Reply to There is no housing crisis in MoCo or most of the DMV for that matter

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are plenty of apartments in Olney, townhouses in Germantown and small single family homes in Burtonsville.  It’s ridiculous that people are shocked they cannot afford the house they want in Chevy Chase. That isn’t a crisis. Go to Wheaton or make more money. It really is no more expensive than most the country. If you don’t believe me go look at suburban houses in Tampa or Nashville. This mindset “if they have, I want to” is going to ruin this country. I live in Gaithersburg and proud of it. Plenty to do! If I had more money I’d live in Bethesda to be closer in for commute. That is not a crisis!![/quote]

The median income household makes $125,000 a year in MoCo. The only one of your three options they can afford is the apartment in Olney. That's assuming they don't have student loans.

There is little to no housing being built for households that earn $125,000 a year. Subsidized housing and housing for people making $200,000+ is about all that is being built. That's the housing crisis. The entire middle class of the county is being priced out of ownership, and that is going to create predictable political ripples. [/quote]

At that income level a responsible mortgage is what, $500k?

There are >100 units for sale now in Montgomery County with 3 bedrooms or more that fit that price range.  How many units for sale do you think is the right number?

If it’s such an emergency, why do activists insist on creating the most friction possible with the least amount of payout by insisting on this upzoning scheme?  It’s only creating pushback against realistic development options.

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No, the affordable mortgage is around $260,000 at that income level, with max around $320,000. Play around with whatever calculator you like to confirm, but this is what I used: [url]https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/new-house-calculator/[/url]
Average credit score gets you about 8% mortgage
Average household in MD has a $1,850 monthly debt burden outside of a mortgage: [url]https://www.lendingtree.com/personal/average-monthly-debt-payments-throughout-us/[/url]
Don't forget HOA/condo fees, they quickly push the few cheap units into unaffordable territory.

I found a single 3/2 in the whole county under $260,000 without a condo fee that pushed it out of the range of affordable.

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The average monthly debt is not a good metric for to determine the typical debt payments for a median income household. Outliers are going to skew the data and it would be better to use median debt payments for people in a specific income range. [b]The affordability threshold you are using also makes this "affordability" problem practically unsolvable.[/b] It is not even possible to build new 3bd+ condo units at this price point (profitably) anywhere in Montgomery County, after including the cost of land, site development, construction costs.  MOCO's new more environmentally friendly building codes with energy consumption standards (that apply retroactively to large apartment/condo buildings) will make this affordability issue worse by increasing Condo fees, driving up rent, and raising new construction costs. There is a point of diminishing returns where increasing energy efficiency standards do not make economic sense and will negatively impact overall housing affordability. Many of these new building efficiency standards have payback periods that exceed 30 years and it does not make economic sense to require them. It is interesting that many of these advocates and politicians screaming about affordability housing support many policies that actively worsen the issues they are complaining about. [/quote]

I'm willing to rerun the numbers on median debt payments if you have a source.

And as per your bolded, that's the very point of this debate/dilemma. Something is going to have to change, starting with admitting there is a problem in the first place. [/quote]

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