Ren
What some posters fail to understand is that many of todays first time buyers have great jobs with higher incomes and great upward mobility but often lack two key things – time and large down payments. They want newer turnkey houses because they can easily serivce the debt but dont have $30 to $50K lying around for remodeling. They work long hard hours during the week and want to enjoy their weekends with their young children not spend them fixing paint, drywall, roofs, plumbing and electrical issues. They havent gone through multiple home remodelling projects and dont have time or interest in learning the ins n outs of doing them. Turnkey fits their financial position and lifestyle. For buyers like that its the right way to go.
FWIW, Mello Roos actually helped prevent overbuilding in my neighborhood. The developers were forced to set aside land for a school (that wasnt actually needed anytime soon and is being landbanked for the longterm) and to use a modest MR bonds to finance the purchase. The developers would have loved to build another couple hundred homes there but couldnt. Without MR there would have been no mechanism for the land to be purchased and the developers would have most likely just been able to add more density here.
