Buying a house is a life changing event with different connotations in the financial, personal as well as psychological areas. Young families will have saved for years to be able to afford a house for the first time in which they can raise a family. Retirees will use their lifetime savings to buy the house where they intend to peacefully enjoy their years. Many working families will move to a different neighborhood in search of peaceful communities and good school systems as they look to improve the lives of their families. The constant denominator that all those groups have is the investment of their money on a property that will gain equity enough for them to enjoy their peaceful years in their homes.

It is proven by multiple test cases in the real estate market, that an abundance of rental properties as well as lack of regulations regarding rentals on subdivisions have a negative impact on the values of the properties. In consequence, both will create issues for the residents of the subdivision who will in turn see a negative effect on the value of their homes therefore, affecting their equity.

Many residents of Sutton Fields in Celina, Texas are now faced with a rising number of properties acquired by investors as well as seeing houses right off the market, start to appear on sites advertising affordable housing rentals. The effects that the lack of sensible regulation regarding rental properties in the subdivision, are now starting to make themselves felt with an increasing number of individuals currently under construction expressing their hesitation about moving forward with their plans.

Therefore, the current homeowners and residents of Sutton Fields demand the following:

• A meeting to be held as soon as possible (could be done via teleconference in deference to current social distancing guidelines). This meeting shall have representatives from the HOA management company, builders and developers.
• A vote to be held as soon as possible for residents to vote on whether they want to request that new/updated restrictions are put in place regarding the following topics:
  • Decrease in rental cap from 20% to a maximum of 5%
  • Enact other restrictions regarding rental properties (i.e. low term rentals, affordable housing programs, etc)
• A tangible and actionable plan to be put in place within 14 days of the meeting requested above.
• Updates to be set to the community regarding the plan and actions completed as part of the monthly communications from the HOA.

References:

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2015/10/21/too-many-rentals-in-neighborhood-can-cause-property-values-to-stagnate/
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/garybarker/2020/02/21/the-airbnb-effect-on-housing-and-rent/#2fce25032226
3. https://shelterforce.org/2018/07/30/the-dark-side-of-single-family-rental/
4. https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/75297/Usrey_colostate_0053N_11509.pdf
5. https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/things-that-affect-your-property-value/