Recap of Preliminary Transforming Neighborhoods Visit to Traverse City; Advocacy Scoop - The Tax Bill Becomes Law; Quick Updates on Short-Term Rental Considerations in Long Lake, Paradise, and Whitewater Township
This week, we start with the preliminary visit of the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) Consulting Corps, who will be providing analysis and actionable recommendations to increase housing options in the City of Traverse City. Then we invite you to listen to the most recent National Association of REALTORS Advocacy Scoop podcast, where they break down NAR’s key wins in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law. Last, a quick update on short-term rental policy consideration around the region in Long Lake, Paradise, and Whitewater Township.
1. Recap of Preliminary Transforming Neighborhoods Visit to Traverse City
This past week, July 15th and 16th, the lead consultant (Jon Avery, CRE) for the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) Consulting Corps visited the City of Traverse City for the National Association of REALTORS® Transforming Neighborhoods Program that Aspire North REALTORS was accepted for earlier this year (covered in the May 26th GAD Top 3). The CRE Consulting Corps will be providing analysis and actionable recommendations to increase housing options in Traverse City based on the housing needs for Traverse City by 2027 (1,010 rental housing units and 1,192 for-sale housing units) as determined in the 2023 Housing Needs Assessment. CRE Consulting Corps has completed numerous action plans around the country, providing real estate guidance to increase housing production, including in Billings, Montana; Huntsville, Alabama; Spokane, Washington; and Tucson, Arizona, among others.
This past week was a preliminary visit by Jon before the full CRE Consulting Corps team that will be visiting the City of Traverse City from October 27th through October 31st. During this preliminary visit, Jon took a tour of the City of Traverse City - past, current, and future housing development sites - and met with a select group of stakeholders to give him a “lay of the land” of the housing needs and housing development environment in the City of Traverse City. We have put together a schedule with detailed highlights from Jon’s tour and stakeholder meetings, which you can read here.
2. Advocacy Scoop - The Tax Bill Becomes Law
On July 4th, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. Many of the real estate provisions advocated for by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) made it into this final version. In the latest Advocacy Scoop podcast episode, Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn and Vice President of Advocacy Communications and Outreach Patrick Newton break down NAR’s key wins in the bill that support homeowners, drive investment in housing supply, and strengthen the real estate sector. Listen to the podcast here.
3. Quick Updates on Short-Term Rental Considerations in Long Lake, Paradise, and Whitewater Township
With summer in full swing, some local townships are reconsidering their short-term rental policies. Below are some quick summaries of ongoing considerations:
- A staff review of the Charter Township of Long Lake Short-term Rental Ordinance (pages 30 to 39) resulted in a few updates to the township’s Short-term Rental Ordinance to clarify required application information (page 32), issue response by owners or caretakers (page 35), and regulations regarding boat usage (page 37). These updates were provided to the Charter Township of Long Lake at their July 8th Board of Trustees meeting. There are no minutes available at this time to confirm whether these updates were passed by the Board of Trustees. However, these amendments seem to be reasonable clarifications and are worth reviewing if you or your clients may operate a short-term rental in the Charter Township of Long Lake.
- At the July 9th Paradise Township Regular Board Meeting, based on unanimous agreement from the Paradise Township Board on February 12th, 2025, “that they did not want to entertain allowing short-term rentals within the township,” Paradise Township staff recommended zoning ordinance amendments (pages 49 to 53). Updated language was updated for quite a few Paradise Township Zoning Ordinance definitions (pages 50 and 51). Most notably, the following language was added for the rental of non-owner-occupied dwellings in Paradise Township: “A property owner may rent a non-owner-occupied dwelling, provided that the minimum length of time that the dwelling may be rented is 30 days.” (page 52)
This amended stipulation for rental of non-owner-occupied dwellings in Paradise Township has the intention to prevent non-owner-occupied short-term rentals, mirroring similar policy in Peninsula Township. - On July 10th (pages 4 to 20), Whitewater Township continued their consideration of a draft municipal civil infraction ordinance including a schedule of civil fines. We originally reported this draft municipal civil infraction ordinance’s was under consideration as early as April 18th of this year (April 28th, 2025 GAD Top 3). Although not explicitly stated in this agenda packet, previous meetings appear to present an intention to utilize these civil fines against any illegally operating short-term rentals in Whitewater Township. The Civil Fines/Costs proposed are:
- First violation within three years: $75
- Second violation within three years: $250
- Third violation within three years: $500
- Fourth or subsequent violation within three years: $500
You can review the full proposed Whitewater Township proposed Civil Infractions Ordinance here (pages 7 to 14).
