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Energy performance certificate, non-toxicity certificate, surface certificate, non-pledge certificate... The basics of a real estate sale in France - they make

by liotier 10y ago

Energy performance certificate, non-toxicity certificate, surface certificate, non-pledge certificate... The basics of a real estate sale in France - they make the transaction more transparent and I'm glad they are mandatory, both as a former buyer and a former seller... They remove a lot of the friction that distrust creates. Framing it as "red tape" that “threaten to turn the country into an endless ‘property graveyard’ where nothing will be sold, nothing will be bought and nothing will be rented” is laughable !

Spooky23 10y ago
That statement is a little dramatic, but these sorts of things have severe impact. Upstate NY is a great example -- property taxes are oppressive, and while property does sell, the value is kneecapped because the tax costs are so high. In my city, a house in a nice area valued at $200k (which is a 3-4 BR, 1-2 BA house) is taxed around $6000-6500. So a typical homebuyer who needs a mortgage automatically loses around $550/mo in buying power. In a suburban area, those taxes are $4500-5000, which boosts the value. At the macro level, it's more insidious. With multifamily property, there's little incentive to maintain property, so the business model in urban areas is to suck as much value out of the property as possible, stop paying the taxes and let the county sell it at auction. The lower tier of scum landlord buys these properties, restores them to minimum code compliance and rents them to subsidized tenants.
- chiph 10y ago
  $200k house, $6k tax bill, so about 3% a year on the value of your home. That's similar to what you'd pay in urban Texas where property taxes are the primary way that state/local government gets funded. Only NY State has income tax on top of this (plus city income tax if you live in/near NYC), and Texas does not.
- sliverstorm 10y ago
  The first part at least sounds like things are working like they are supposed to work. The same thing happens with interest rates. But we wouldn't say interest rates "kneecap" property value, would we? They're just a fact of the market, and mostly just alter where the money flows to. The buyer commits to $1,000/mo in payments- with high interest, the bank gets more and the seller gets less. With low interest, the bank gets less and the seller gets more. Why is there little incentive to maintain property? Just because it's worth "only" $200k?

by liotier 10y ago

Spooky23 10y ago

That statement is a little dramatic, but these sorts of things have severe impact. Upstate NY is a great example -- property taxes are oppressive, and while property does sell, the value is kneecapped because the tax costs are so high. In my city, a house in a nice area valued at $200k (which is a 3-4 BR, 1-2 BA house) is taxed around $6000-6500. So a typical homebuyer who needs a mortgage automatically loses around $550/mo in buying power. In a suburban area, those taxes are $4500-5000, which boosts the value. At the macro level, it's more insidious. With multifamily property, there's little incentive to maintain property, so the business model in urban areas is to suck as much value out of the property as possible, stop paying the taxes and let the county sell it at auction. The lower tier of scum landlord buys these properties, restores them to minimum code compliance and rents them to subsidized tenants.

chiph 10y ago
$200k house, $6k tax bill, so about 3% a year on the value of your home. That's similar to what you'd pay in urban Texas where property taxes are the primary way that state/local government gets funded. Only NY State has income tax on top of this (plus city income tax if you live in/near NYC), and Texas does not.
sliverstorm 10y ago
The first part at least sounds like things are working like they are supposed to work. The same thing happens with interest rates. But we wouldn't say interest rates "kneecap" property value, would we? They're just a fact of the market, and mostly just alter where the money flows to. The buyer commits to $1,000/mo in payments- with high interest, the bank gets more and the seller gets less. With low interest, the bank gets less and the seller gets more. Why is there little incentive to maintain property? Just because it's worth "only" $200k?