Imagine…
Let’s assume for the purpose of this article that Transparency owned (freehold) enough land (subdivision sized parcels preferably so communities could develop) in New Zealand to place enough Transparency designed transportable houses (meaning they are not placed on concrete-on-grade foundations which also act as the ground floor of the dwelling) to house all the people in New Zealand who presently do not have a suitable dwelling in New Zealand…
Then imagine that Transparency built (via Transparency’s off-site factory facilities) all those houses (on spec) and placed them on Transparency’s land, meaning that, in terms of dwellings versus people needing dwellings, we had equilibrium…
Then imagine that Transparency, keeping ownership of our land, offered those houses (which would all be transportable, 3-D modular, some with multiple linkable modules) to whoever wanted them on a rent-to-buy basis…
The Concept…
Here’s how it would work…
Transparency knows how much we would sell each house for if it were bought ‘conventionally’ – and as we’ve already stated in ‘Our Vision’ this would be 20% (our fixed margin) above what it cost us to build it…
We would set that figure in current year NZD as the amount for the potential rent-to-buy owner to pay off before the house is theirs…
We would means test the potential rent-to-buy owner to discover their gross household income and then set the rent of the land and the rent of the house combined to be no more than 30% of their gross household income or the current market rental rate for equivalent housing on equivalent land in an equivalent geographical location, if this is lower (should they be on a higher income)…
The rent-to-buy tenants would be responsible for maintenance of both the land (keeping the gardens neat and tidy) and house from the moment they move in but on the flip side, there would be no property management fees associated (no hidden costs)…
We would enter a legal agreement (which would be a lot more detailed than I’m explaining in ‘broad brush’) between us where they would continue to pay rent on our house until this figure (adjusted accordingly for inflation) is paid off and then the house is theirs…
The land remains ours and they will continue to pay rent on the land after the house is theirs…
As long as they are happy for their Transparency designed dwelling to remain on our land, we are happy for it to remain there…
Should they decide to save up the money they used to spend on the rental of the house so that they could buy their own piece of land somewhere else, this would be perfectly fine and Transparency would offer – for a fee – a relocation service for their house (in however many modules are required) and a reconnection service at their new location, once they buy land elsewhere…
Transparency would then place a new Transparency designed transportable house on our vacated piece of land and the process would begin all over again with a new rent-to-buy tenant…
The Cause…
Assuming all the above to be true (i.e. that Transparency was able to offer this service), Transparency’s goal in doing this would be to:
1. eliminate the housing crisis in New Zealand, i.e. to provide for every New Zealander – no matter how much or little they earn – the tangible opportunity to live in a well insulated, ventilated, structurally sound, environmentally friendly, sustainable, dry home which is architecturally designed for both purpose and aesthetics and
2. to do likewise for all the nations in the Pacific Ring of Fire region
We believe that should we be in possession of enough land and equipped to build enough buildings to achieve those twin goals, that we would indeed achieve them… ?
Because the willingness is there…
The desire for fairness is there…
The desire not to be greedy is there…
The desire not to ‘get rich’ at other’s expense is there…
The desire not to disadvantage or disenfranchise anyone is there…
The desire for equality is there…
The Mechanics…
By Transparency maintaining ownership of our land we safeguard our vision, protect against ‘land banking’ and counter-act the existing mechanism of land value accrual being used as a means to charge more and more and more for land and house purchases…
The reason house price escalation would no longer be a problem for those to whom it presently is a problem is because they would now have a valid alternative, a new player in the market who set a benchmark for house and land usage at achievable levels so that people actually had an option to step off the ‘property ladder’ and take on our ‘alternative lifestyle’ (living by design)…
For those who still wanted to pursue the ‘property ladder,’ they would still be free to do (we believe in freedom of choice)… ?
No one who chose to adopt our approach would need to take out a mortgage from a banking institution as Transparency would be owning the land freehold and cash building all the spec houses (trusting in a very long-term return on investment)…
All that people would be paying to Transparency would be rent…
And at the end of it, they would own a house…
And possibly even a piece of land of their own…
Reality…
There are individual people and families alive today in our world whose net worth would allow them to do exactly what Transparency would do (outlined above) assuming that Transparency was in possession of that net worth…
There are individual people and families alive today who could make the housing crisis issue in New Zealand (and the nations of our Pacific Ring of Fire region) ‘go away’ by investing their net wealth in this cause…
An investment in the future of our region, the tranquility of our region, the unity of our region…
The Provocation…
To any who read this article who fall into the category mentioned above where your net wealth or the net wealth of your family is such that you could solve the housing crisis issue for our nation of New Zealand and the nations of our Pacific Ring of Fire region, I encourage you to think of the opportunity you have to influence our region for good, the opportunity to change the ‘life’ of an entire region and cause to flourish what has been so aptly called ‘God’s Own’… ?
Andrew J Horton
05 July 2018
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