewer, water, and road. The company was fined for taking too long but what a joke. I'd hope that the new systems that are being put in will be easier to deal with in the future when or if it needs to be worked on.
How often are residential areas repurposed? Mixed types are what people will want.
Every street behind the gates at Glen Oaks in West Des Moines is private. The management company (hired by the HOA) along with the HOA board itself is responsible since these are not city owned streets, sidewalks, etc.
To your last point, that is why I introduced this entire discussion into a thread. I'm suggesting that it would be prudent for real estate investors (including homeowners) to research and understand this issue for themselves. Yes, if the street your house is on is turned over to you and your neighbors, it will likely negatively affect your property values.
Here is an example from nearby Omaha. The streets aren't going private, but they are going from hard surface to gravel.
http://www.wowt.com/content/news/Ci...nto-gravel-road-sparks-outrage-385133501.html
And many others feel the same but with that luxury of extra elbow room, there has to be a cost.
Right now, cities are not effectively accounting for the cost to supply infrastructure required for houses to be further and further apart and thus the corresponding property owners are getting the extra elbow room, but not fully paying for it.
That will eventually end in order for cities to be solvent. It has to which I why people need to educate themselves on this issue so either they can be:
* 100% sure (or reasonably close) that I'm just full of hot air and an unwarranted alarmist, or
* understand it, so you can make smarter real estate buying decisions.
I just caution you. Just because something is prevalent and seems normal, doesn't mean the math works.
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Historically real estate has increased by 4-5% annually and there has always been plenty of new buyers. It helps to be in the market and have the equity working for you but saying if you don't own a home today you'll never be able to afford one is silly.
** Learn this stuff. Understand this stuff!! Could this be the street you live on today or plan to live on?
Case Study (page 18 of link below) :
A suburban subdivision has a paved street that has deteriorated and needs replacement. The street serves the subdivision only; there is no through access. A project is commissioned to remove the existing surfacing, fix the underlying street base and resurface the street. The total cost of the project is $354,000.
We asked the question: Based on the taxes being paid by the property owners on this street, how long will it take the city to recoup its half of the project cost?
The answer: 79 years.
We then asked: If the city were to raise taxes to cover these costs within the expected life cycle of the street, how much would the local tax rate need to go up?
The answer: 46% immediately with an additional 3% annual increase for each of the next 25 years. It should be noted that this street had the highest density of any street in this community.
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...69d25/1410192655834/Curbside+Chat+Book-LO.pdf
Case Study (page 18 of link below) :
A suburban subdivision has a paved street that has deteriorated and needs replacement. The street serves the subdivision only; there is no through access. A project is commissioned to remove the existing surfacing, fix the underlying street base and resurface the street. The total cost of the project is $354,000.
We asked the question: Based on the taxes being paid by the property owners on this street, how long will it take the city to recoup its half of the project cost?
The answer: 79 years.
We then asked: If the city were to raise taxes to cover these costs within the expected life cycle of the street, how much would the local tax rate need to go up?
The answer: 46% immediately with an additional 3% annual increase for each of the next 25 years. It should be noted that this street had the highest density of any street in this community.
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...69d25/1410192655834/Curbside+Chat+Book-LO.pdf
I'd agree with that 350 price.
Also, i don't know how so many young couples can pull it off.
If it's anything like cars, they might be staring down the monthly payment rather than then the whole pie.
How picky are lenders with down payments these days? Can you get buy with a smaller down payment and get a PMI to get there?
Pretty sure you can. There are also a lot of people that get a separate loan to get them from whatever they can put down and the rest needed to get to 20% total to make them qualify.
I would say most people that I know now a days are putting 10% (not saying that's right or wrong).
Ok so I went and read some of the stuff on strongtowns.org and really didn't like what I saw. They seem to be more extreme than anyone here. Like I've said before I think we do need to look at doing a better job of sustainable expansion, but my quick look at their website didn't impress me.
They seemed very intense on walkability and very anti car. I'd like to see more concern for walkability, but it doesn't work when you have weather like we do. When we played in San Antonio people seemed fascinated by their riverwalk. I'd love to see something like that but it just doesn't work when you can't use it half the year.
They should just try moving to Germany. Very dense housing with row houses everywhere. Yet, somehow those cities are going just as broke or perhaps much worse than many US Cities. It's almost like the housing density doesn't matter but one little spec on a large beach.
Fannie Mae has really opened this up for lenders in the last couple years, you can get into a conventional loan with 3% down with an option to do lender paid MI.
I get the idea but people paying for only the infrastructure they use isn't how the system works (nor should it). 2 people living in a $100,000 house use (roughly) the same amount of infrastructure services as 2 people living in a $500,000 house - yet they pay 5x the amount of taxes.
Also, the city has several other ways to fund infrastructure projects - not just property taxes. Sales tax is a big one. Should all of those out of towners really be paying for our infrastructure because they shopped here one weekend a year?
Taxes work a lot like insurance. Is it fair that I pay the same insurance when I go to the doctor once every 2 years than the person who has cancer?
I agree 100% with you that cities need to be thinking about these things but, again, a 100% grid system with no big box stores isn't going to happen because that's not what people want.
To add to what a few others previously said regarding buy/build. A little over a year ago we bought in Urbandale for two main reasons. 1. We got 1,500 more finished sq ft for less $. 2. Building new would have put us an extra 20 minutes away from the "action". Where we are puts us 10-20 minutes away from everything vs. the 40+ drive in the new build areas. House we bought needed cosmetic updates (wants vs. needs), and those have been neat to do without build time pressures.
How long before Ankeny, Huxley, and Ames all connect?
How long before Ankeny, Huxley, and Ames all connect?
So I have about six acres of land on the south side in Des Moines should I sale to private or developers?
Each city is different but sewer improvements are infrastructure improvements. But point taken on property tax relief. Point is that city's have a lot more funding sources to get infrastructure in place and updated other than property taxes.
…and the caution that I’ve been trying to communicate on this thread is that all those other sources are most likely not sustainable long term, so cities will be left holding the bag. When that happens, that affects those of us that own homes, property, pay taxes, etc..
Very timely (and I considered starting a new thread on this, but am short on time today).
The Real Reason Your City Has No Money:
http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason-your-city-has-no-money
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I'm pulling this from the article I linked to in my last commet...pls make special note of the bolded:
Question: if a consulting firm who is in the business of assessing financial solvency for cities comes to this conclusion, what is your basis for being so optimistic to the contrary? I get that it is wise to question consulting firms conclusions because often times they skew their findings to provide answers that cities want to hear. Well…no cities wants to hear they are broke, so I can’t come up with any ideas why the gray forcast.
How do you account for the disconnect between what you are advocating (e.g…..nothing to see here folks! ) and what those that run the numbers are communicating (or do you leave room for the fact that you’ve never looked at this issue at a granular enough level) ?
