• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    Owner occupancy credit against property taxes. Sometimes called a “homestead exemption”.

    Basically, we increase property taxes, but owner-occupants are exempt from the increases. Any year the owner occupancy rate is below 85%, we increase both, which simply increases taxes on landlords.

    So they just pass it on to tenants? They will try, but the landlord who converts to a private mortgage or a land contract instead of a traditional rental will be able to undercut traditional landlords and still earn more than them. Meanwhile, his “tenants” will be earning equity, while the traditional tenants will not.

    He’s not taking any additional risk lending than he would be renting to the same person. When a tenant stops paying rent, the landlord evicts; when a borrower stops paying the mortgage, a lender forecloses. Either way, the property ends up back in his hands.

    • BallsandBayonets@lemmings.world
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      4 months ago

      Why the baby steps? Just ban the ownership of property you don’t personally live in. You can landlord an apartment building, if you live in one of the units. No corporate ownership of land.

      • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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        4 months ago

        If you use Medicare, they can take your house after you die. You could sell it to your kids, or a friend, and they could allow you to live in it. But with your rule, they would have to move in with you. They would not be allowed to own their own home and yours simultaneously. Your rule just fucked over the elderly and family inheritance.

        It would similarly fuck over parents who want to buy a home and issue a private mortgage to their kids. Your rule just fucked over families.

        Your rule just prevented lenders from being able to issue mortgages: as a corporation, they cannot recover the property if the borrower refuses to make payments.

        On the other hand, your rule doesn’t go nearly far enough: “landlords” aren’t the problem. “Renting” is the problem. You envisioned apartment complexes remaining as rented properties. I don’t. No more than 4 housing units on a single deeded property would qualify for the owner occupant credit.

        Under my plan, apartment complexes don’t qualify unless the units are separately deeded properties. Maybe an occupant buys up four contiguous units and converts them into a quadplex where 3 of the 4 units can be rented, but most apartments complexes will simply become condominiums, and the occupants will be voting members of the condo association.

        Adjusting the non-occupant tax rate to target a high owner-occupancy rate achieves the objective without undue inhibition of inoffensive activities.