Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

571–580 of 634 posts

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#571

Post by seanmcdirmid »

davidw wrote: post #557
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everywhere is struggling with housing right now, because nowhere has built enough since the great recession That was my original point in another thread (under building during the great recession + an exodus of building talent). > It does not strike me as a particularly attractive place to live - but I'm not a big city person, and prefer more mountains/nature. Its population has sure been growing, though, indicatin…

Demand certainly contributes to rising prices if supply lags. Houston does a much better job than other places of adding supply, and part of that is their 'zoning-lite' approach.

I don't know. If Houston is the poster child for the zoning-lite approach, a lot of people won't be interested in going in that direction. Or to say, if zoning creates a problem with affordability and the lack of zoning creates a problem quality of life, it doesn't sound like getting rid of zoning is a no brainer.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#572

Post by pvarangot »

mercutio2 wrote: post #552
pvarangot wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

San Francisco, Seattle and Portland are great cities. Austin is a great city. Don't believe what the conservative media wants you to believe about SF or what the liberal media wants to make you believe about Austin. Those cities are used as an "example" of what the democrats/republicans "will do with the country" if they win national elections. It's been going on for like 30 years and if like 1% of what they said was…

I generally agree with your points! Except the reason people in my social circle would never move to Austin isn’t about guns, it’s about women’s access to quality reproductive care, including abortion. And I don’t think the democrats are exaggerating the extent to which that is not an option in Texas.

Yeah of course every once in a while you'll get something that's both real and both sucks about Austin and about San Francisco. That's how you get fuel to be able to exaggerate about everything else for a couple more years.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#573

Post by secabeen »

pdonis wrote: post #545
wolverine876 wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Fed has essentially trapped us in a system where the likes of blackrock get access to essentially free Fed printing press money right of the rollers that they then use to buy up real assets at inflated prices, which only drives up the inflation that thereby also drives up the value of previous purchases at near zero rate interest. It's a trendy thing to say, especially in certain political circles, but could yo…

> could you substantiate it with something from a serious, non-partisan economist? The fact that printed money is fueling the housing market does not require an economist to see; it is obvious from comparing two simple observations: (1) Americans expect to be able to get 30 year mortgages at rates around 3%. (2) Americans expect to be able to invest their retirement savings in stocks and bonds with a long term rate o…

Yep. Fannie and Freddie are buying nearly all of the mortgages in the US right now, so the only people lending money at 3% (or less) is the US government.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#575

Post by HarryHirsch »

rsj_hn wrote: post #565
HarryHirsch wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does demand for housing increase? Falling mortgage, downpayment assistance programs, government guaranteed loans. Also growing population and people moving to areas where the jobs are. Most recently: pandemic refugees from NYC and California settling in adjacent areas. When demand changes for a good with inelastic supply you see large excursions in price. And housing is also larger than 20 years ago. That's a pro…

> Also growing population and people moving to areas where the jobs are. Most recently: pandemic refugees from NYC and California settling in adjacent areas. When demand changes for a good with inelastic supply you see large excursions in price. Right, when there is a disruption. Say there is an increase in jobs in city A and wages rise by 10%. Say there is a decrease in jobs in city B and wages decrease by 10%. Now…

economic interventions based on sentimental intuition -- "it's not fair that you should be evicted if you are laid off"

We pay people unemployment compensation because the knock-on effects from someone taking the next-best job are serious, and it's immensely difficult to recover from an eviction. There's volumes of research on that. The "sentimentality" has vast economic benefits.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#576

Post by ryanobjc »

meetups323 wrote: post #449
noahtallen wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> COVID, defund the police, rising crime, suburbs more attractive with work from home, etc. If there are any cities for which this is true, it’s cities like Seattle and Portland. Theoretically, they are not desirable to live in because of COVID, very high crime rates, not idea for working from home, huge public safety problems, etc. But rent is higher than it has ever been.

Yes, they are very not desirable, so much crime, poor working from home experience, poor public safety, everything else the MSM wants you to believe, etc. Definitely don't come here.... Or maybe your sources are more interested in selling fear than accuracy.

Exactly this. If these places are so terrible, at least according to uh, fox news, then why are they still so desirable?

One thing to remember is that sqft != quality of life. I know where to get tons of sqft, but I will be driving an hour every day to even find food. Quality of life... maybe if you never leave the house? ha!

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#577

Post by throw123123123 »

cwkoss wrote: post #384
game_the0ry wrote: post #255

Former real estate finance professional, here. If you were hoping this was a sign of the real estate market falling and perhaps its your chance to get a bargain, think again. > The company is seeking roughly $2.8 billion for the houses, which are being pitched to institutional investors, according to people familiar with the matter. Institutional investors (Blackstone, Blackrock, Colony, et al) will be being in bulk,…

Every person or corporation that owns more than one residential dwelling should pay increased property taxes based on the number of residential dwellings they own. This is an easy problem to legislate away, our politicians are just too cowardly to decommodify housing.

Why tax, just make it illegal? Isn't that what you really want to achieve?

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#578

Post by camdat »

throw123123123 wrote: post #570
rozap wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No ban, just huge property taxes for non-primary residences.

I don't get this thinking. What is the difference between one landlord with 2 properties or 2 landlords each with one property? Why is the latter better than the former?

Where would these two landlords be living? Both would be exactly the same if the landlord doesn't rent.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#579

Post by ItsMonkk »

wallacoloo wrote: post #402
wonderwonder wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I dont understand (which I am open too) but it does not seem to make sense unless we transition to a centrally managed economy. Supply and demand drive the price of housing. Whether a house is purchased as an investment or not, it will appreciate based on a variety of factors, including quality of schools, proximity to jobs, etc. If the price of housing did not fluctuate based on demand, and everyone could affo…

I think the way this looks in GP’s proposal is “he who can afford to pay the most rent (taxes) gets the home”, which is a lot like the current system you describe except the rent (taxes) goes toward funding the city and improving such public goods as the schools and roads you mention, instead of rewarding speculators.

Yes, exactly. I go into a bit more in how I envision the plan in a previous post[0]. A much better introduction to the LVT is this book review[1].

People would still bid for the home. You might get one offer for $190k, another offer for $200k. But if enough homes got bid up in the area, taxes would rise and those high bidders would probably lose a small amount.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28525712

[1]: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-progr...

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#580

Post by zzzzzzzza »

pdonis wrote: post #545
wolverine876 wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Fed has essentially trapped us in a system where the likes of blackrock get access to essentially free Fed printing press money right of the rollers that they then use to buy up real assets at inflated prices, which only drives up the inflation that thereby also drives up the value of previous purchases at near zero rate interest. It's a trendy thing to say, especially in certain political circles, but could yo…

> could you substantiate it with something from a serious, non-partisan economist? The fact that printed money is fueling the housing market does not require an economist to see; it is obvious from comparing two simple observations: (1) Americans expect to be able to get 30 year mortgages at rates around 3%. (2) Americans expect to be able to invest their retirement savings in stocks and bonds with a long term rate o…

the money being lent is bank money.. not printed by the fed but by your local bank.
Post reply on HN