January 30, 2017 Committee of the Whole Agenda DISTRICT OF TOFINO COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING Council Chamber, Municipal Office 2017 - January - 30 at 6:00 PM
If I have read the links correctly, Mayor Osborne is proposing changing the "classification" of properties that offer short term rental to "split commercial". It is not clear what this means. If everyone in town who operates a STR is partially zoned commercial, good luck selling such property. A commercial mortgage would be required if it were no longer zoned residential. Also, taxes due at time of sale will go up because it is a commercial property rather than a residential one. And what good does this do for the housing shortage????? NOTHING.
As I read it, it's Assessments BC who are looking at changing the classifications of properties...... so the vampires can suck higher property taxes out of people.
This would make it next to impossible to get a reasonable mortgage on a property in Tofino. Try getting a bank to write paper on a two tiered property like they're describing. You will almost certainly not be getting a typical residential mortgage and the interest rate, downpayment and insurance will all be significantly higher. Oh yes, the taxes will be higher too. If BC & Tofino want to expand the local housing pool this is not the way to do it. Here's an idea; find a piece of land, have the city buy it, and put together a local investment group or hire a developer to build a specific type of high density housing on it. Let them make a profit and either rent or price control the sale to local residents only. They wouldn't have to keep messing around with other homeowners property rights or trying to do all this through the back door. Works elsewhere.
3 comments:
If I have read the links correctly, Mayor Osborne is proposing changing the "classification" of properties that offer short term rental to "split commercial". It is not clear what this means. If everyone in town who operates a STR is partially zoned commercial, good luck selling such property. A commercial mortgage would be required if it were no longer zoned residential. Also, taxes due at time of sale will go up because it is a commercial property rather than a residential one. And what good does this do for the housing shortage????? NOTHING.
As I read it, it's Assessments BC who are looking at changing the classifications of properties...... so the vampires can suck higher property taxes out of people.
This would make it next to impossible to get a reasonable mortgage on a property in Tofino. Try getting a bank to write paper on a two tiered property like they're describing. You will almost certainly not be getting a typical residential mortgage and the interest rate, downpayment and insurance will all be significantly higher. Oh yes, the taxes will be higher too.
If BC & Tofino want to expand the local housing pool this is not the way to do it. Here's an idea; find a piece of land, have the city buy it, and put together a local investment group or hire a developer to build a specific type of high density housing on it. Let them make a profit and either rent or price control the sale to local residents only. They wouldn't have to keep messing around with other homeowners property rights or trying to do all this through the back door. Works elsewhere.
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