Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: affordable housing

[melanie griffin (melgrif]

also not to be flippant, I've been seriously impressed by the number of
people on this list  interested in tiny houses and the few opportunities to
build or buy them. Is that because towns and zoning boards prefer
mcmansions, or are the green enhancements possible with clustered housing
what tips the scales toward the townhouse/flat model? Or do people say they
are interested in small houses but when confronted with the realities of
living without 2 bathrooms change their minds? I just had a discussion with
a painter who came to give me an estimate. His family is in England, and he
lives in a room that he rents for 400/ mo and was saying how lucky I was to
have my house. Even living in a relatively cheap house, because I've been
here a long time, I was jealous. I did live in a communal house in DC about
10 years ago for less than a year and felt empowered by the relatively low
cost, the shared amenities, and the lack of stuff.

I think I'd be less worried about any kind of depreciation if I was not
feeling like my money was going to a landlord or interest payments, and that
maintenance of the house was either manageable by myself or a shared
enterprise.

I would love to hear others' experiences.


On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 5:30 PM, Marganne Meyer <marganne [at] 
macnexus.org>wrote:

>
> At 7:29 AM -0400 5/17/10, Kathy Buck wrote:
> >  I was a real estate appraiser for many years and the rule in
> >appraising is that land appreciates, building depreciate.
>
> Kathy - so this 'housing' bubble we've been through actually is a
> 'lot' bubble? I thought people who considered a home as an investment
> shouldn't get into a manufactured home because they depreciate so
> quickly. But if the land is the real value, would the lot appreciate
> regardless of the type/age of home on it?
>
> Please don't misunderstand my question. I'm not being flippant here.
> One of the most difficult pieces of information for me to find during
> my housing search is a price. I'd prefer to be in a small,
> well-crafted, sustainable home. But I've been told that building one
> of these homes next to a 'regular' cohousing home would bring down
> the value of my neighbor's investment.
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