I read Kel Darnell‘s March 16 guest opinion about rent control in the Daily Camera. I agree with some of Darnell’s points, but the biggest problem in Boulder in my opinion is not rent control or affordable rental properties but the lack of single-family homes, townhomes and condos that are affordable to middle-class families who actually want to live in them, not buy them and rent them, or replace them with a more expensive home to sell to a higher class family.

I have lived in Boulder since 1987. When we moved to Boulder, we bought a 900-square-foot townhouse in North Boulder, lived in it for three years, sold it and bought a single-family home in the same area that we have lived in since 1990.

All the homes in our neighborhood at that time were owned by families who lived in them. There were lots of kids that my kids played with in the area as they grew up and attended local schools.

Over the years we have seen many of those homes sold and not bought by other families but by investors that include what Darnell calls “small operators” and even by corporations who buy many homes, townhomes, condos or entire apartment complexes. These investors offer cash and have the means to outbid families who want to live in the house that is for sale and who would need to take out a mortgage. Just looking out my kitchen window I see four homes nearby that are rental properties that use to be owned by a family. There are a lot more in the neighborhood that are rentals to the point I don’t know who owns a house anymore. One house at the end of my driveway is a rental with four CU students, each of whom has their own car. They are nice students, but that house used to be owned by an elderly couple who we were friends with and then a younger person who later sold to an investor who now rents it.

The solution to the loss of middle-income houses, in my opinion, is up to sellers who should make a conscious decision to sell to a family, not the highest bidder. Case in point, my mother passed away a couple of years ago, leaving a house she and my dad lived in since 1961. My siblings and I did not want to live in the house or town where the house was located and we did not want to rent it, so we decided to sell it. It was a lower-appraised home in a nice middle-income neighborhood. When we put it on the market we got numerous offers almost immediately. The highest-priced offers were from investors, not families. We made a conscious decision to not sell to an investor that would rent it or flip it, only seriously looking at families that wanted to live there. We settled on a young couple for whom the house would be their first home. She was pregnant and had relatives who lived in the neighborhood. Their parents, uncles, aunts, and siblings were all excited about this couple buying the house and living nearby.

We sold it to them for a lesser price than investors would have paid, but my siblings and I felt happy that we had made the right decision.

My point is, sellers, do the right thing and don’t just go for the money. Think about who is buying your property. Investors, quit being so greedy. In my opinion, it is you and real estate agents who caused the overpriced homes in Boulder in the first place and elsewhere, not necessarily a lack of homes. Our house that we have lived in for 33 years is assessed way more than we paid for it, to the point of being ridiculous. We have made improvements to it over the years and hope we can live it in until my wife and I pass on. We want to leave it for our children to either live in themselves or to sell. However, we will put stipulations in our will that the house is not sold to an investor, but to a family, even if it sells for a little less.

Jeff Connor lives in Boulder.