Ask HN: Anyone else feels the commoditization of real estate is unethical?

The tax break should be made if someone's primary residence is occupied for at least 35% of a tax year. A number intentionally just a tiny bit bigger than one third, so the break can only apply to a maximum of two homes, but low enough to be flexible.

I'm living in a rural mountain village that has become a little more trendy since remote work became a thing. It was a sleepy relaxed place comprised mostly of kind people.

Of course a wealth property mogul has snaked his way into the village after seeing an opportunity and now hunts down houses, out pricing local people and young families if possible and then sells the houses to the hedge fund he is working for, or buys them with his own personal wealth with plans to sell it later on at a much higher price than he paid for it to another wealth friend who doesn't even live in the same country.

This guy is actually hoping that his money will also drive up prices after other villagers see they could get more money (potentially) if they'd sell to him. Obviously people are free to choose who they sell to. But what a thing to try do? Essentially encourage the destruction of a community by waving money around. He will even interject on previously arranged deals and offer double the money hoping others can't pay and tempts the seller to take his money.

None of this behavior adds value to the community, it tears it apart, they just take. They use money to bully and create stress for everyone who genuinely would like to live here or start a business. Robbing people the chance to live a relaxed way of life and raise a family without too much financial pressure.

I talk with the guy and funnily enough he told me he'd occasionally "gift a house to a local family" rather than some other rich asshole so he looks like a nice guy and presumably older people fall for his cons and sell their places to him. I've also heard him tell me he has had death threats made against him, so yeah, this is what his behavior drives people too.

My only hope is, people, on average choose community over money, but in the world we live in with inflation etc, I can't blame them if they feel pressured to sell to the highest bidder.

I want finish this rant by saying this, everyone else in this community adds value by farming, running stores, running schools, being doctors, mechanics etc. This person adds nothing, he only takes for his own gain. Encourages others to come in and run businesses her purchased at a cheaper price.

He uses the very things people work hard to produce and which make the village a beautiful place, to sell it to other people. Similar to how Uber and Lyft make money out of the roads people pay for through taxes. It's leeching.

If anyone is / would like to work on something to further these ideas about definancializing housing please comment.

Land value taxes encourage development because the tax is levied on the _unimproved_ value of the land, so you're incentivised to maximize the value of the improvements of the property.

At least that's the theory.

>making property taxes substantially higher for non-owner-occupied property.

>but everyone who owns property would be against it because they don't want to see their assets drop in value.

After the initial dip, prices will rise again because residents will vote out every city government that tries to implement zoning that doesn't increase the value of their property.