Cary, NC Real Estate, The battle for Affordable homes in Cary

Averge new homes in Cary, NC cost about $500,000.

That is not good enough for some Cary or Wake County or North Carolina lawmakers.

One way to raise the average cost of housing is to make the entry level cost of housing higher, raising the average from the bottom up with unnecessary additional fees.

Three current proposals and movements are coming together to make this less than lofty goal a reality.

1.  Cary is now proposing to design home facades.  Having been criticized in the past for being "Cookiecutterville," Cary leaders now are dabbling with proposals to meddle with what they see as overly repetitive design in new subdivisions.  Among the parameters, variations in height in adjacent buildings, "distinguishment" being the desired effect.  Now that is a term I want to associate with my next home: "distinguishment."  Kind of FrankLloydWrightian, ain't it?

Is this a proper use of the force of government?  And at what point will our leaders be satisfied that they have raised the price of new homes adequately to keep out entry level buyers?

2.  The proposed Real Estate Transfer tax.  1% added to the cost of a home.  Pure and simple.  Keep the riff raff out? 

3.  Impact fees.  The goal here is to soak the new homeowner several thousand dollars on the price of the home, for the burden they bring to town.  This is a very popular option with many tens of thousands of residents who have migrated to Wake County over the last few decades.  While they haven't paid impact fees, it is an opportunity to improve the value of their homes by doing nothing, and soaking the new guy to swell tax coffers.

Raleigh, NC Realtor and Ar member Keith Pate posted on the topic, and I had to chime in with him.

Least popular is the possibility of more bond issues.  The overwhelming fairness of bond issues is that they spread the burden, even to folks who have not invested much in the community.  But with marketing in place to put the burden on growth, bonds will be a tough sell.

And bonds will have the least deleterious effect on the entry level, working family that would love to live in Cary, rather than commute twenty miles to Cary from a home they can afford to buy.