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Frederick_Foz t1_j7lfwb5 wrote

Reply to comment by Unusual-Dragonfly-88 in Dover builds tiny home neighborhood by sheila9165milo

Have you guys considered having people buy housing, not renting. Seems like renting would just make these glorified apartments. I’m sure many people would love to actually own the home

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Unusual-Dragonfly-88 t1_j7lguga wrote

We are building these tiny homes for people that are in transitions of their life where they may not be able to afford owning a home or wanting the long term commitment of owning a home. This includes students and elderly people who may be transitioning out of their homes and into something more affordable at the time! Our aim is to provide affordable housing in an area where the cost of rent drastically can change how much you are able to save towards buying a home in the area! The idea to build these homes came after a demand for affordable housing for our own staff at Harmony Homes. With this said, we do have future plans to continue to build tiny home communities in the area with the potential of allowing home ownership!

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YouAreHardtoImagine t1_j7ln7nm wrote

How are these handicap accessible with lofts? (ie: most elderly cannot access those safely) Or even without to not exclude other seniors?

Edit: words

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sledbelly t1_j7lhx9i wrote

If that was true why are the rents impossibly high for essentially a hotel room?

Edited: for the size of a hotel room

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ProlapsedMasshole t1_j7lsg65 wrote

I lived in a space this size with a spouse and cats for several years. It's entirely manageable. I was even paying more than this in rent and it was a far older shittier home. These would have been a fantastic option.

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Unusual-Dragonfly-88 t1_j7ljnt4 wrote

The rent of these tiny homes are based on the average yearly income of a Dover citizen while adjusted for the unusually high rent cost of living on the seacoast! We will be lower than the cost of an average place to rent in Dover and therefore helping people save money towards a future home. As for the space, there are many individuals both young and old who have expressed the minimal space as more of a benefit for their life than being able to have more space. For students or young adults, most do not have the need for extra space and would rather pay less for that commodity. As for seniors, many of them want to downsize from their single family home and find an affordable 1 level place to stay as they begin their retirement! These tiny homes weren’t designed for long term ownership as many people begin families and want to have money saved up to buy a home!

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Lords_of_Lands t1_j7nbzbp wrote

> rent of these tiny homes are based on the average yearly income of a Dover citizen

In other words your previous claims of doing this for affordable housing are mostly bullshit. If not then the rents would be based solely on the cost of maintaining the units. I have 3-bedroom units in Manchester that I rent out for $1200 because $3600 covers the mortgage, related bills, and maintenance costs. Based on average income the rent (at 30% of income) should be $1600 and market rent for these units would be $2300. That is how you provide affordable housing. The price is effectively the same as if they bought their unit.

Stop deluding yourself that you're doing this to help people. You're doing it to make money. Lying about it is why so many people hate us.

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Frederick_Foz t1_j7liwpz wrote

It seems because they need to meet the fair market housing price. It ls for taxes and shit

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sledbelly t1_j7ljfah wrote

There is no law that a landlord needs to make their rental fair market price. They are allowed to charge whatever they like. Less even.

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pullyourfinger t1_j7snqp9 wrote

clearly this project was approved with this density and variances due to the agreement re: rent control (which will probably end up making them section 8 housing eventually).

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sledbelly t1_j7tu076 wrote

They’ve already said this is market rate housing. Not section 8.

The owners will be making half a million dollars a year on this project.

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Frederick_Foz t1_j7lmgsh wrote

Yes but the fair market housing price is used for taxes and shit. I’m no tax expert so take this with a big grain of salt but I believe if you charge below you get hot with ridiculously high taxes and at that point it might not be profitable enough to keep building. Setting your price at the fair market price gives you the best tax benifits

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Lords_of_Lands t1_j7ncvgi wrote

Being at or under fair market lets you join some government programs that help renters pay their rent and can help you get low interest loans to deal with things like lead removal and energy efficiency. There are some tax benefits if you're in some poorer areas, but reductions from that are overtaken by repair costs.

Charging more simply means you can't be part of those programs. There isn't an extra tax for charging more other than the normal tax brackets.

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