How do you think Houston can reign in developers? (San Diego: apartments, townhomes)

[Callo]

The problem: Greedy developers smothering neighborhoods with endless overbuilding.

How do we fix this?

[jfre81]

Haven't we done this before?

[jimmy914]

If they are endlessly overbuilding, then nobody will buy the houses, and the developer will be bankrupt. That's how you "reign them in".

[AlfredB1979]

Originally Posted by jimmy914

If they are endlessly overbuilding, then nobody will buy the houses, and the developer will be bankrupt. That's how you "reign them in".

Troof.

I remember a coworker about five years back when the San Diego area fires became the "in" thing...she was crying about greedy developers building homes in the boonies where there's no fire hydrants setup for this purpose.

Okay, fair enough. How about stupid home buyers not picking up on these things?

Hmmm, kids tosses a match somewhere, fire springs forth, houses burn down.

I'd blame the buyers first. Cookie-cutter neighborhoods won't spring up if the lemmings don't step off that cliff.

[AK123]

I'm guessing the OP is talking about apartments, not single-family homes. But, I could be wrong...

[sevfiv]

Tis true, developers/builders keep building junk because people love to buy junk - it's profitable and that's about all that matters.

[EM1956]

Originally Posted by sevfiv

Tis true, developers/builders keep building junk because people love to buy junk - it's profitable and that's about all that matters.

No. It's because people expect their builder to have ethics and standards. The issue totally lies with the builder in that situation. A buyer can't be expected to know every aspect and nuance of their home or their neighborhood, that's why they gravitate toward established communities.

I should add, I'm EM1956's spouse, not her, so don't flame her!

[sevfiv]

^I've toured plenty of new crap homes that were just that from the naked eye. And they still sold (and passed inspections, of course). So yes. And yes to yours, too, if the buyer is naive.

[City Love]

It's not overbuilding if people are buying. Some neighborhoods set up minimum lot size requirements to prevent more than 1 unit per lot.

Are you referring to 3 townhomes to 1 lot, or tear-downs, or apts?

[desertsun41]

Originally Posted by Bayou City Homes

It's not overbuilding if people are buying. Some neighborhoods set up minimum lot size requirements to prevent more than 1 unit per lot.

Are you referring to 3 townhomes to 1 lot, or tear-downs, or apts?

I'm gona agree with Bayou here, probably because he is right. It's not overbuilding if people are buying. Right now no one is buying anywhere so no Builders are building. Common business sense.

If you owned a store would you not want to sell as much as you can? If you sold cars would you not want to push as many as you can? Profit is why the answer is YES.

Dont blame the Builders, they are just trying to push what people want to buy.

And yes some of them do build junk. Home buyers dont care nor do they know any better. So why should the Builder give a damn. Consumers want cheap cheap cheap and nothing else matters. The Builder is just giving what the consumer wants. If you want to argue the fact that people want cheap junk then just take a look in the Walmart parking lots. Case closed.

Man if you all only knew the half of it.............