Palm Beach County approves scaled-down affordable home law (West Palm Beach, Century Village: low income, real estate market)

[sunrico90]

Is this really for the low income?

Low- and middle-income homebuyers got some help Tuesday from Palm Beach County commissioners, who put their final stamp on a scaled-down plan to require developers to limit new home prices.

More than a year of affordable housing debates led to the rule that 16.5 percent of the homes at most new developments be priced between $164,000 and $304,000. Concerns from developers, as well as a cooling real estate market, persuaded commissioners to scale back the original 20 percent proposal.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...tate-headlines

[Need_affordable_home]

What requirements would there be for affordable housing? How do they ensure developers dont buy them and flip those houses? What if a low income person buys one then flips it a few years later for big profit? Can there be a law limiting the price you want to sell at the rate of inflation? Meaning say you buy that house for $200k, you cant sell it any more than what inflation is at that time. Otherwise it wont be fair nor affordable for the next lower income buyer.

What size and quality of houses are you getting for this lower price? Especially for $164k? If its a tiny 2/1 shack, that arent a good deal and you can get one like that already, no need to buy in a new development. If its a decent house then its a good deal for now, but with house prices dropping, itll be easy to find a house anywhere for $164k to $304k. In fact there are almost a thousand houses in West Palm Beach for $150k to $300k.

The developers forced to build $164k to $300k houses will cut all kinds of corners, give you the smallest lot and go cheap on building the house. They will at least break even and youll get what you pay for which you can get now anyway. By the way, I dont consider $304k affordable, youd need more than $100k income to afford such a house! That arent low income but almost twice median income! And most low income people cant afford even a $164k house, in fact such a house is twice as expensive as I could afford!

[bale002]

Originally Posted by sunrico90

Is this really for the low income? ...

Low- and middle-income homebuyers got some help Tuesday from Palm Beach County commissioners, who ... priced between $164,000 and $304,000.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...tate-headlines

If we use the 3x income multiple, then county commissioners consider around $55,000 a year as low income and around $100,000 a year as middle income.

On this criteria, apparently people (or households) earning less than $55,000 per year are lower than low.

In today's inflationary environment (real inflation, not the Fed's voodoo inflation statistics), and imagining what lifestyle a county commissioner would deem "normal", there should be less reason for confusion.

But, as others have already alluded to, how this actually helps real people is doubtful at best. At worst, it is not only merely political propaganda, but a legal tool for further shenanigans.

[Collinca]

I am searching for low income housing, similar to Century Village, for my 83 yr old mom. Her income is less then $20, 000 per year and she is an extremely active senior who needs activities. we are looking to purchase in the West Palm Beach area..