There is a "subdivision" type development project near me, had their signs up for a decade now, built two houses at the beginning and nothing since. They just changed management and goals and the signs now speak of rents rather than sale prices, "move in dates starting July '22," and they've begun construction of a half dozen more houses.
This is a very rural area, tho; and there's plenty of better built houses (with insulation and such) already available to rent at less than the price these places are going to be asking. The construction of the ancillary stuff, "HOA responsibilities", looks to be as short term as possible. The roads are asphalt laid on undisturbed earth, no foundations, grading, gravel or even ditches.
This project looks like an investor fleecing scam to me; it looks like the whole development is going to be less homely, less enduring, and less appealing than
another trailer park.
Around Cleveland (Texas) a lot of these are going up in “unincorporated” areas where there is no “local” government overseeing codes. Obviously things like the NEC still apply via state laws and national liability case law.
But in Texas roads between houses and apartments are “Private” if all routes to access it from public roads are gated. Being a private road means the government won’t pay for any of its construction of maintenance, but also means that you can construct it however you want (only caring about liability for negligence etc).
In Michigan, there’s not even a requirement for the road to be gated, you just declare the road “private” and usually that will be indicated on the street sign.
Personally I’d love to get land in an unincorporated area, but definitely not under an HOA. The point of unincorporated land for me is to be able to build a house that’s “too small” or “the wrong color” or install a bunch of large equipment and use it responsibly.
Pretty sure its all legal, we're very rural. In this county you don't need building permits or anything. I think they began insisting on inspection of septic and well installations 20 and 10 years ago, respectively; but other than that its pretty free-for-all.
This is a very rural area, tho; and there's plenty of better built houses (with insulation and such) already available to rent at less than the price these places are going to be asking. The construction of the ancillary stuff, "HOA responsibilities", looks to be as short term as possible. The roads are asphalt laid on undisturbed earth, no foundations, grading, gravel or even ditches.
This project looks like an investor fleecing scam to me; it looks like the whole development is going to be less homely, less enduring, and less appealing than another trailer park.