Now, before you even go there, consider this:

If you finance a Camden County impact fee of $2,105 at 5% for 30 years, the monthly payment on that amount is only $11.30. If an additional $11.30 will kill the deal, you were really not yet in a position to buy a house anyway.

I am of course referring to the accurate, though far from complete, quote in today's T&G of my remarks at the hearing on the suspension of the county impact fees held recently in front of the Planning and Development Board.

In my complete statement, I made it clear that I realized that there is no such thing a a newly constructed $100,000 house anymore and went on to point out that on a more typical $200,000 house, the impact fee constitutes a mere 1.05 % of the purchase price.

And no, my remaining hair was not on fire when I made those comments. :-)

The reported quote:

Also speaking during the
first hearing, St. Marys resident
Jay Moreno said he
believed that the $2,000 impact
would never deter
someone who was intending
to build a new home.

“I spent $2,000 on a fence
in my back yard. It was just
a regular fence for my dog.
If $2,000 is critical in the
decision to build or not,
that person has no business
building a new home. It’s
hard to build a home for
under $200,000 these days,
but even for a $100,000 new
home, that’s only 2.105 percent
of the total cost of construction,”
Moreno said.

Tribune and Georgian, 3/12/10, page 12-A.

I would note also that if, indeed, banks are requiring a 25% downpayment, 25% of $2,105.00 is $526.25. Again, if an extra $526.25 on the downpayment is keeping you out of the housing market, you're not ready yet. My word, a family of four would not have to skip very many trips to a restaurant or eat too many Tuna Helper dishes before they would have saved $526.25. Gimme a break, Charlene!