From: randy (cryofan@mylinuxisp.com)
Date: Fri Apr 11 2003 - 16:06:33 MDT
On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 21:16:43 -0700, you wrote:
>Michael Dickey writes
>
>> That being said, Ill comment on it since you are so concerned with what I
>> think of the cost of residence. Though I have not investigated this in
>> depth, I find it somewhat reasonable to assume that it may be increasing,
>> given land and property are probably the most definitely finite resource
>> around.
>
>It turns out that, according to what I read, the main reason that
>rent and the price of land is so high stems from government policy.
>Houston is the great counter-example.
You are behind the times. Yes, in many of the older parts of
Houston, there are no zoning laws, and so there are some odd looking
houses in those areas. But nowadays most of the land (with ultilies)
here in the Houston Metro Area is part of one of the many Homeowners
Associations (HOA).
These quasigovernmental agencies are mechanisms through which is
accomplished those nasty ol' zero-sum games that many Extropians and
other libertarians insist are ineffective.
It is one of the oldest laws in animal socety--if you own something,
make sure no one else (or as few other als as possible) can own a copy
of it, and the value of yours will go up.
That is why in most of the Houston metro area, one can scarely vary
the landscaping without having the HOA come down hard on
offenders--let alone build high density housing. Thus the price of
land and buildings have gone up in Houston...much to the delight of
those who already have such resources.
Unfortunately, those who do *not* "have" are usually too stupid (read
"young") to realize what is going on.
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