7 ms·

What about the many, many thousands of homes that have already been bought up?

by lif 8mo ago

Simulacra 8mo ago
I'm not sure if they could be forced to sell those, the government could, but then that would fall under just compensation seizure. I'm not a lawyer, but it would seem under basic legal theory that you couldn't take those homes.
- causal 8mo ago
  The Comrade Trump memes would go crazy
- Octoth0rpe 8mo ago
  Not that I expect this particular strategy from this administration, but there's 'forced' as in "you WILL sell this property", and there's 'forced' as in "any corporate owned housing unit will see its property tax rate increase by 25% per year until it is sold to a person". I don't think your description could apply to the latter.
seydor 8mo ago
If they cannot be resold to other speculators their price can go waaay down
- Aurornis 8mo ago
  The vast majority of home purchases aren't from speculators or institutional investors. Institutional investors only own about 0.5% of homes. If they're forced to stop buying, nothing will really change in a noticeable way. At best, small landlords and investors will scoop attractive properties up for slightly less.
  - ntonozzi 8mo ago
    Maybe the best part of this legislation will be that people will realize it's not institutional investors that are driving up home prices. No, that's far too optimistic.
    - tbrownaw 8mo ago
      When this doesn't make anything better, the conclusion won't be that it was a bad idea but that it somehow didn't go far enough.
      - ntonozzi 8mo ago
        Home affordability is getting better anyways, which is great, because we are finally having a surge in new & denser home building in popular regions and there mortgage rates are more reasonable than they were in the COVID-era.
  - Octoth0rpe 8mo ago
    > Institutional investors only own about 0.5% of homes Where they buy those homes matters though. In areas with lots of jobs/growth (often the areas experiencing the most housing price pain), that number is likely much higher.
  - antonymoose 8mo ago
    Is that 0.5% a uniform distribution across the United States or is it concentrated in a handful of hot markets? I suspect the latter and have to imagine some distortion must be occurring in those regions.
- xadhominemx 8mo ago
  Nonsense. Do you think these landlords intentionally overpaid for the properties? They are sophisticated entities who like to pay at or below fair value.
  - roywiggins 8mo ago
    It happens https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051941654/zillow-will-stop-buying-and-renovating-homes-and-cut-25-of-its-workforce https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051941654/zillow-will-stop-b...
  - olyjohn 8mo ago
    It's pretty simple, you overpay for something if you suspect it will be worth even more in the future.
- usefulcat 8mo ago
  The only way that prices could go waaay down is if the supply of new homes increases or demand decreases (or some combination of both). Which of those do you think is likely as a result of the proposed action, and why?
aagha 8mo ago
Great point. Those homes need to be back on the market for housing prices to come down.
- hypeatei 8mo ago
  These homes going back on the market wouldn't make a dent in housing prices. As much as we'd like to think that corporations are to blame, that's not reality. Plenty of middle class families own homes and vote for local politicians to keep their investment safe (and for it to increase in value) by making it hard to build.
- jeffbee 8mo ago
  Your housing affordability plan is that everyone who rents from a corporation gets evicted?
bdcravens 8mo ago
IF it results in dramatic reduction of home prices, this sounds great at first, but in actuality, it throws the market into disarray, since many sellers and also buyers, and it may trap home owners who need to sell into bankruptcy.
- potato3732842 8mo ago
  God forbid someone not sell out of their home. /s Home ownership isn't exactly a crappy life milestone to be stuck at. Yeah it would suck for a select few people who need to get out of one and into another RFN due to life reasons and surely some municipalities would leverage that to really screw people but I think the upside is orders of magnitude higher than the downside. Come to think of it, I bet making homes less liquid would knock the divorce rate down more than anyone wants to believe it would, lol
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
standardUser 8mo ago
Tax vacant properties. To high heaven.

What about the many, many thousands of homes that have already been bought up?

by lif 8mo ago

What about the many, many thousands of homes that have already been bought up?

I'm not sure if they could be forced to sell those, the government could, but then that would fall under just compensation seizure. I'm not a lawyer, but it would seem under basic legal theory that you couldn't take those homes.

causal 8mo ago
The Comrade Trump memes would go crazy
Octoth0rpe 8mo ago
Not that I expect this particular strategy from this administration, but there's 'forced' as in "you WILL sell this property", and there's 'forced' as in "any corporate owned housing unit will see its property tax rate increase by 25% per year until it is sold to a person". I don't think your description could apply to the latter.

seydor 8mo ago

If they cannot be resold to other speculators their price can go waaay down

Aurornis 8mo ago
The vast majority of home purchases aren't from speculators or institutional investors. Institutional investors only own about 0.5% of homes. If they're forced to stop buying, nothing will really change in a noticeable way. At best, small landlords and investors will scoop attractive properties up for slightly less.
- ntonozzi 8mo ago
  Maybe the best part of this legislation will be that people will realize it's not institutional investors that are driving up home prices. No, that's far too optimistic.
  - tbrownaw 8mo ago
    When this doesn't make anything better, the conclusion won't be that it was a bad idea but that it somehow didn't go far enough.
    - ntonozzi 8mo ago
      Home affordability is getting better anyways, which is great, because we are finally having a surge in new & denser home building in popular regions and there mortgage rates are more reasonable than they were in the COVID-era.
- Octoth0rpe 8mo ago
  > Institutional investors only own about 0.5% of homes Where they buy those homes matters though. In areas with lots of jobs/growth (often the areas experiencing the most housing price pain), that number is likely much higher.
- antonymoose 8mo ago
  Is that 0.5% a uniform distribution across the United States or is it concentrated in a handful of hot markets? I suspect the latter and have to imagine some distortion must be occurring in those regions.
xadhominemx 8mo ago
Nonsense. Do you think these landlords intentionally overpaid for the properties? They are sophisticated entities who like to pay at or below fair value.
- roywiggins 8mo ago
  It happens https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051941654/zillow-will-stop-buying-and-renovating-homes-and-cut-25-of-its-workforce https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051941654/zillow-will-stop-b...
- olyjohn 8mo ago
  It's pretty simple, you overpay for something if you suspect it will be worth even more in the future.
usefulcat 8mo ago
The only way that prices could go waaay down is if the supply of new homes increases or demand decreases (or some combination of both). Which of those do you think is likely as a result of the proposed action, and why?

aagha 8mo ago

Great point. Those homes need to be back on the market for housing prices to come down.

hypeatei 8mo ago
These homes going back on the market wouldn't make a dent in housing prices. As much as we'd like to think that corporations are to blame, that's not reality. Plenty of middle class families own homes and vote for local politicians to keep their investment safe (and for it to increase in value) by making it hard to build.
jeffbee 8mo ago
Your housing affordability plan is that everyone who rents from a corporation gets evicted?

bdcravens 8mo ago

IF it results in dramatic reduction of home prices, this sounds great at first, but in actuality, it throws the market into disarray, since many sellers and also buyers, and it may trap home owners who need to sell into bankruptcy.

potato3732842 8mo ago
God forbid someone not sell out of their home. /s Home ownership isn't exactly a crappy life milestone to be stuck at. Yeah it would suck for a select few people who need to get out of one and into another RFN due to life reasons and surely some municipalities would leverage that to really screw people but I think the upside is orders of magnitude higher than the downside. Come to think of it, I bet making homes less liquid would knock the divorce rate down more than anyone wants to believe it would, lol
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]

standardUser 8mo ago

Tax vacant properties. To high heaven.