According to a recent study from Zillow, the typical "starter home" is worth at least $1 million in 237 cities, the highest number of cities ever. Plus, almost half of those cities are in California.
Billionaires and rent-seeking companies. There are at least three national companies I can think of who are hoarding single-family homes in major cities and renting them out.
Generally they purchase at scale via REO scenarios, and provide no value whatsoever while driving up prices drastically
One example is a company called “Progress,” no better or worse than the others but with a meaningful web presence if you’re curious.
It isn’t the billionaires, it is the funds the billionaires and multimillionaires invest in. I have seen these funds buy under-privileged neighborhoods almost in their entirety in less than a year. They replace the cabinets with builder grade stuff they buy in bulk, same with the carpet, a few.light fixtures and a coat of paint (maybe $5k investment) and they rent them out to working families. A neighborhood goes from ghetto to starter within two years, but rents go from ~$800 to ~$2200 as well. Also, those homes will never be within reach for anyone looking to purchase.
I actually think we need to cap rent increases to about 2%. In a little over 14 years, your rent doubles at 5%. So $2.5k/mo becomes $5k/month- $60k/year! Since wages have largely stagnated, most renters would be in an even worse place (although definitely better than 10% increases).
Kill the billionaires who horde homes.
Ban, and jail, participation in price fixing systems that most people use, especially apartments, to price their product.
Kill the billionaires.
Put caps on resell values of 5% per year to stop flippers.
Again, kill the billionaires.
Set maximum rent increases to 5%.
Kill the… etc.
Billionaires and rent-seeking companies. There are at least three national companies I can think of who are hoarding single-family homes in major cities and renting them out.
Generally they purchase at scale via REO scenarios, and provide no value whatsoever while driving up prices drastically
One example is a company called “Progress,” no better or worse than the others but with a meaningful web presence if you’re curious.
Maybe we should progress on Progress.
Also Black Rock.
It isn’t the billionaires, it is the funds the billionaires and multimillionaires invest in. I have seen these funds buy under-privileged neighborhoods almost in their entirety in less than a year. They replace the cabinets with builder grade stuff they buy in bulk, same with the carpet, a few.light fixtures and a coat of paint (maybe $5k investment) and they rent them out to working families. A neighborhood goes from ghetto to starter within two years, but rents go from ~$800 to ~$2200 as well. Also, those homes will never be within reach for anyone looking to purchase.
Well, of billionaires who invested in these funds found themselves with fewer fingers, they might reconsider their investments.
I actually think we need to cap rent increases to about 2%. In a little over 14 years, your rent doubles at 5%. So $2.5k/mo becomes $5k/month- $60k/year! Since wages have largely stagnated, most renters would be in an even worse place (although definitely better than 10% increases).
I’m down for 2% 😁
https://media1.tenor.com/m/r5FOkTjCCfMAAAAC/hypnotoad-futurama.gif