Urban Planning Blog

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The housing market has cooled in the last few months with the appreciation rate dropping from almost 12% to 0.4% signaling signs of an impending recession even from the former Fed Res. Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan. However, the rental market is buoyant as ever and has been devoid of the uncertainties of the home buyers market. The rental market is also heavily location dependent and generally barring large scale changes in urban geography tends to be stable.

Information dissemination through Internet-powered technology has proven to be beneficial for the consumer who otherwise had to drive around the town to get a good deal. Craigslist was one of the first sites that shattered the monopoly of the newspaper classifieds. Tenant Market is one such site that connects renters with landlords. The property information is uploaded by landlords based on criteria for an ideal tenant which is matched with profiles uploaded by renters. The following graphic (click to enlarge) does a fine job of explaining how Tenant Markets work:

The search function is free but Tenant Market charges a subscription fee starting at $29.95 if the landlord wishes to contact the renter. The landlords are proactive by looking for renters that match their criteria and contacting them. The 10-day trial costs $29.95, the standard subscription valid for 20 days sets you back by $39.95 and the Good-till-filled subscription is valid until vacancy is filled and costs the landlords $74.95. The prices seem fair for considering the high rents and unpredictable nature of renters.

Tenant Market claims to reaching over 11 million renters per year. I find this number a little high but Tenant Market claims to partner with “some of the Internet’s biggest apartment hunting, rental listing, and online services that reach over 10 million unique visitors per year” apart from advertising. The renters aren’t required to respond to every landlord that contacts them and received a personalized offer. Both the renter and the landlord are free to meet, visit the property, and discuss finer details before finalizing the contract.

Tenant Market is not your typical classified site since it requires you to first register and create a profile for landlords before the site proceeds to hook you up. I think this is a different and unique approach in the rental market by moving the burden of searching from the renter to the landlord. It may seem a big discomforting to sit back and wait for the landlord to contact you when you might be in a tearing hurry. The site is definitely oriented toward the landlords and it might need a few testimonials before renters are comfortable in sharing their profiles and rest assured they get quick and reliable offers.

Technorati Tags: landlords, renters, rental market, for rent, classifieds, multiple listing services, MLS

I live in a college town so probably can identify with the lure of one. UConn is taking that seriously as it sets out to build a college town from scratch.

Technorati Tags: college town, university, housing, city center, UConn

The best thing about Google Maps is the mashups you can do with different customizable services. MyApartmentMap was only waiting to be implemented. Fall is upon us and thousands of students will be apartment hunting not to mention working professionals who keep moving around. Looking for an apartment can be crazy although Craigslist has made things little easier. In fact, this site works in conjuction with Craigslist and use that listing to plot the locations using Google Maps. But this new tool makes it visually more pleasing as it combines apartment listings with Google Maps for easier comparison.

I managed to find one listing for College Station, the town that I currently live in. But the major cities are listed extensively and the more choices will be available as the site becomes more popular. You can sort by price, number of bedrooms, date the ad was posted, and of course, the locality. Pretty cool, eh?

Housing Maps is another related site with maps and housing ads.

Technorati Tags: apartment, for rent, College Station, Google maps, map, location, classifieds, search

The English government has hit upon a great idea to solve the affordable housing problem without building any. Houses left empty for more than a year by owners will be seized and leased by local authorities under new plans [via]. Of course, vacant buildings with valid reasons (for-sale, holiday homes, second homes, etc) will be exempt. The houses can be returned to the owners after leasing them for seven years. The government, of course, hasn’t mentioned affordable housing as its motives. That is my suggestion and I don’t see why not. Please do not confuse affordable housing with low-income slums as most people oft do, but they can be homes to people who earn 80% of the median income in the region and couldn’t have afforded a home in the area under normal circumstances.

Such overt government action over private property is nothing new. In other more serious cases of tax delinquency, local authorities can foreclose your property and auction it off on the courtroom step or add it to their land bank for public amenity provision. Markets are usually effective in allocating housing but experience has shown us that this often segregates the population and creates pockets of poverty, dereliction, and anti-social behavior. The ill-effects of such regions (think black ghettos) can often act like the proverbial bad apple and spill over to other areas. According to me (and to the imminent chagrin of libertarians), such market intervention is admissible. Affordable housing is a multi-faceted problem and discussion thereof beyond the scope of this blog. The English government’s measure can undoubtedly be adapted to correct such market failures. More on affordable housing later.

As I am continuously finding out, the wonderful thing about studying urban planning is to see the issues we study about simultaneously playing around in our community. We have been studying effect of zoning ordinances in our Housing and Community class and were handed a live case study to analyze. The fact that I could be affected by it (I almost was) is an added incentive to devote careful attention to the issue at hand. Bryan (College Station’s twin city) City Council is debating a change on its renter policies. The council is currently examining a proposal that would reduce the number of unrelated resident that can share a home from four to two. The proponents of the move cite cases of loud parties, increased traffic and trash that result from college students sharing rented houses. Now, just to give a little background, College Station is a student community; 45,000 students among the city’s 67,000-odd residents. Bryan, being almost next door also houses many students. If this proposal passes, students could face great inconveniences as they would have to rethink their housing options.

Normally, in order to reduce expenses, several students shack up in a house or an apartment; especially so if they happen to be Desi. Desis are known to live like sardines – 4 students in a two-bedroom house doesn’t raise any eyebrows (I have even seen and stayed more than 4 in an apartment). Americans prefer their own space and generally do not share a bedroom, which is often akin to your own personal space. After living in a typical Desi apartment for the past five years, I have begun to understand the conveniences of your own bedroom albeit at a higher cost.

Although the proposal under question is expected to impact only duplexes and single-family homes (apartments and fourplexes are exempted), the number of units that would be affected is still high at almost 8000 units. The student body, which by the way has a strong voice in these parts, is vehemently opposed to this move although the landlords have good reason to complain. Personally, I have been (rather my apartment) cited for causing loud noises and I can understand the inconvenience that this can cause. But on the other hand, loud noises and increased traffic during the weekend is expected in a student community. The proposal also would create a false illusion of housing shortages since a four-bedroom house cannot be leased to more than two unrelated people and two bedrooms would permanently remain vacant. This would skew the market and prices would rise, making it extremely unaffordable for students to rent housing in Bryan. Of course, College Station would benefit by providing more housing without the encumbrances of such a zoning ordinance.

Also, as one councilman who opposes the proposal says, “it is not fair to the kids that are good and maintain their yards and don’t have loud parties”. The City Council is thus generalizing student behavior and attempting to create a zoning ordinance that would affect even those that have generally been well-behaved. I propose that the decision should be left to individual landlords who if need be, can incorporate certain restrictions in their leases. For e.g. two police citations and they would have to evict. The hand of the law is pretty strong here and fines are stiff too. After our citation of almost $370 per resident, parties have literally come to a standstill and our house wears a deserted look even on weekends. Generalizing a regulation for all almost never works and people tend to find legal loopholes; instead financial disincentives in terms of fines and citations work better.