Could high cost of homes in Bend benefit surrounding towns.. (rent, condo)

[Coniferian]

Long ago, I got into a new house in Aurora Colorado, thanks to a no-money-down VA loan. I paid less than what a used car costs now for a 2 bedroom, 2 car garage ranch with an unfinished basement. 40 years of equity building allowed me to buy a house in Redmond for cash. Different times, different market. I don't know how a middle class working family can get into home ownership now.

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by Coniferian

Long ago, I got into a new house in Aurora Colorado, thanks to a no-money-down VA loan. I paid less than what a used car costs now for a 2 bedroom, 2 car garage ranch with an unfinished basement. 40 years of equity building allowed me to buy a house in Redmond for cash. Different times, different market. I don't know how a middle class working family can get into home ownership now.

I also used a VA loan, but my choices were former long-term rentals that were in serious need of fixing. It's going to take me years to make it nice.

What amazed me were how poorly some of these rentals are maintained. Renters were paying high rents for places that were falling apart, literally. One had a roof leak, you could see the water stains... and she was paying more than $700! It was eye-opening to see how minimally some rentals are maintained while charging relatively high rents. The place next door to me is a Fuqua manufactured duplex and the recent vacancy rented out in days for $900. I had talked to the owner only a couple months before and she talked about renting the units for around $775-800. Suddenly now it's $900. That's an exorbitant price for what they get and that's Redmond, not even Bend! I could understand $900 if it was stick-built and not a modular, but come on!

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by mrwibble

To play Devils advocate here a little, why should they be able to? The same goes for most of the desirable places to live in the US, especially on the west coast. What's the answer? Forced caps on prices, subsidies, social housing, looser controls on zoning, lower CDCs, a less restrictive UGB? Maybe a change of attitude and for people to see renting as a perfectly acceptable alternative to home-ownership.

I remember back in 1986 moving away from the area I grew up in and moving 300 miles across the country so I could afford to buy somewhere to live. It's been that way for a long time.

For me it's kind of a shock, coming here from Texas. Back there, if you graduate college and start making 40-50K a year, there are plenty of housing developments available for someone in that income range. The difference there is that if you're willing to drive, there's a development in your price range, the more driving you're willing to do, the cheaper it gets. I suppose the same principle applies with Bend - Redmond, Prineville, La Pine, although there doesn't seem to be a commuter culture here, or in Oregon more broadly. People complain to high heaven about commuting from, say, Hillsboro to Portland, which to me seems like a slightly below average commute in terms of time.

Renting is not the answer. I'd wager that renting is more expensive than owning at the moment. Landlords are, understandably, taking in all the market will bear.

This is where I become uncharacteristically conservative, but my answer would be to de-regulate and build out infrastructure, not try rent controls - so yes on loosening the UGB. That would have to be a state thing, not just a Bend or Deschutes county thing.

[mrwibble]

Originally Posted by redguard57

but my answer would be to de-regulate and build out infrastructure, not try rent controls - so yes on loosening the UGB.

The thing is, the tight UGB rules are what gives Bend, and many other Oregon towns, the feel people want. Without them, it's urban sprawl and wall-to-wall strip malls. A lot of the pressure on the UGB is coming from builders wanting to expand the north-west boundary. They're looking to build Northwest Crossing mark 2. Certainly nothing affordable. I drive past 4 abandoned sets of building lots on my short, 2 mile, commute each morning. There is plenty of land on the east side that is available, zoned and unused. Of course, that's not where the big profits are for the builders.

The Bulletin had a piece this morning about reducing the SDCs. Anyone who was here for the last big building boom will remember the mess created by the lack of infrastructure improvements. We're still paying for that with Reed Market and Murphy Road among others.

Maybe I'm a bit hard headed on this, but I don't believe there is any god given right to live where you want regardless of any other factors. Bend is not unique in these sort of issues, no matter how much they may think they are. The SF Bay Area, San Diego, Seattle and many other areas have similar affordability issues. If you want to live in those places, you have to make sacrifices. It could be worse. How about $450,000 for a glorified shed in someone else's garden?
https://i.imgur.com/Za89gyV.jpg

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by redguard57

For me it's kind of a shock, coming here from Texas. Back there, if you graduate college and start making 40-50K a year, there are plenty of housing developments available for someone in that income range.

What made you move from Texas to Oregon?

[delta07]

Originally Posted by mrwibble

The thing is, the tight UGB rules are what gives Bend, and many other Oregon towns, the feel people want. Without them, it's urban sprawl and wall-to-wall strip malls. A lot of the pressure on the UGB is coming from builders wanting to expand the north-west boundary. They're looking to build Northwest Crossing mark 2. Certainly nothing affordable. I drive past 4 abandoned sets of building lots on my short, 2 mile, commute each morning. There is plenty of land on the east side that is available, zoned and unused. Of course, that's not where the big profits are for the builders.

The Bulletin had a piece this morning about reducing the SDCs. Anyone who was here for the last big building boom will remember the mess created by the lack of infrastructure improvements. We're still paying for that with Reed Market and Murphy Road among others.

Maybe I'm a bit hard headed on this, but I don't believe there is any god given right to live where you want regardless of any other factors. Bend is not unique in these sort of issues, no matter how much they may think they are. The SF Bay Area, San Diego, Seattle and many other areas have similar affordability issues. If you want to live in those places, you have to make sacrifices. It could be worse. How about $450,000 for a glorified shed in someone else's garden?
https://i.imgur.com/Za89gyV.jpg

I definitely agree with you on this mrwibble. Coming from Colorado, I've watched my home state essentially turn into a mini LA. There are very few cities that have any sort of regulation on growth, and it's out of hand there. I love that Oregon protects the growth, even if it means higher housing costs. Sure, I would love to own some acreage just outside of Bend, but I realize that's not possible. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I really hope the UGB remains difficult for building to expand, even if it means higher cost of housing for those of us here.

[redguard57]

[quote=mrwibble;38500204]The thing is, the tight UGB rules are what gives Bend, and many other Oregon towns, the feel people want. Without them, it's urban sprawl and wall-to-wall strip malls.[quote]

I feel that there could be a middle ground. The situation is bad enough in Bend the people that are full-time employed will leave due to lack of housing. Apparently it's a problem at St. Charles.

Bend workers having trouble finding housing; Employers say some new hires cannot find affordable homes

We have some of that problem at COCC where I work. It shows in our applicant pools - Bend is isolated so we already don't get the best candidates. We had to take a 3rd choice candidate for one opening I was involved with last year because the top 2 people dropped out when they researched the living situation compared to the pay. The fact is we don't have the money to pay entry-level people what would be required to buy a median house in Bend, so we have to choose from people who are willing to deal with that or who already have a lot of money, have spouses with a lot of money etc... I'm amazed at this, but we've even had this problem when it comes to recruiting a president, and that job pays well over $100K, I think in the $140K range.

The fact is that the strongest candidates choose to go elsewhere - where they can get paid more and/or their dollars go further. It wasn't the case during the recession and when housing costs here crashed but now that the job situation is not so bad nationally we're seeing the effects.

Maybe I'm a bit hard headed on this, but I don't believe there is any god given right to live where you want regardless of any other factors. Bend is not unique in these sort of issues, no matter how much they may think they are. The SF Bay Area, San Diego, Seattle and many other areas have similar affordability issues. If you want to live in those places, you have to make sacrifices. It could be worse. How about $450,000 for a glorified shed in someone else's garden?
https://i.imgur.com/Za89gyV.jpg

I think there can be a happy medium on this. Certainly no one expects that they can live anywhere they want for whatever price they want. There are always going to be more desirable, more expensive neighborhoods. But with Bend, we are getting to territory where every neighborhood is becoming unaffordable.

Granted this is not just Bend. Many of the country's metros are suffering from this to some degree, although Bend has a particularly extreme version. At least in cities like Seattle, San Diego, SF Bay there are decent-paying jobs in existence where people can make the money required to buy houses.

Bend does not have that, there are not very many private sector employers offering high wages - most of the private sector here is service-oriented so the only people making money are the owners of the businesses. St. Charles would be an example of some of the highest paying wage jobs available in the area and if they have full-timers quitting because of housing there is definitely a problem.

Here the median income is well below what's needed to buy a home, and rents are so high you'd spend about 45-50% of median income to rent a family-sized 3/2.

http://blog.metrotrends.org/2014/03/...ousing-crisis/

Notice Deschutes county is the worst in Oregon, although this is a general problem affecting most of the country and the west coast is quite bad.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Urban growth boundary has nothing to do with high housing costs. There is something like a 20 year supply of buildable land inside the UGB.

City of Bend tried to expand the UGB to include their own industrial park, but they messed up and now the have to re-submit. So, there is an expansion in our future, but the city fathers are trying to move the boundary out to include expensive areas, so don't mistakenly think it will result in any cheap housing.

Drive around Bend and there are plenty of vacant lots. Drive around outside the UGB and there are plenty of nice buildable small acreages 1-5 acres.

There is no shortage of land to build on.

You want to let it sprawl all over? You'll get a commute like the one to La Pine, so if you want cheaper housing and don't mind the long drive, you are welcome to move to La Pine and leave the forest in between Bend and La Pine for the rest of us to enjoy, instead of bulldozing it down to build tract houses, which, I guarantee you,will not be cheaply priced houses.

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Urban growth boundary has nothing to do with high housing costs. There is something like a 20 year supply of buildable land inside the UGB.

True and and I've pointed this out in the past.

[Dry Side]

Interesting post here..

Bend OR Bust: Don't end impact fees for 'affordable housing'