61 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors (GFWAR) reported that median home prices in Fort Worth have topped $300,000, up $73,000 from three years ago. 

Rent prices are going up too, having surpassed San Antonio and Houston prices and topping $1,200 average. 

[renamerusk]

Are these the numbers(surpassing both SA & H) that can be a precursor in builders thinking about mid-high rise residential projects?

 

By the way, this signals full speed ahead for The Deco  September grounds breaking.  Without any way of knowing how the pre-leasing campaign will be undertaken, I anticipate (fingers cross)  that The Deco will surpass a commitment for 40% of their units within 90 days after ground breaking.

[txbornviking]

I'm curious too what this combined with recent changes from the texas legislature around limiting annual taxing authority revenue increases will mean for the upcoming city budget... 

I'm going to guess Moon will trumpet a "lower taxing rate" as good fiscal management and a post-pandemic "break" for residents in the city

[Big Frog II]

I am astonished how many have been built, yet they keep filling up.  Where are these people coming from and where do they work?

[Austin55]

According to this post on Skyscraperpage.com, which sourced Redfin data, Fort Worth was 3rd highest % of housing cost increase among major U.S. cities.

Mesa: $428,000 +31.5%

Phoenix: $418,000 +30.6%

Fort Worth: $327,000 +24.7%

San Jose: $1,303,000 +24.6%

Salt Lake City: $490,000 +23.9%

Las Vegas: $390,000 +23.8%

Charlotte: $365,000 +23.7%

Tucson: $308,000 +23.2%

Nashville: $412,000 +23.0%

Jacksonville: $285,000 +22.8%

Miami: $460,000 +22.7%

Raleigh: $388,000 +21.9%

Detroit: $85,000 +21.4%

Memphis: $194,000 +21.3%

Riverside: $580,000 +20.9%

Fresno: $360,000 +20.0%

Austin: $570,000 +19.5%

Orlando: $335,000 +19.4%

Indianapolis: $220,000 +18.9%

Albuquerque: $295,000 +18.0%

San Antonio: $278,000 +17.3%

San Diego: $790,000 +15.3%

Tampa: $339,000 +15.1%

Houston: $310,000 +14.8%

Denver: $543,000 +13.8%

Cleveland: $115,000 +13.3%

Los Angeles: $950,000 +13.1%

El Paso: $210,000 +12.9%

Columbus: $235,000 +12.7%

Sacramento: $455,000 +12.3%

Atlanta: $385,000 +11.6%

Cincinnati: $216,000 +11.5%

Honolulu: $720,000 +10.8%

Milwaukee: $170,000 +10.7%

San Francisco: $1,478,000 +10.7%

Kansas City: $240,000 +9.9%

Dallas: $400,000 +9.6%

Louisville: $240,000 +9.0%

Portland: $510,000 +7.3%

Boston: $750,000 +7.1%

New York: $776,000 +7.0%

Baltimore: $208,000 +6.7%

Minneapolis: $315,000 +6.6%

Pittsburgh: $220,000 +6.3%

Washington: $675,000 +6.2%

Philadelphia: $255,000 +6.1%

Seattle: $765,000 +4.8%

Chicago: $314,000 +4.7%

Oklahoma City: $225,000 +4.7%

Saint Louis: $195,000 +2.6%

 

 

[roverone]

I think that is probably more about housing being (relatively) inexpensive in Fort Worth.

 

If I did my math correctly:

 

Fort Worth went from 31st most expensive to 28th

 

Dallas went from 17th most expensive to 20th

 

Austin went from 12th most expensive to 11th

[Austin55]

I think that is probably more about housing being (relatively) inexpensive in Fort Worth.

No doubt, especially when looking at the top two in Phoenix and Mesa. 

Still, it's notably a challenge for the less wealthy to find their way into a home or afford to keep one. 

Also, San Jose is insane. 

[roverone]

City            Rank Order Change

Indianapolis    4

San Diego       3

Mesa            3

Phoenix         3

Charlotte       3

Fort Worth      3

Las Vegas       2

Tampa           2

Orlando         2

Jacksonville    2

Austin          1

Salt Lake City  1

Miami           1

Columbus        1

El Paso         1

San Francisco   0

San Jose        0

Los Angeles     0

New York        0

Honolulu        0

Washington      0

Riverside       0

Portland        0

Nashville       0

Raleigh         0

Tucson          0

Albuquerque     0

San Antonio     0

Louisville      0

Kansas City     0

Pittsburgh      0

Cincinnati      0

Memphis         0

Milwaukee       0

Cleveland       0

Detroit         0

Boston         -1

Denver         -1

Fresno         -1

Houston        -1

Oklahoma City  -1

Seattle        -2

Sacramento     -2

Philadelphia   -2

Saint Louis    -2

Dallas         -3

Minneapolis    -3

Baltimore      -3

Atlanta        -5

Chicago        -5

[Doohickie]

or afford to keep one.

I can't wait to get to age 65 so I can lock things in. Hopefully I'm not priced out by taxes by then.  (When we bought our house, the previous owner was paying $1000 per year property taxes.  It's now $5k for us.)

[Austin55]

The NYT recently published an article on the most expensive cities to rent a studio apartment vs. average income for that city, where Fort Worth was ranked #15 most expensive.

https://www.nytimes....nt-studios.html

[roverone]

I know there are several threads about housing costs, I'll just pick this one.

 

I've read that the major part of inflated home purchase prices are being driven by a lack of supply (along with high demand, of course) as opposed to some odd financing bubble artificially increasing demand.

 

Do you think that pouring capital into building rental properties (apartments) instead of neighborhoods with homes or towers with condominiums will actually accelerate the housing inflation because it is not adding to the purchasable home inventory, but it is drawing more people into the area that ultimately aspire to own a home / condo?

 

I know that the capital sources are not the same, but could zoning influence this?  I don't think this is the case, but does zoning have anything to say about rental vs. owner-occupied?  Could the city encourage construction of residence ownership in ways that are not connected to density (e.g. condominiums vs apartments)?

 

Will we find ourselves in a situation where the core city is dense with rentals, but then people have to move to the surrounding cities to own their home? What does that do to the economics of the city?

[txbornviking]

Ok, I'm sorry the images are SO big, but I don't know how to make them smaller.

 

Basically, a primary driver of the increase in housing cost is the relative drop in housing supply.

 

While populations have grown, we've spent well over a decade building homes at a rate less than 2/3 of the more historical norm... and if you factor number of new housing starts by population, it only looks worse.

 

To those asking if more homes or apartments are higher prices will really mean more affordable housing overall, the answer is YES it will. More supply, even of higher dollar homes, means more people freeing up lower priced units. Joining the evidence is a super recent academic paper that describes this, https://ideas.repec....wpaper/146.html

 

With the question, could zoning influence this, the answer is ABSOLUTELY. Presently in the US (and Fort Worth isn't an exception) approximately 75% of our cities are zoned exclusively for single-family homes. These areas are more expense for cities to provide services to and generate less tax dollars (sales tax and property tax) per acre than denser, more urban areas of our cities. Upzoning allows for more homes to be build in more areas of our cities. You may have read about some cities looking to ban or eliminate single-family homes, but the actual changes or attempted changes has been to up-zone single-family areas to allow ADU (granny flats), duplex, triplex, 4-unit etc in what have been exclusively single-family areas. This doesn't mean developers cannot build single-family homes, it just means they have the option to build more TYPES of homes in greater numbers of neighborhoods.

 

[elpingüino]

Star-Telegram,
Is your Fort Worth rent going up? You're not alone

Report is based on this data: https://www.rent.com...nts/rent-trends

The average rent of a 1-bedroom in Fort Worth, citywide, now is $1,270. In far north FW, a 1-bedroom rents for $1,747 on average.

[roverone]

If you spot check some of the other DFW area larger city's rent trends on that same site, Fort Worth is generally lower.  As long as we are the less expensive place to live, people are going to move here (and perhaps work other places in DFW).

 

We have more dirt, and so maybe we'll be the less expensive place to live for a long time, but it seems like things will continue toward some kind of regional equilibrium, weighted by the drive time to jobs and availability of amenities.

 

So as long as prices are going up in job-rich areas like Frisco and Dallas, their high pricing halo of that is going to push our prices up, even if they would not be so high were we a stand-alone city.

[johnfwd]

While not an authority on the economics of leasing, as an attorney whose represented numerous landlords, mostly residential but a few commercial, I can surmise one or two reasons for rent increases, local or elsewhere. One is the residential landlord's desire to recover financially from the pandemic era eviction moratoriums.  For many months, landlords went without rental income.  Another reason is the higher financial costs landlords are incurring to repair physical damage to their properties caused by vacating tenants. Increases in costs of materials and labor.

 

Of course, higher property taxes is a contributing factor in landlords passing such increases to tenants.

[Stadtplan]

While not an authority on the economics of leasing, as an attorney whose represented numerous landlords, mostly residential but a few commercial, I can surmise one or two reasons for rent increases, local or elsewhere. One is the residential landlord's desire to recover financially from the pandemic era eviction moratoriums.  For many months, landlords went without rental income.  Another reason is the higher financial costs landlords are incurring to repair physical damage to their properties caused by vacating tenants. Increases in costs of materials and labor.

 

Of course, higher property taxes is a contributing factor in landlords passing such increases to tenants.

 

Cousin and spouse in NJ flip and rent property and they told us they still have over $75K in back rent owed to them from the moratorium.  Can't squeezed blood out of a turnip so what would be the next steps?  File on behalf of the tenants for rental assistance?  Pursue legal action?  Write it down as a business loss?

[johnfwd]

I think state and local government rental assistance money is gone.  A few dollars from some non-profit charity may still be available.  Fort Worth Housing Solutions is the source for HUD-based rent subsidies in our area.

 

Trying to enforce a Texas money judgment against an evicted tenant is like--yes, you got it--trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. Probably best to write it down as a business loss.

[Stadtplan]

This article shows current median rental data for Dallas and Tarrant Counties.  In looking at their color-coded map, I'm having a hard time understanding how the median rent north of the Stockyards up to Jim Wright Freeway (green section on map $1,995) is higher than the median rent Downtown ($1,705)?  Are they maybe taking into account single family home rental rates compared to apartments?  I just always assumed downtown was considerably higher rent on average.

https://www.star-tel...e275316541.html

 

This map tool is actually pretty cool, you can customize the data set:

https://app.datahera...2116f16609d5658

[Doohickie]

I can't see the StarTel Gram's article due to pay wall, but for the other link, the big green north of downtown may reflect the influx of apartments along Samuels Avenue.  Not sure.  It's hard to imagine what else could drive median rents up 37.59% in ONE year.

 

My zip, 76133, is basically flat- +0.55% for the year, which is in line with what I'm seeing in home prices on Realtor.com as well as anecdotal evidence of several lease houses that just aren't leasing out near me.

[Stadtplan]

I keep wondering if the housing bubble is going to burst and then a couple down the street goes and sells their house last week for what I'd consider "top dollar" / higher than anything I've ever seen for that comp.  It's a sale-ready nearly full remodel that they bought 4-years ago.  It sold last week after only 5-days on MLS and by my nosey calculations, they're sitting at around 70% equity in only 4-years which isn't bad plus whatever they managed to pay down on their loan.  Another couple down the street just listed a similar style house Friday, so we'll see how long it lists and what those #'s look like when it sells. 

 

It seems like a lot of people just want to get out of the city, there's a lot of factors behind that thinking but then I also wonder if they hate the city so much, why did you buy in the city to begin with?  Both of these couples are moving out-of-state but I get the feeling they're done living in the city.  If they think there's real estate deals out there, they might want to sit tight for a while, there could be better deals ahead, I'm just not seeing it yet.  I've lived in the city, the country, the suburbs and everything in between and I think there's pro's and cons to both, just depends on what you really want plus keeping in mind "country" is not universally appealing depending on where you're talking about.  Good friends of mine live in Preston Hollow and they're talking about moving out in the country east of Dallas.  I'm like, "you live in Preston freaking Hollow!" but they want to raise chickens I guess.  I'll gladly pay for eggs if it means not dealing with chickens running around my yard.  Bottom line is it seems to me like a horrible time to sign a mortgage no matter where someone is heading off to unless you're all-cash or downsizing.

[Doohickie]

but they want to raise chickens I guess.

Tell them to move to Rosemont or South Hills.

[Crestline]

This article shows current median rental data for Dallas and Tarrant Counties.  In looking at their color-coded map, I'm having a hard time understanding how the median rent north of the Stockyards up to Jim Wright Freeway (green section on map $1,995) is higher than the median rent Downtown ($1,705)?  Are they maybe taking into account single family home rental rates compared to apartments?  I just always assumed downtown was considerably higher rent on average.

https://www.star-tel...e275316541.html

 

This map tool is actually pretty cool, you can customize the data set:

https://app.datahera...2116f16609d5658

 

Downtown might have a considerably higher rent on average despite the opposite difference in medians we see on the dataherald map, because of how averages (means) and medians are calculated. I tried to modify the dataherald map to use means instead of medians but I couldn't figure out how. 

[Stadtplan]

 

This article shows current median rental data for Dallas and Tarrant Counties.  In looking at their color-coded map, I'm having a hard time understanding how the median rent north of the Stockyards up to Jim Wright Freeway (green section on map $1,995) is higher than the median rent Downtown ($1,705)?  Are they maybe taking into account single family home rental rates compared to apartments?  I just always assumed downtown was considerably higher rent on average.

https://www.star-tel...e275316541.html

 

This map tool is actually pretty cool, you can customize the data set:

https://app.datahera...2116f16609d5658

 

Downtown might have a considerably higher rent on average despite the opposite difference in medians we see on the dataherald map, because of how averages (means) and medians are calculated. I tried to modify the dataherald map to use means instead of medians but I couldn't figure out how. 

 

 

I feel like there's some gaps in RentHub's data.  If you change the dwelling type and # of months range it starts to show lots of gaps and inconsistencies in your outlier zip codes that may not have as many new multifamily devs or may be more traditionally owned homes / non-single family rentals.

 

There's some other really interesting visualizations here: https://app.datahera...es=all&tags=all

[Thurman52]

Interesting report out about affordable housing proposals 

 

https://fortworthrep...oss-fort-worth/

[Doohickie]

Some of the recommendations include creating community development corporations that provide programs, services and community-supportive development in challenged communities. One current example is LVTRise, the Las Vegas Trail Revitalization project.

 

This is the first I've heard of LVTRise, but I don't think it's working.

[Austin55]

Fort Worth Report: "Fort Worth pauses approval of affordable housing strategy amid resident pushback"

https://fortworthrep...ident-pushback/

 

ADU's were cited as a concern by speakers against the proposal. 

[txbornviking]

Fort Worth Report: "Fort Worth pauses approval of affordable housing strategy amid resident pushback"

https://fortworthrep...ident-pushback/

 

ADU's were cited as a concern by speakers against the proposal. 

 

ADUs are a valuable option for helping to provide more housing at more price points in our city.

For many of our older neighborhoods, ADUs (aka granny flats or mother-in-law suites) are fairly common. I know you can find them quite often in Arlington Heights, Monticello, Berkley, Fairmount, Ryan Place, Northside, University Place etc

to call them out of place, or inappropriate is simply ignoring facts.

[Stadtplan]

 

Fort Worth Report: "Fort Worth pauses approval of affordable housing strategy amid resident pushback"

https://fortworthrep...ident-pushback/

 

ADU's were cited as a concern by speakers against the proposal. 

 

ADUs are a valuable option for helping to provide more housing at more price points in our city.

For many of our older neighborhoods, ADUs (aka granny flats or mother-in-law suites) are fairly common. I know you can find them quite often in Arlington Heights, Monticello, Berkley, Fairmount, Ryan Place, Northside, University Place etc

to call them out of place, or inappropriate is simply ignoring facts.

 

 

Here's the report: 

Fort Worth Neighborhood Conservation Plan & Housing Affordability Strategy

https://fortworthrep...NCPAHP_Book.pdf

 

[roverone]

That's a great report.  Lots to take in.

 

I really like the idea of ADUs, with one exception (next paragraph).  The idea of spreading out affordable housing into neighborhoods seems like a great way to give more people the sense of neighborhood that they might not be able to find as easily in a high-count, multi-unit complex.  Enabling people of different income levels; different ages; different stages of life to be less isolated seems like it would be a good thing for everyone.

 

If it is a rental, the idea of the landlord living on the same lot and having an established neighborly relationship seems like it would be better than faceless corporate entities running large complexes.  And this brings up my exception: I feel like we have been reading about more and more residential properties being bought up, or even being purpose-built as residential rentals.  I wouldn't want ADUs to just be the opportunity to make that pencil out even better with 2 opportunities to rent per lot and accelerate that.  So I am for it with an owner-occupied main house, and against it for corporate owned rental.

 

I know it is a tricky subject, because people should have the freedom to do what they want with their property, but I do wish that owner-occupied could be treated as a category in the process of working out zoning (not that I don't know it becomes very complex very quickly on definition of terms, and how to handle special circumstances).  That is probably just an outdated product of what my own life has exposed me to.

[mmmdan]

I find the quote by the co-founder of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition about people not wanting to be to live cramped up to your neighbor quite humorous. Being cramped together has never seemed to stop people from buying houses.

 

I live in Fairmount, and the distance between my fence and my house is not much wider than my trash carts, and I feel just fine, but I feel claustrophobic when I go into newer neighborhoods.  While the houses may not be any further apart in the new neighborhood compared to Fairmount, the fact that they are so monolithic produces a significantly different feeling. 

 

Not everybody can have a half an acre with room to spread their elbows while living in the city.

[Stadtplan]

We have seen Cottage Home communities popping up around Fort Worth but I saw a guy on YouTube was touring these new Lennar shotgun / row houses in San Antonio and reminded me of this type of construction. I have mixed feelings about this.




Article about Lennar subdivision in East San Antonio:
https://www.ksat.com...ft-100k-builds/

High voltage power lines running through this subdivision:
https://maps.app.goo...fpqABS6?g_st=ic

https://www.lennar.c...ley/40172525117

[RD Milhollin]

We have seen Cottage Home communities popping up around Fort Worth but I saw a guy on YouTube was touring these new Lennar shotgun / row houses in San Antonio and reminded me of this type of construction. I have mixed feelings about this.
 

There is a lot of exterior wall environmental exposure, so probably much higher utility (heating and cooling) costs than if the cottages were "pushed together" into a town home configuration. Given the trend in energy prices today these types of structures are likely to have a short economic lifetime.

[Crestline]

Here's the report: 

 

 

Fort Worth Neighborhood Conservation Plan & Housing Affordability Strategy

https://fortworthrep...NCPAHP_Book.pdf

 

 

 

I searched the report PDF for other missing middle housing terms besides ADU, such as "duplex", "cottage court", etc. and came up blank. Frustrating, but I guess densifying single-family neighborhoods beyond ADUs was out of report scope. Also frustrating that mere ADUs got shouted down by the NIMBYs here; I'm sure they would have started throwing bricks if duplex permitting, etc., was recommended by the report.

 

If it were up to me, I'd have Fort Worth permit ADUs but not incentivize them as the report recommends. Make them a legal option and let the market do its thing. 

[FunkyTownTay]

I agree with you, Crestline dont know that theres need for incentives but would like to see it allowed. What has to happen for something like this to be approved? Does it have to go through voters or is there some sort of zoning commission that can change the zoning laws/rules?

[TLA]

I’m not sure how I feel about incentives. We have an increasing affordability and housing supply issues - we should incentivize something that gives a beneficial outcome to those barely scraping by. Why should relocating corporations get all the fun incentives? Do we give incentives to the DR Horton’s of the world for a new development? (I actually don’t know). If so, incentives for ADUs shouldn’t be out of the question.

On the other hand, ADUs are expensive. It would be wealthier folks who have the means. Should we incentivize them on the front end? I’d rather incentivize the homeowner if he rents out his new ADU to a fixed income grandmother.

Anyone get a quote on ADUs recently? A contractor told me at least 100k to build one on my very small lot in Fairmount.

[FunkyTownTay]

$100k+ sounds about right unless youre able to do a good chunk of the work yourself. There is a company Ive been following called boxabl - they are selling ready-made adus for $50k. Problem is they are a startup and have a very long wait list and youll still need to spend probably $30-40k on site prep, foundation, and hooking up power and plumbing to the grid/city etc..

Boxabl.com

[Stadtplan]

$100k+ sounds about right unless youre able to do a good chunk of the work yourself. There is a company Ive been following called boxabl - they are selling ready-made adus for $50k. Problem is they are a startup and have a very long wait list and youll still need to spend probably $30-40k on site prep, foundation, and hooking up power and plumbing to the grid/city etc..

Boxabl.com

 

Very cool concept but I sort of wonder about roof / façade insurability and as well as using ADU's for STR's has been a sticky subject.  These items below are pretty big selling points along with the ultra low utility consumption.  What I don't see mentioned is hail resistance.  I did a keyword search of their site and didn't really find this to be addressed but I've spent maybe 90-seconds even looking at the materials used here.  For example, you can put a $30K standing seam metal roof on your house but don't expect your insurance company to necessarily cover it for cosmetic damage after every hail storm depending the grade and material used, some won't even write it or might have coverage limits too.  I have no idea what material they are using here but would be interested to know what sort of abuse it can withstand from trees and hail.

 

The other attractive thing about this concept is, what if you had an empty lot with utilities and wanted to buy 3 or 4 units x $50K = around $200K, and then you could essentially compartmentalize some of the space that you're not using part of the time.  It always seems strange to me that we accept the idea of completely heating and cooling an entire house sometimes for just one or two people.  Having grown up in a part of the country where AC was not always necessary most of the year, it was pretty normal during the winter to "close off" part of the house so that you weren't having to always heat the entire thing and could make better use out of your heating fuel supplies such as propane or oil.

 

[Stadtplan]

Article: The rental market is softening so fast in some pockets of the country that landlords have no choice but to offer concessions

https://fortune.com/...ays-redfin/amp/

[Stadtplan]

Saw this on IG with some colorful comments:

[txbornviking]

Saw this on IG with some colorful comments:

 

 

we should just build townhomes rather than this.... we're using as much land here for side set-backs as you are for the building itself. just absolutely wasteful land-use and a squandering of possibilities for more quality homes for more people

[Doohickie]

I wouldn't want ADUs to just be the opportunity to make that pencil out even better with 2 opportunities to rent per lot and accelerate that.  So I am for it with an owner-occupied main house, and against it for corporate owned rental.

 

I know it is a tricky subject, because people should have the freedom to do what they want with their property, but I do wish that owner-occupied could be treated as a category in the process of working out zoning (not that I don't know it becomes very complex very quickly on definition of terms, and how to handle special circumstances).  That is probably just an outdated product of what my own life has exposed me to.

I totally agree with your sentiment, both in wanting to encourage owner-occupied properties with ADUs and discouraging corporate-owned versions of that. 

 

I would think one way to do that would be if two residences are on the same lot, a homeowner could get the homestead exemption on both units, and personally I would like to see the exemptions increased (not sure if that's sound policy or I'm just selfish ).  Maybe even extend the homestead exemption to a resident living in the neighborhood and also having rentals with in some radius (a quarter- to half-mile). 

 

I think a benefit of this would be to allow more retired homeowners to continue to live independently by giving them a nearby neighbor whom they have interaction with... kind of like a reverse granny flat.  This was basically my living situation in Los Angeles back in the 1980s:  My wife and I rented a duplex from a retired school teacher who lived in the other unit in the house.  She was our landlady but also our neighbor and we helped her out quite a bit; I did some light maintenance on her car and on the property ("Don't call the handyman, Mrs. Harris, until you ask me if I'm able to do it.") 

 

We incidentally got a Christmas card from her every year until she passed in the 2000s, at which point her daughter sent us a letter to let us know of her passing, and she also told us we were the only renters she had that she sent a Christmas card to.  I guess my point is that owner-occupied homes with ADUs and/or duplexes can help build the fabric of a neighborhood in a positive way if they're done right.

[Urbndwlr]

Where are ADUs allowed, currently, in Fort Worth?

[roverone]

Someone else will have to answer the ADU in FW question -- I don't think we are there yet, but there was another good thing that happened for ADUs on Monday:

 

"This change allows for the inclusion of rental income from the ADU in the borrower’s qualifying income and would allow more borrowers to qualify for FHA financing for properties with ADUs, including 203(k) Rehabilitation mortgages."

 

https://www.hud.gov/...s/HUD_No_23_237

[Stadtplan]

Where are ADUs allowed, currently, in Fort Worth?

According to this,

ADUs are allowed in Fort Worth as long as they fall into the correct residential zone + meet the citys requirements some of which include:

Must meet the citys building code for safe, habitable structure

Must maintain the propertys setbacks (or clearance distance from the property line)

Source: https://ftwtoday.6am...th-tx?_amp=true

It appears they are covered under a permit for Detached Accessory Structures.

[FunkyTownTay]

I have tried researching this topic (not easy to get clear info) and it seems like only a few specific older neighborhoods are allowed to build new ADUs. Fairmount, Ryan Place and maybe Arlington Heights to name a few. Seems like if it is allowed in these neighborhoods, it should be allowed throughout the city, but Id be glad to hear arguments against that view.

[FunkyTownTay]

By the way, I own some rental properties and do have an interest in developing those to have secondary rental units which would add residents into decent neighborhoods within the loop. But I also would not want Blackrock buying up houses in my neighborhood just to build ADUs and turn my neighborhood into a majority rental area. So I get the hesitance and desire for restrictions.

[Crestline]

By the way, I own some rental properties and do have an interest in developing those to have secondary rental units which would add residents into decent neighborhoods within the loop. But I also would not want Blackrock buying up houses in my neighborhood just to build ADUs and turn my neighborhood into a majority rental area. So I get the hesitance and desire for restrictions.

 

As a hypothetical, let's say that instead of Blackrock, I came to your neighborhood and bought houses around you to rent out, and built ADUs on those lots to rent out too. In other words, I came to your neighborhood to do what you want to do to the other neighborhoods where you already own your rentals. Is that okay with you? If not, why not?

[FunkyTownTay]

As I said, I understand the hesitance. I don't mind density, and would not mind that in my neighborhood but I think it makes a lot more sense in neighborhoods that are closer to the city center, future transit, etc...

[FunkyTownTay]

I think there's a difference in kind between a local landlord doing these types of developments and a trillion dollar hedge fund doing them.

[Crestline]

As I said, I understand the hesitance. I don't mind density, and would not mind that in my neighborhood but I think it makes a lot more sense in neighborhoods that are closer to the city center, future transit, etc...

 

That's reasonable. I don't remember the city's plan for ADU permitting at the moment, but I hope it'll be something like "ADUs in all single-family zoning." That way, the market has a fair chance to figure out on its own whether density is appropriate in your neighborhood as well as others. The alternative, where the city chooses which neighborhoods get ADUs and which don't through a political process, will be ugly because of course a NIMBY in every single neighborhood will stand up to object on some basis.

 

I think there's a difference in kind between a local landlord doing these types of developments and a trillion dollar hedge fund doing them.

 

As I see it, the only sure difference is that the latter guarantees that rental profits flow out of town (out of Texas, probably) to the hedge fund owners. Everything else—responsiveness of management, quality of property maintenance, respect for the local community, etc.—is a toss up. A local landlord could be an upstanding guy or the devil incarnate! I'd love it if all the money stayed in town, but there are going to be circumstances where a hedge fund is a better landlord.