I noticed that there hasn’t been a comment in over a week, so I thought I would add one. As I read through the comments I notice a common thread. When is the city going to do something? Why doesn’t the government force the banks to unload these properties? In short, when is someone else going to do something. Get real, they’re not.
Those out there with initiative have to help themselves. Perhaps a march on City Hall to press for changes that would aid those with initiative. Reconsideration of building codes which currently push renovation costs beyond reasonable limits. Wholesale tax takings which would result in auctions at actual value. These are never going to be “high rent” neighborhoods, costs, and therefore rents, have to be brought back in line with real values. It was the soaring “values” which lifted the required rents beyond the ability of likely tenants to pay. None of the three deckers shown could ever have produced the rents to service a $300,000 mortage and also provide any realistic amount of revenue for repair and maintenance.
Remember, falling “tax values” choke off the life blood of the city. They are not anxious to aid lower values. The days when they could assign $250,000 values to three deckers was a “high water mark” for them.
My last comment on what I would call the “Blue State” response of expecting the government to save us, leads me to another comment. In the past I have tried to use government programs in the renovation of older rental properties. What I found was, that in exchange for favorable financing, they wanted control of design and the use of “approved” contractors. Their idea of design was “barracks”, and the bids of the “approved” contractors were way out of line. I abandoned the idea and went ahead without them. I was able to do the projects at slightly more than 1/2 the sums bid and they do not look like barracks. When dealing with government people it has to be remembered that they are not “people who do” and they believe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It also allows them the excuse that “everyone else was doing it”. Didn’t their mothers ever say “if all of your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you do that too?”.
The programs work out rather well for projects undertaken, for their own account, by “approved contractors”. They are allowed to take their profits out of the loans. That covers any amount put in for a “down payment” and they are in for free. They are allowed the standard 20% “builder’s profit & overhead”, if the renovation costs double the original acquisition cost that is 40% of the original acquisition cost. If they keep it ten years, they are not required to repay the loan. They also form “management companies” and “taxable” profits almost disappear. Ain’t “government help” great?
If you are the right type (smooth of talk, but coarse of mind) you can do rather well with government programs which permit demolition and new construction.
I noticed that there hasn’t been a comment in over a week, so I thought I would add one. As I read through the comments I notice a common thread. When is the city going to do something? Why doesn’t the government force the banks to unload these properties? In short, when is someone else going to do something. Get real, they’re not.
Those out there with initiative have to help themselves. Perhaps a march on City Hall to press for changes that would aid those with initiative. Reconsideration of building codes which currently push renovation costs beyond reasonable limits. Wholesale tax takings which would result in auctions at actual value. These are never going to be “high rent” neighborhoods, costs, and therefore rents, have to be brought back in line with real values. It was the soaring “values” which lifted the required rents beyond the ability of likely tenants to pay. None of the three deckers shown could ever have produced the rents to service a $300,000 mortage and also provide any realistic amount of revenue for repair and maintenance.
Remember, falling “tax values” choke off the life blood of the city. They are not anxious to aid lower values. The days when they could assign $250,000 values to three deckers was a “high water mark” for them.
My last comment on what I would call the “Blue State” response of expecting the government to save us, leads me to another comment. In the past I have tried to use government programs in the renovation of older rental properties. What I found was, that in exchange for favorable financing, they wanted control of design and the use of “approved” contractors. Their idea of design was “barracks”, and the bids of the “approved” contractors were way out of line. I abandoned the idea and went ahead without them. I was able to do the projects at slightly more than 1/2 the sums bid and they do not look like barracks. When dealing with government people it has to be remembered that they are not “people who do” and they believe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It also allows them the excuse that “everyone else was doing it”. Didn’t their mothers ever say “if all of your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you do that too?”.
The programs work out rather well for projects undertaken, for their own account, by “approved contractors”. They are allowed to take their profits out of the loans. That covers any amount put in for a “down payment” and they are in for free. They are allowed the standard 20% “builder’s profit & overhead”, if the renovation costs double the original acquisition cost that is 40% of the original acquisition cost. If they keep it ten years, they are not required to repay the loan. They also form “management companies” and “taxable” profits almost disappear. Ain’t “government help” great?
If you are the right type (smooth of talk, but coarse of mind) you can do rather well with government programs which permit demolition and new construction.