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Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

realtor.com

111–120 of 550 posts

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#111
Don't live in the US, but we're facing similar problems here in Norway. One main driver is that there's not being built enough new housing. It's a combination of building being too expensive, higher interest rates, etc.

So the second-hand/used market is red hot. Renting has become so expensive, that many landlords have exited - so we're likely heading into a really bad crunch in the near future for the renters. I've read about people spending 50%-60% of their net pay on rent alone.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realtors earn commissions as a % of the price a house sells for.

Merch has to move for them to earn a percentage. If prices are systematically too high I would guess liquidity goes down.

Nothing a 50 year mortgage can't fix, I'm sure that article will be coming out soon to from our realtor friends.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite cruel how Germans still keep up appearances with applying for the apartment with elaborate portfolio, full personal and financial data, letters and so on. While the only portfolio that matters is envelope with EUR 1500 in cash, or at least was 2-3 years ago and now is probably higher. 5-8 years ago it was maybe funny but now is simply cruel.

I have never heard of someone paying cash to get an apartment tbh

People who do don't have the time to talk with you about it:)

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#114

Landlords are the least productive class in society, and it's not even close in terms of ranking.

It's worth being precise about this because it's a really important point. Most people who we call "landlords" are simultaneously a landlord and a property manager. Property management is an important and productive job. But the vast majority of such people's financial outcome is actually from being a landlord , that is doing literally nothing except holding a piece of paper granting them monopoly on a plot of land.…

A landlord is doing exactly the same thing as an investor. They are tying up their capital in exchange for an income, and the possibility of a capital gain.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#115

Landlords are the least productive class in society, and it's not even close in terms of ranking.

If it's so easy to make money without doing anything as a landlord, what's stopping you from doing it and donating the profits to charity?

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#116

Landlords are the least productive class in society, and it's not even close in terms of ranking.

It's worth being precise about this because it's a really important point. Most people who we call "landlords" are simultaneously a landlord and a property manager. Property management is an important and productive job. But the vast majority of such people's financial outcome is actually from being a landlord , that is doing literally nothing except holding a piece of paper granting them monopoly on a plot of land.…

I'm going to assume ignorance and try to explain why landlords exist. Of course you could already understand this and have this as an ideological stance, in which case my effort is likely wasted.

Landlords assume a similar role in economy that banks do, they assume risk on your belalf. We have quantified this to an extent that you can reliably put a dollar amount on how much risk there is.

When you are renting and there is a job change or war or natural disaster or really, anything inconvenient at all, you can more or less walk away without losing much.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#118

The problem is absolutley that housing is too expensive, which of course a bunch of realtors are not going to point out. Increasing wages will not fix the housing crisis, and will just drive prices higher. How convenient for a bunch of realtors...

Realtors don’t own the houses.

The gp you replied to mentioned "realtors" because this thread's article domain is: realtor.com

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's time to abolish apartment buildings then. And how dare someone want to rent a house/condo/apartment when they only expect to live in a city for a couple years.

Landlords do not create apartment buildings. Developers do that. Developers should get more reward for developing things and landlords should get less. Landlords do not manage properties. Property managers do that. Property managers should get more reward for managing properties and landlords should get less. Sometimes these are the same individuals and they lump their fees into a single check, but these are not the…

How else do live in an area short term, with no desire to purchase property, without the existence of someone owning the rented property?

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#120
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at real, median household income. It's been going up and up. The things that have gone up in relative cost are housing (because we heavily regulate building it) and premium services like healthcare and education because of Baumol.

Link for the curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect Baumol plus zoning and NIMBY driven real estate hyperinflation basically explain the modern economic malaise among especially the young. I’ve also heard this called “in-deflation.” Inflation in everything you need, deflation in everything you make.

Thank you for linking what I was too lazy to link.

To add, politics usually responds to Baumol by subsidizing demand and/or more regulation. Needles to say both make it worse. Article: https://www.niskanencenter.org/cost-disease-socialism-how-su...

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