Ridiculous: San Francisco Residents sue over Below Market Rate Housing Restrictions

For those not familiar with this program available in the wacky city by the bay, the Mayor’s office of housing offers a number of units for sale as “Below Market Rate” units – commonly known as BMRs.

Developers building new construction since 1979 have been required to submit a percentage of units in any new construction for inclusion in this program. The percentage varies based on whether the units are included onsite with the main development, or offsite at a separate location.

BMR units have very clear guidelines about what you can do with them upon resale. Essentially, the city will set the sale price and it is usually tied to a bay area income index, so it tracks income appreciation not real estate market appreciation.

While I feel bad for people who didn’t understand the program when they purchased, it just highlights the need for a competent real estate agent. Suing the city just seems, IMHO, an absolutely ridiculous course of action.

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of San Francisco residents is suing the Mayor’s Office of Housing, claiming that city officials are stripping them of their right to sell their condos at market rates.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court last month, has revived a decade-old battle between hundreds of below-market-rate homeowners and San Francisco’s housing officials.
In the lawsuit, which includes 60 homeowners, residents accuse The City of “egregiously mismanaging†one of San Francisco’s low-income housing programs by allowing residents who are not considered low income to purchase below-market-rate housing at the discounted price.

The problem is that many of these residents who bought low-income houses say they were never told that they were investing in below-market-rate houses, which restricts them from ever selling them or willing them to anyone other than low- or moderate-income residents.

They are now asking the court to force San Francisco housing officials to release their condos from their current below-market-rate status, which would give them the opportunity to sell them at market rate.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/SF-homeowners-cry-foul-on-sales-restrictions-103260579.html#ixzz105uC78WJ