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What Every Home Buyer Needs To Know

What Every Home Buyer Needs To Know

Before you even choose your first home, you can make a difference in whether houses in this area remain affordable and whether Charlotte remains an attractive place to live.

How? By voting for homeowner-friendly initiatives. Some ideas may sound good on the surface, but if put into practice would cause significant price increases for homebuyers, squeezing many people out of being able to buy a house. Other ideas could make Charlotte a much less attractive place to live by limiting schools, roads and land use in ways that would keep Charlotte from meeting newcomers' needs.

What issues affect home prices and homeownership?

Zoning plans that mandate only one kind of neighborhood design instead of letting homeowners decide whether they want to live in traditional suburbs or a more urban area.
Impact fees that can raise the price of a home by several thousand dollars and are paid only by new home buyers.
Transfer taxes that apply to purchases of all homes and make housing less affordable by raising prices.
Caps on school capacity that limit where home buyers can send their children.
Programs that pay landowners to sell their legal right to ever develop their property, which could remove many acres of land from being available to meet the needs of future area residents and could, if land prices continue to grow, cause landowners to lose money.
Regulations that take away homeowners' choice.
Insufficient planning for roads, schools, police and fire services to provide for current and future residents.
Few affordable and easily accessible transportation options.

For example, some areas around Charlotte have mandated that the only style of neighborhoods that can be built follow the "New Urbanism" style of small lots, no cul-de-sacs, front porches instead of decks, all in a tightly packed area that also has retail and office space within walking distance. These neighborhoods may be just what some homebuyers want, but those home seekers who long for big suburban back yards, quiet dead-end streets where children can play without through-traffic and residential-only neighbors may find that they have no choice that reflects their wishes. Your vote can help ensure that both approaches coexist without taking away homebuyers' choice.

Transfer taxes and impact fees are ways local governments try to raise money to pay for roads and services. Impact fees tax home developers based on a flat fee. While the developer pays the cost initially, it is eventually passed on to the homebuyer, resulting in new home costs that can be thousands of dollars higher. Transfer taxes apply to all homeowners and are calculated as a percentage of the sales price when the owner goes to sell an existing home-an additional cost that may price some buyers out of the market since it is added among closing costs and generally not financed. While paying for roads and services is necessary, taxing only homebuyers singles out a very small group to foot the bill for services everyone uses. There's a lot of question as to whether such fees and taxes could be sufficient to do what they promise, because they tend to not generate the funds necessary and reduce support for broader-based bond issues. Most importantly, transfer taxes and impact fees squeeze entry-level homebuyers out of the market, and make everyone's new home more expensive.

Caps on school capacity are sometimes explained as needing to keep school size manageable, or to avoid losing a small-town quality of life by restricting growth. In reality, they are unfair to newcomers whose jobs or search for jobs may have dictated their choice of our area. School overcrowding is the result of more factors than new home construction, and therefore singling out new residents to be penalized by longer school commutes or lack of admission to nearby public schools is unfair and may not solve the problem.

Everyone loves wide open spaces and agrees that it's important to set land aside for environmental and recreational use. Experimental initiatives like Transfer of Development Rights programs, however, could set aside a hodgepodge of land that cannot be developed but may not be suitable for recreation or serve an environmental need. Such programs could be regretted in the not-too-distant future by all residents if they make the area unable to meet the needs of business and residents. Even the current landowner may regret the decision later if the prices paid for the rights now turn out to be much less than the land eventually becomes worth.

Charlotte has a strong economy that provides all residents with many benefits: excellent employment opportunities, low unemployment, significant corporate taxes and civic/charitable contributions and a high standard of living. Laws and regulations that make the area less attractive to businesses and to the people they need to employ could eventually make the area less desirable. If that happens, everyone loses. That's why it's everyone's business to find the most equitable solutions to the questions raised in a high-growth area. Roads, transportation options, fire and police services and schools contribute to everyone's quality of life, both current and future residents. It's important to weigh the cost of programs that may produce an unattractive economic climate by limiting growth and choice, or that support only one interpretation of "quality of life."

Realtors� are committed to keeping the Charlotte region a vibrant, attractive and prosperous place to live, and to welcome the newcomers brought by our successful businesses with the homes and the school capacity they need. As advocates for all homeowners and prospective homeowners, Realtors� are actively involved in local issues. Our goal is to assure that the quality of life in Charlotte remains excellent for current residents and the new residents attracted by the region's prosperity.

To that end, Realtors� support:

Housing in a variety of price ranges, particularly housing affordable to entry-level buyers.
A choice of housing and neighborhood design options-from cul de sac suburban neighborhoods to more urban plans.
Realistic planning for the roads, schools, police and fire services required to provide for not only the area's current's residents, but for those brought here by our attractive business climate.
Housing choices, housing costs, roads and services which keep Charlotte an attractive place to do business and a city to which businesses want to bring their employees.
Sound environmental policies, including clean air, clean water, parks and open space.
Transportation options that are affordable.
Responsible fiscal policy to ensure Charlotte's future viability.

Your participation as an informed voter can make a big difference in the home prices you pay and the home choices you have. Take the time to look into the issues and support homeowner and future homeowner rights.

Equal Housing Opportunity

REALTOR� -- A Registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS� and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.