National Home Builders Association Says Rent Caps Are A Bad Idea

National Home Builders Association Says Rent Caps Are A Bad Idea

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Michael Blaze. Welcometo your Home three sixty. The show
or we talk about everything that hasto do with your home. It's brought
to you by Pool Works, theLow Country's exclusive dealer of the Little Pool
line of pools. What is alittle pool? It is a fiberglass shell
pool that is meant to stand alone. It has exceptional strength and beauty.

(00:22):
And stick around to find out more. I think you'll want one. On
today's show, President Joe Biden isproposing a form of rent control. We'll
explore that story. We'll also talkabout outdoor sustainability. You hear a lot
about sustainability when it comes to constructionmaterials and materials around your home, and
we'll explore how you can apply thatto your outdoor living spaces. Also,

(00:47):
if you want to check out anypast episodes of Your Home three sixty,
you can download those for free offof your iHeartRadio app just punch in your
Home three sixty or go to ninetyfour three WSC dot com and look under
podcasts. The United States has ahousing affordability issue, whether it comes to
buying a home or renting one.President Joe Biden thinks he has a solution

(01:07):
to the problem. President Biden announcedJuly sixteenth that he would ask Congress to
institute a two year provision that wouldrequire housing providers with more than fifty existing
units to choose to either cap annualrent increases at five percent or to lose
accelerated depreciation. Biden also proposed torelease some federal lands for housing, which

(01:29):
can only be done with congressional authority. According to an article on the National
Association of home Builder's website, theNAHB is strongly opposed to rent caps and
believes it would exacerbate the housing affordabilitycrisis by discouraging new production, which would
ultimately lead to higher rents. Cappingrents would also lead to reduced maintenance and

(01:52):
hurt existing tenants, they say,because owners and developers would be unable to
cover rising costs if rents are fixed. After Biden announced his plan, NAHB
chairman Carl Harris came out forcefully againstthe proposal and sent a strong message to
the national media, which set inpart, rent control in any form is

(02:13):
banned for housing and President Biden's taxplan to cap rents at five percent on
existing multi family structures will worsen thehousing affordability crisis by discouraging developers from building
new rental housing units at a timewhen the nation is experiencing a shortfall of
one point five million housing units.These rent caps would also hurt existing tenants,

(02:35):
those that the President is trying tohelp, because owners and developers would
be unable to cover rising costs ifrents are fixed. The National Association of
Home Builders goes on to say researchhas proven repeatedly that mandatory rent control is
a failed policy that does nothing toalleviate the root causes of housing affordability issues,
namely the fact that our nation's housingsupply has not kept pace with the

(02:59):
new needs of our growing population.Rent stabilization disincentivizes rental multifamily housing investments across
markets, particularly in low income communitiesthat already often have few affordable options.
Moreover, rent regulation is not equitableas it does not target lower in moderate
income runners that are in most needof assistance, support and stability. Instead,

(03:23):
it incentivizes current renters to remain inplace for longer periods of time and
disincentivizes additional investments in housing, therebylimiting opportunities for others who do not have
access to the rental housing market infavor of those that already do. The
National Association of home Builders says engagingin this type of heavy handed government policy

(03:46):
as proposed by President Biden would createmore housing scarcity and penalize a large and
an increasing number of would be runnersas the rental housing supply is suppressed or
shrinks. They say that the nahbDE has developed a ten point plan to
tackle the housing affordability crisis that getsat the root of the problem, removing
barriers that hinder the construction of newhomes and apartments. At the federal level,

(04:11):
the Biden administration should be calling onthe Senate to approve the Tax Relief
for American Workers Act, legislation thatsailed through the House earlier this year and
includes key provisions to expand and strengthenthe Low Income Housing Tax Credit. They
say that the Low Income Housing TaxCredit is the best tool to finance the
production of affordable rental housing, butdemand for this housing greatly exceeds available resources.

(04:33):
The administration should also be urging Congressto support bipartisan proposals to create a
new tax credit to produce affordable workforcerental housing geared towards middle income households such
as teachers, healthcare professionals, andlaw enforcement. The NAHB also says the
administration should also overturn a recent mandateon the use of restrictive, costly energy

(04:56):
codes that raise housing costs and providelittle energy savings to cons The US Department
of Housing and Urban Development and theUS Department of Agriculture recently finalized a decision
that requires them to insure mortgages fornew single family homes only if they are
built to the twenty twenty one InternationalEnergy Conservation Code. They say that the
federal requirements for that code or indirect conflict with energy codes in most jurisdictions

(05:20):
around the country. This will leadto a host of logistical and implementation issues
in the field. The end resultwill be longer permitting in construction times in
lower housing production at a time whena lack of affordable housing in the single
family and multi family markets is themain factor driving the housing affordability crisis.

(05:41):
The NAHB says to increase housing supplyand reduce affordability burdens, state and local
governments can start by allowing for zoningto include more high density housing, reducing
regulations that stall building projects, encouragingpublic private partnerships and development, and offering
direct help to those that need itimplementing them. These practical solutions will boost
multi family housing production and make rentingmore affordable. The article concluded, all

(06:05):
right, I have to chime inwith my opinion here. You know what,
it will not only make rental housingmore affordable, make all housing more
affordable. So think how onerous allof the rules and regulations from the federal
government right on down to the countyor city that you live in are,
whether it comes to energy consumption andhaving to follow these dictates from the government

(06:30):
on how energy efficient your home hasto be. On the zoning issues where
the use of land comes into play, or land is expensive and it's getting
more and more expensive. So themore housing units you can fit on that
land, the cheaper those housing unitsare going to be. So they can't
sit there and complain about how unaffordablehousing is without doing anything about changing zoning,

(06:57):
about changing all of these rules andregulations that makes housing more unaffordable,
whether it be rental housing or yourown home or a commercial building for that
fact. And I've talked to everybodyfrom the Chamber to politicians to builders,
and there's a consensus there that thisneeds to change. And it's not a

(07:18):
partisan consensus. This is across theline from Democrats and Republicans that we have
a housing affordability issue, and atthe root of that issue is these rules
and regulations and zoning. And thenhere you have. You just heard a
regil the whole almost the whole thingof what the National Association of home Builders

(07:41):
has to say about this Biden administrationproposal, which by all counts of everybody
that I've talked to, and accordingto the National Association of home Builders,
will only make housing more expensive,not more affordable. In a lot of
cases, we need less laws andless rules and regulations, not more.

(08:01):
While we're on the subject of affordability, how are you thinking about remodeling or
at least freshening up your home?Don't overlook the benefits of sustainability. That's
according to an article by Leander Braboutin Real Term magazine. Real estate professionals
nationwide have reported that home buyers areincreasingly curious about house's eco friendly features.

(08:24):
Of course, that means energy starappliances and water saving bathroom fixtures, but
the article points out that outdoor spacescan be sustainable too. Dex and patios
already offer up to an eighty percentreturn on investment for homeowners. That's according
to a US News and World report. But you may be able to increase
that return by incorporating eco friendly ingreen features into your outdoor living spaces.

(08:48):
So how do you do that,Well, here's a few tips. Rainwater
harvesting will reduce water bills because therainwater can be reused to water plants and
for landscaping, but there's also apotential money making benefit for home sellers.
Ten percent of homeowners say landscaping thatintegrates energy conservation is very important to them,

(09:09):
so this green patio feature could attractmore buyers and possibly a higher price
for your home. Passive cooling featureswill minimize air conditioning use and extend the
livable area of the home without increasingenergy costs. Look into installing retractable awnings
to control shade. By planning lushfoliage around the patio or in pots on

(09:31):
the patio, you can help toabsorb heat and add pockets of shade.
Also, by adding a water feature, you can help to cool the air
directly around it. The article alsourges homeowners to limit the amount of hardscape
patios, paths, and driveways intheir landscapes. When the hardscape heats up
and then heats up the house,the neighborhood and beyond, this is called

(09:54):
the heat island effect. Sustainable lightingcan be affordable and a beautiful way to
accentuate your outdoor areas. Make sureto install led and solar lights to use
less energy than to keep costs down, and of course, use sustainable materials
in your projects. The most sustainablematerials for any construction or renovation project are

(10:16):
those that already exist, so recycleand reuse. Now, I want to
make a distinction here. I'm notadvocating for doing all of these things.
If you're ready to put your homeon the market. Most things do not
produce a positive return on investment,so you're going to end up losing money.

(10:37):
So talk to your realtor before youtake on any projects. If you're
ready to put your home on themarket. Of course, some good,
cheap, affordable fresheening will help,but make sure that if you're going to
do any bigger projects, and alot of these are what I was just
talking about, make sure that you'regoing to use it and enjoy it,

(11:00):
and that's what you want. Andthen an added benefit of that when it
comes time to sell it is itmakes it more appealing to more home buyers.
It might even mean a little bitmore money for your home. At
that point, doesn't mean that you'regoing to get your money back, so
be careful on how you approach that. If you're ready to put your home
on the market, talk to yourrealtor first and ask them what they think.

(11:22):
The rate of return is going tobe the return on investment on any
of these projects, and in mostcases it will be negative. So I
would keep things to a minimum readyyou're ready to put your home on the
market, you know, because you'rejust going to spend money and you're not
going to get that money back.And after all, you know, in

(11:43):
a lot of cases it comes downto taste also, so you want to
leave any of those projects up tothe home buyer so that they can make
it their own. And you know, and it's not yours, it's theirs.
Now. Of course, something isin total disrepair, falling apart,
is totally ugly, is a totalturnoff, is a disincentive to buy your

(12:09):
home then address it, but becareful on the projects that you take on
and you might be surprised. It'skind of counterintuitive on where you think you're
going to spend the money and howmuch money in reality you're going to get
back for that. Now, whenit comes to keeping cool in these hot
low Country summer months and making youryard look great at the same time,

(12:30):
it's worth spending a little money.In the studio with me is Heath Bodorf.
He's vice president of Pool Works.They're the low Country's exclusive dealer of
the Little Pool line of pools herein the low Country. Welcome Heath.
Let's start by explaining what a littlepool is. A little pool is a
plunge pool, right, it isa plunge pool, but it's a free
standing plunge pool. So it's afiberglass pool shell and then surrounded with a

(12:54):
exoskeleton of GRP, which is glassrein first polymer or some people call the
glass reinforced plastic. It doesn't rust, it doesn't rot, it doesn't get
termite damage. It's pretty tough stuff. And just to set this up,
so the fiberglass comes from Australia,right, that's correct. And then you
manufacture it, put it together herein Ridgeville, right here in South Carolina.

(13:18):
That is correct. It is shippedin containers nested together. The pool
shells are it's a standard fiberglass poolbuilt for originally built for end ground,
been modified a little bit so thatit can accept our exoskeleton. And once
they're brought in, they come innested together in a container. And then

(13:39):
here in Ridgeville they take the poolshells and then convert that over and add
the GRP exoskeleton to make it afree standing fiberglass pool. Now, the
exoskeleton is an important component, ifnot the most important component of the pool.
That's what gives it its strength,right Heath, Yeah, So the
exoskeleton is what allows this pool tobe free standing. So it's a patented

(14:01):
process of how it's applied to thepool. And then once that pool is
built the exoskeleton, you can fillit full of water. Net it allows
that pools so that it can withstandthose forces of the you know, the
water pushing outwards on that pool.So most fiberglass pools, if you were
to take a standard fiber glass pooland sit that on the ground and fill

(14:24):
it full water, the whole sideswould just literally buckle. They would they
would push out to an extent andthen if you know, take somebody and
have to do a cannon ball init, that force, that pressure that
would be a for exerted on thatpool wall would literally bust the walls.
So is what the little pool is. It's engineered and designed to a point
that it can withstand that. Ithink they're testing. One of their testing

(14:46):
is they take a fifty five gallondrum, raise it thirteen feet in the
ear, and then free to fill, drop it into a water filled pool
and it's able to withstand that.So that's part of their testing procedures.
They have a lot of patented trademarkson the actual process that I can't share.
But it's you know, it's it'spretty strong. It's it's durable to
last most people in entire lifetime.Wow. And it's strong enough too.

(15:09):
Where this is what impressed me isyou can attach a deck to it without
any supports for the deck right andstrong enough to support not only the water
and people jumping in it, butyou can also if you want to put
it next to a deck, youcan attach the deck base right to it.
Right. Yeah, So a lotof times, like if you were
to take a standard above ground poolor you know the old the round you

(15:31):
know, type of above ground pools, and you wanted to deck run it,
you would have to put support columnsright up next to the pool.
Well, with this pool, youknow, first of all, it's not
you know, it's not a tincan pool, but it is an actual
fire glass pool, and you canattach what we call a whaling board around
the perimeter of it and then setyour floor joists right on it, so
you don't need those support structures rightup next to the pool. The pool

(15:52):
is the support structure, so it'skind of like cannilever in your deck off
that so you could go out eight, ten, twelve feet before you actually
have to put your first post.Now, of course a lot of that's
in your designs and everything, butyeah, the pool was strong enough to
withhold with stand the entire deck load, all on all four sides at once,
and still be strong enough to holdthat water. Yeah, that's awesome.

(16:14):
And you know, and we haddiscussed this before about you know,
we're in the low country, sogroundwater level is pretty high here. Sometimes,
you know, I joke, it'slike a you know, right at
the ground level, at the groundwater. And so some people with these
fiberglass pools, if you don't keepthem full, they can pop right out
of the ground. And not onlythat, but with flooding issues and everything

(16:37):
else, sometimes an in ground poolis just not practical. So the little
pool that you manufacturer is perfect fora situation like that. And not only
is it strong, it's pretty too. Right without being over or zealous on
this, I mean it's it's aswimming pool that is gorgeous. It's the
colors are beautiful. The warranty onit's astronomical. They've never had a reported

(17:03):
case of osmosis in their pools shells, and so you know, they offer
a twenty five year warranty on that. And you know, typically in the
fibreglass industry, you see, youknow, had a bad name, you
know, from the eighties in thatwhere people were using the wrong kind of
resins and stuff. So you've seena lot of osmosis on stuff on pool
shells, and never has Compass,our manufacturer of our poolshell they never had

(17:26):
a recorded case of osmosis. Sothat's that's that's a big statement right there.
And just the pool itself is gorgeous. They've nailed the colors. It's
kind of a three D look toit. It's a pretty pool, and
it's just like any other fiberglass pool. You can do what you want with
it. You know, you canput jets in it and put different lights
in it. You can do allkinds of things in it. Now.
They're also light weight, so they'reperfect for tight spaces or spaces that are

(17:49):
hard to get you know, anykind of heavy equipment into that you would
normally use to dig an in groundpool. And in a lot of cases
you can be swimming the same dayit's delivered, right, So explain the
installation process. Yeah, So,typically the pools are designed to sit on
a on a some type of flatsurface, whether that is concrete or pavers.

(18:12):
There's engineer drawings for each of those. It tells you how thick the
concrete needs to be and how bigthe pavers need to be. In stuff,
But so whether you sink it inthe ground partially fully or fully above
ground, or raise it up ona steel platform for like say and Ile
Palms type project where they wanted theirpool up level with the first story of
the home, then you know there'sthere's that type of design. It's built

(18:37):
into the pool. It's able todo all that. And when you take
all the benefits of having this typeof pool, it really fits different installation
in scenario. So one one mightbe, you know one the pool is
super light, it's it's the biggestpool I think is rated around thirty three
hundred pounds. When you compare thatto say a shipping container pool or a

(18:59):
pre fab concrete pool, you know, those things weigh twenty twenty six thousand
pounds depending on what size you're gettingfifteen thousand pounds and you take you might
have to crane something over home orsomething. Well for every pound you've got
to move a foot. That costsmoney. So if it's a lot cheaper
to take a three thousand and thirtythree hundred pound pool, lift it over

(19:22):
a home, sit it in somebody'sbackyard than it is a twenty five thousand
pound pool, So huge cost difference. There are huge cost savings in the
actual shipping of the pool. Youknow, less weight to ship down the
road, down the highway. Butyou know that's one way to install it.
You can install it with a crane. The cool thing about the little

(19:44):
pool is in some scenarios it's actuallyeasy enough to actually put casters under it
and wheel it into somebody's backyard.It's that light as long as you have
some way to lift it off thetruck, whether that's with a telehandler type
of piece of equipment. Very fewpeople will probably familiar with that term,
but a brand name would be alull A. It's a fork truck that's
kind of all terrained with an extendableboom and then so that that can even

(20:10):
lift it and most of the timesthat it'll fit between people's homes and that's
a very cost effective way of gettingit in a backyard if you have to
lift it over a fence or somethinglike that. So the site work getting
into a little bit of the sitework part of it. The site work
is, you know, it canbe as minimal as putting some papers on
the ground, you know, rippingup some sawed a little bit, not
really digging into the ground and puttinga paper base down and putting the papers

(20:32):
in, stamping them in place,and then putting the pool on top of
that. Or it can be alittle more intensive. You know, let's
do a concrete pad because maybe weneed to bring it up to an existing
deck level. Then at that pointyou might want to bring it up you
know, save foot. You know, then okay, so you want to
bring your concrete pad up level sothat the top of that pool is going
to be even with the existing deckthat's already there, so that you know,

(20:53):
the site work is minimal. Whenyou consider pools, a tip of
wind ground pool, you know,there's a lot of dirt to move and
a lot of dirt to haul outof somebody's backyard, and this one here,
you know, it depended on thissituation, and it's not made for
every situation. You know, that'ssomething that you know, it's got to
be taken into account when you're whenyou're thinking about a little pool or any

(21:17):
punch pool, you know, isit going to fit the family of six?
Right? You were telling me offthe air, You're like, you
know, I just don't want thisto be a sales piece for the little
pool. I want to be informativeand let people know what they are and
let people know that it might notbe right for everyone. That's correct.
So you know, if you lookat you know, trends in the pool

(21:37):
industry, you know, years agoeverybody wanted that free form pool that was
big, and you know, ithad an eight foot nine foot deep end.
And you know, since most peoplehave gotten away from because of mainly
insurance reasons, have gotten away fromputting diving boards in pools today, you
know, your average homeowner, they'renot going to use that space out there,

(21:59):
that seven eight foot deep unless theypurposely got that pool to swim laps.
Nobody wants to go out there andtread water. So the need to
have that big deep pool in ittoday is is really not there unless it's
just mindset from well that's what myparents had or that's what my grandparents had,
but nobody puts diving boards. Theymight put a slide here and there,

(22:21):
but really that's a thing of thepast. And so when you think
about pools today and how the industryhas evolved, you know, you see
people a lot more companies offering theseplunge pools. Well, let's let's explain
what a plunge pool is. Soa plunge pool is a smaller pool.
It's designed for you know, cominghome from work and relaxing. It's designed

(22:42):
for entertaining a few guests, havingsome you know, a glass of wine
or a cocktail or even a beerafter work whatever, getting in there,
chill, let your stress take you, you know that just wash that stress
away from you, just cooling downafter mowing the lawn on a Saturday or
something. And that's what a plunchpool is, you know. It's it's
a pool to just sit in,relax, enjoy company of others, enjoy,

(23:07):
you know, just taking that stressaway from the day of work.
And that's what you know, Ithink, you know, that's what a
plunch pool does. It's I thinkwhen they originally started out, people were
calling them party pools. You know, it's it's not even really a party
pool. It's it's a something foryou to enjoy almost on a personal level,
where you know, your typical big, you know pool. You know

(23:27):
you've got a family of six.Is a plunch pool going to work for
that person? No, it's not. And uh, some people, you
know, they got it. Theywant that big pool. They want to
be able to swim laps in it. And not that plunch pools can't offer
some forms of exercise. You know, there's there's stuff that that are made
to to you know, you canactually swim with and stuff but and those

(23:48):
options are available even on the littlepool. But you know, is it
going to be the right pool fora family that has maybe three or four
kids and those kids are going togrow up for the next ten years in
that home before they go off tocollege, and they're going to have friends
over and they're going to want toplay you know, volleyball, basketball,
stuff like that. Is it theright pool for that. No, it's
not. And so really educating theconsumer about what works best for them,

(24:12):
I think that's more important than actuallyselling the pool. I think, you
know, if the industry. Ihad a customer and it's a very well
known person in the area. Hejust bought a little pool from us,
and one of his comments was hesaid, your industry is broken, and
that it took me a step back. But you know what's funny, I
knew that the industry has broken.The pool professionals don't have a good name.

(24:36):
I think currently in the state ofSouth Carolina there are three or four
lawsuits against pool companies. That's badpress, that's why. Is that what's
going on in the industry. SoI think that's these are all questions people
need to talk to their their poolcompany about and you know, educate themselves.
What what makes a good pool companya good pool company? Sure?
And you know, and what makesa pool a good pool And what makes

(25:00):
the installation process a good installation processone that's not going to cause you headaches
down the road. That's correct,That's correct. You know, it's all
about you know, making the rightchoice. And you know, if I
got to walk away from a job, even though I might want that sale,
if I got to walk away fromit because it doesn't fit that customer
or it doesn't fit that situation.Maybe they even believe that it fits them.

(25:22):
But if it doesn't, And ifi've you know, you got to
look at you know, consumers,not a pool professional. They haven't installed
fifty or one thousand or a hundredor whatever that number is for each each
different pool builder out there. Ifif if you got to walk away from
it, you know, you gotto because that's it's more about that consumer's

(25:42):
happiness. You definitely don't want aconsumer that you sold a pool tool just
for the pool sale and then nextyear them realized that, hey, this
wasn't really the greatest purchase for us. You know, pool is a big
investment. It's not a necessity.It is a desire, it's a it's
a it's a want, and youknow, you want that person to make

(26:03):
the right choice. And that's that'swhat we're about. That's what pool Works
is about. That's why we,you know, have the reputation we do
have. You know, we're notafraid to walk away from it if it's
not the right fit for that customer. Well, for those that are interested
in learning more about the little poolline of pools, what should they do?
One they could call us. That'sprobably the best way. It's eight

(26:26):
four three six nine five eight threefive five. The other way is just
go to our website and you know, we have some contact of stuff.
We don't spam people, really,we don't you If you fill out that
form on our website, it staysin house. We don't sell it.
We don't do anything like that.We just contact you know, if you're
interested, we're not going to houndyou. Or if you know, if
you just want general some knowledge,you know, we're we're here to to

(26:48):
help educate people. That's that's theimportant part. In the website's mypoolworks dot
com, mypoolworks dot com. Goahead and give the phone number one more
time. It's eight four three sixnine five eight three five five. Well,
you're celebrating a birthday and you're havinga spring promotion, and right now
for our listeners, you're offering themtwo thousand dollars off their order, right,

(27:08):
that is correct. So pool Workshas been in business sixteen years as
of March, and we're extending thatpromotion into the end of April. So
yeah, take get your pool orderedand we'll help you. And you can
take two thousand dollars off the costof that pool, or you can add
it to some you know, somethingelse that you want. Maybe you want
a heater or something like that.Definitely, and you said you can even

(27:30):
you even have the equipment. Itescapes me what it's called, but you
can even there's all kinds of addons, and you can even swim laps,
right, that's correct. So weoffer a super swim system. It's
actually what the University of Florida USis to train their swimmers. So that's
that, that's part of a package. And it's very affordable. It's nothing
like putting a you know, likea pool pool or something like that in

(27:53):
your back ey. It's this isvery easy, very affordable and it's it's
great. It provides resistance training andit's that's what really builds exercise. Well,
that's excellent. Go to mypoolworks dotcom or the phone number one more
time eight four three six nine fiveeight three fivey five. Heath Bodorf,
vice president of pool Works, theLow Country's exclusive dealer of the Little Pool

(28:14):
line of pools. Thanks for yourtime and thanks for the explanation today.
Thank you, Michael, appreciate it. That's it for your home three sixty.
Make sure you tune in every Saturday. And if you want to catch
the podcast, you can download thatfor free on your iHeartRadio app. You
can also find it online at ninetyfour to three WSC dot com just look under podcasts