My friend lives in a van due to high rent. Let's expand affordable rentals in Gainesville.
Over the 25 years that I appraised single-family homes in Gainesville, I met many homeowners who were worried that their neighborhood values would be devastated by a new commercial development within a block of two of their homes.
As an example, while in the process of an appraisal, a homeowner in the Westpoint neighborhood was furious because a CVS was proposed for the northeast corner of Southwest 75th Street and 24th Avenue. I explained to her that the only way we could determine if her value would be affected is by observing future sales nearby that were close to the CVS.
Over time we learned that values in Westpoint were not negatively affected. In fact, due to the present shortage of homes for sale (due to market conditions), a homeowner in Westpoint could easily sell their home and likely would receive several offers very quickly.
If there is anything that can be learned about the decline of real estate values that began around late 2007 until just a few years ago it is this: Real estate values are mainly influenced by market conditions such as supply and demand. You can try to sell a beautiful home, but if there is an oversupply of homes for sale in your neighborhood, chances are you are in a declining market.
This was especially true for the “kiddie condo” market by about 2007. Unfortunately, many of these condos were purchased by out-of-town parents. Prices had approached $200 per square foot at the height of the market. By the time the market hit bottom, most condos had lost half of their value (market conditions mainly due to an oversupply and the general panic that had ensued).
Interestingly enough, the rental market wasn’t affected by the decline. Rents have continued to rise and now we have a situation that is devastating for young couples and especially so for singles and seniors. Obviously for those with sufficient income and/or already own their homes, this is not an issue.
I have a friend who is now living in a van. She has lived in several apartments in Orlando and has moved several times due to her large rent increases — even for low-income senior apartments, where rent increases can be as high as $200 per month.
When she moved to a new place, her rent eventually rose to $1,600 for a relatively new 2/1 so she made the decision to buy a van to control her monthly costs. I hope she doesn’t have to live the rest of her life this way.
I advised her to find a place where she could rent a bedroom/bathroom. I searched an Orlando website and found that she is still facing $500 to $800 for just a few rooms.
Over my appraisal career I have appraised many homes near the University of Florida campus. It was common to find that a detached garage was converted to an apartment, or a side door was added so that a student could live there and walk to campus.
Appraisers were forced to be dishonest about the student portion of the home. We always called them mother-in-law suites because single-family zoning did not allow for a rental unit. We were dishonest, but the owner was able to obtain a mortgage and our client would continue to hire us. That’s the truth. There are always very few sales of homes close to UF because they are so coveted.
Now to the issue at hand. Even in high-end homes, a garage could be enclosed (leaving the garage door intact) and a side door added to accommodate a renter. It would be necessary that parking be addressed, but maybe just half of the garage could be enclosed. How wonderful this could be for a student or low-income senior who could live in a small studio apartment.
The City Commission made changes to allow this in 2020, this but few homeowners have taken advantage of this reasonable answer to a serious issue for many people. As far as allowing triplexes are concerned, I imagine lot sizes in most subdivisions would not even allow this.
The shortage of affordable rentals is extreme. If you were to list the pros and cons of adding a small apartment or somehow convert a dwelling so that one or two people could live there without an obvious difference to the façade of the home, I think the pros would win every time. Pros could include: environmental issues (less driving and pollution), increased income for owners, safer for renters, etc.
I highly doubt that there would be an adverse effect to home values. In fact, the opposite could be true with proper planning and strong rental agreements.
Again, this would have to be carefully handled. But, most importantly, it would bring a much sooner resolution to the situation we are now in here and almost everywhere.
Mary C. Jackson lives in Gainesville.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Mary C. Jackson: Expand affordable housing for rent in Gainesville
