Worth noting both Adam Smith and Marx agreed that landlords were parasites.
Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
211–220 of 764 posts
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#212"I'm not doing any harm," you say. "I just want to keep what I own, that's all." You own! You are like someone who sits down in a theater and keeps everyone else away, saying that what is there for everyone's use is your own...If everyone took only what they needed and gave the rest to those in need, there would be no such thing as rich and poor. After all, didn't you come into life naked, and won't you return naked…
It’s cute, but not a very practical philosophy though. Most valued resources are physically finite. Who decides how beachfront properties are allocated? Who decides who should clean the toilets?
We give the beachfront properties to the people who clean the toilets?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
"our" neighborhood implies that you own it - so if you owned something, and sold it, how can you complain that someone (or gasp, a corporation) is buying when you're selling?
Quoted post unavailable.
Textbook NIMBYism. Just because you bought a place does not entitle you to having the surrounding vicinity stay in stasis until you leave.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#214Basic human rights are largely bulkshit to cover up the real motivation in the U.S. elsewhere,money.
Unbelievable many here buy into the quaint notion anyone cares about everyone having a roof over their head the own and can then pay rent through taxes.
If you want your veil of a lie that everyone gets a house they own you have to make it so, not whine about a reality you are way late to discover. Geez.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#215Unethical? Should be disallowed period. I do strongly believe that once a propery is yours what you do with it is your concern and nobody else's. However, the business practice of purchasing properties to profit from selling it again in the future should not be allowed. So, what should happen is the government should not allow the transfer of ownership when the seller has a) multiple properties and b) is selling a pr…
If companies can't own houses, and people can't own more than their primary residence, where should renters live?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#216Like another comment here mentioned, housing is complicated. People don't want to live in a random house in the middle of nowhere ('roof over your head'). Some people prefer to be homeless on the street versus getting to a roof over their head that they don't like. People want to live where they want to live (near family, jobs, culture etc) Take NYC for instance. Politicians try to address the NYC housing crisis from…
It's amazing how many people in government globally refuse to understand this. The UK government has just been talking about inheritable 50 year mortgages. No one wants to build more housing. I think it might help people understand to put it in terms like this: there are 100 housing units out there and 150 people. How do we solve the problem?
Yes, a ton of new homes need to be built, but also a lot of the existing homes are empty. The US has a vacancy rate of somewhere near 10%.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#217Like another comment here mentioned, housing is complicated. People don't want to live in a random house in the middle of nowhere ('roof over your head'). Some people prefer to be homeless on the street versus getting to a roof over their head that they don't like. People want to live where they want to live (near family, jobs, culture etc) Take NYC for instance. Politicians try to address the NYC housing crisis from…
It's amazing how many people in government globally refuse to understand this. The UK government has just been talking about inheritable 50 year mortgages. No one wants to build more housing. I think it might help people understand to put it in terms like this: there are 100 housing units out there and 150 people. How do we solve the problem?
Land is an asset. It needs to be a liability.
Virtually every other problem is either a distraction or an indirect consequence (e.g. NIMBYs, too much luxury housing) of this core issue.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#218>a basic human right You do not have a basic human right to the labor of the people who build and maintain these houses. This is where this entire discussion collapses for me. Yes, I agree there needs to be more access to housing. And it’s frustrating to me that our government is too inept to simply provide it. For instance: we have committed to about 45 Billion to Ukraine. At a cost of $100k/unit (achievable at scal…
> You do not have a basic human right to the labor of the people who build and maintain these houses.
But you should have the right to live under a government who provide this for you.
It's like saying that you don't have a basic human right to have that doctor help you – no you don't, but you do have a right to have a doctor help you.
Safe housing is a human right, as is healthcare, as is food and water, because these things are essential for life.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#219I definitely do. It's something that turns a basic necessity into a speculative asset, with a price distorted by the money poured into it. Airbnb is also a deeply harmful influence on housing prices. Imagine if we did the same thing with, say, water: privatized it and then "democratized" ownership of it. It's easy to get retail investors to buy things at inflated, speculative prices, so the price of water would go up…
> Imagine if we did the same thing with, say, water: privatized it and then "democratized" ownership of it. We're watching this happen before our eyes.
You won't have to imagine for long.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?
#220This is part of what I'm choosing to call the Tyranny of Austrian Economists [1]. There is an irrational belief, particularly in the US, that the market will somehow magically solve everything. What you have with institutional investment in real estate, NIMBYism and the treatment of housing as an asset where it becomes a political goal to increase its value (and thus, by definition, reduce its accessibility) is an ex…
I'm having trouble understanding your claim that "markets don't solve everything" and then give an example of a market, that you claims has been captured by unethical interests.
I mean yeah, of course the market doesn't solve that problem, because... it's not a free market?