Looks like a PR piece. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Rural%20Studio%27s%202... http://www.prweb.com/releases/ruralstudiosept15/artfarmseren...
It worked, the story is ranked 3 right now on HN.
A house that costs $20k
71–80 of 212 posts
Re: A house that costs $20k
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rent does not build wealth. Rent is the act of transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. Rent is, essentially, theft from society itself, it leaves everyone poorer when most people rent. Rent in America today is identical to the serfs of old. The post-WW2 thing the Government did with getting everyone mortgages so they would be home owners that caused the eventual economic collapse 10 years ago? They had the rig…
>Rent does not build wealth. Rent is the act of transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. That's not a general rule. It really depends on rents, interest rates, and the cost to purchase housing. In a functioning market rents bring in just a tiny bit more than the monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and fees. There have been times in my area where you came out ahead renting, and times when you came out ahea…
> In a functioning market rents bring in just a tiny bit more than the monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and fees.
Which means rent is still transferring money from the poor to the rich. If you have a mortgage, you're hopefully building up equity that can be released when you retire to somewhere smaller or in a cheaper location (which you can do, since you don't need to live near jobs and any kids will have moved out). If you're renting, you pay the same amount but the money that would've gone into equity instead goes to your wealthy landlord. Here in the UK, there's been a huge wave of rich buy-to-let investors buying up properties on mortgages and paying the mortgage off with rent payments.
Re: A house that costs $20k
#73Probably nice for the US, but in much of the rest of the world, it is the price of land which dominate the price. Any system that aims to reduce house prices really need to deal with limited supply of land to build on. Even on Iceland which has vast amounts of space and tiny population, house prices are high because the areas where people want to live is in high demand. Now if you could just build your house at any a…
Indeed. My house is 20 minutes away from the centre of one of the financial capitals of the world. You couldn't buy enough land to build one of those houses on for half a million. You wouldn't get planning permission anyway, and I doubt it meets the local building regulations.
The founder of WikiHouse (open source housing system, similar build cost) wrote a book on the topic: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1850356/ARighttoBuild_CC...
Re: A house that costs $20k
#74> How do you design a home that someone living below the poverty line can afford Why not rent a flat instead? Wouldn't that be much more economical (no property prices, lower heating costs, less maintenance work, less risk, not built on the cheap)? I don't understand the fixation on owning a house / living in a single-family house many americans seem to have.
Rent does not build wealth. Rent is the act of transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. Rent is, essentially, theft from society itself, it leaves everyone poorer when most people rent. Rent in America today is identical to the serfs of old. The post-WW2 thing the Government did with getting everyone mortgages so they would be home owners that caused the eventual economic collapse 10 years ago? They had the rig…
There are many good reasons to rent a house, just as there are many good reasons to own a house. However, there is no God-given right to own a house. If you want to own your own house, work hard, save for it, make a plan, have patience.
Re: A house that costs $20k
#75I love things like this, but also saddened that in the UK the land to put it on would cost at least ten times that amount. The planning system here is a disgrace.
UK housebuilding companies are sitting on (by various estimates) 400,000-600,000 plots of land which have planning permission, but they haven't built on. That's about 3 years' worth of new houses. The reason is to hold up prices, and because (with "ever-rising" prices) if they build in the future they will make more profit. There are problems in the planning system, certainly, but at the moment we need an undeveloped…
Also, if they don't build homes fast enough, the national government steps in and overrules the local planning process, allowing the companies to build on other, more desirable greenfield sites that they ordinarily would never have gotten planning permission for.
Re: A house that costs $20k
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really hope housing becomes a key electoral issue for the next government. The current housing crisis in the UK is impoverishing an entire generation.
The trouble is young people don't vote. Old people do vote, and they get free bus passes, TV licences, ridiculous pension protections and planning laws to protect their house price windfalls.
The trouble is that young people don't believe the major political parties will fulfil their promises even if they do vote for them (and they're probably right).
Re: A house that costs $20k
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rent does not build wealth. Rent is the act of transferring wealth from the poor to the rich. Rent is, essentially, theft from society itself, it leaves everyone poorer when most people rent. Rent in America today is identical to the serfs of old. The post-WW2 thing the Government did with getting everyone mortgages so they would be home owners that caused the eventual economic collapse 10 years ago? They had the rig…
I actually think you are right that the real challenge is spreading fiscal responsibility. However, it doesn't follow that everyone should own a home, or that rent is somehow evil. If you rent, you pay rent. If you own, you pay interest on a loan[1] and maintenance costs. There is also a forced savings component in the form of mortgage principle payments. There are also less tangible benefits to both renting and owni…
When someone buys a house to let, they are making property prices more expensive for everyone. I do however agree with you, in essence. But I find it genuinly shocking you that you see a low cost portfolio as the road to ownership. Perhaps this is a uniquely American philosophy?
The point of contention in this debate, probably boils down to if you see access to housing as a social issue or an investment opportunity.
Re: A house that costs $20k
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
One facet of it is cultural: For a lot of people, someone isn't seen as a "real adult" until he or she owns a residence. (Obligatory "if you have a mortgage you're just renting from the bank and have to fix the water heater yourself" line here.) Another is financial: There are heavy tax incentives towards ownership, though this is lessened in the era of cheap money. (On the other hand, if a mortgage can be had for ch…
>" Still another is logistical: Most areas of the U.S. have very few renter protections. If your landlord wants you out and you're not under a current lease, you're out " This sort of thing happens when you don't have a contract that enumerates what happens if either party wants out.
You can't get a contract like that - the terms are entirely dictated by the landlord in the absence of regulation because of the scarcity of housing.
Re: A house that costs $20k
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
UK housebuilding companies are sitting on (by various estimates) 400,000-600,000 plots of land which have planning permission, but they haven't built on. That's about 3 years' worth of new houses. The reason is to hold up prices, and because (with "ever-rising" prices) if they build in the future they will make more profit. There are problems in the planning system, certainly, but at the moment we need an undeveloped…
The link does not support your assertion that there is planning permission on those plots. After the hand-waving about profits, there are nearly identical quotes from developers explaining that the bottlenecks are planning permission, skilled workers and building materials.
Try this source: http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/...
Re: A house that costs $20k
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
One facet of it is cultural: For a lot of people, someone isn't seen as a "real adult" until he or she owns a residence. (Obligatory "if you have a mortgage you're just renting from the bank and have to fix the water heater yourself" line here.) Another is financial: There are heavy tax incentives towards ownership, though this is lessened in the era of cheap money. (On the other hand, if a mortgage can be had for ch…
I think this is also why home ownership is prized so highly in Britain - at least since the rental market was deregulated.
It goes back much longer. Thatcher's Right to Buy policy successfully tapped into this desire in 1980, and the rental market wasn't deregulated until 1988. Specifically, the properties covered by Right to Buy were strongly eviction-protected.