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

realtor.com

331–340 of 550 posts

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

#331
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

don't forget about algorithmic collusion https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-r...

what proportion of the housing crisis do you think is because of what you linked, and what would be your evidence?

> RealPage widely touts the impact of its products, publicly advertising revenue increases of 2-7%.

https://oag.dc.gov/release/attorney-general-schwalb-sues-rea...

it's a component but not central afaict. of course it's localized and depends on housing market concentration, major metros see a large share of units held by relatively few entities like Greystar.

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

#332
post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on Earth should I feel the slightest obligation to make whole some jerk who bought the right to kick me off a piece of land and lost money when that right became less valuable? I have a much better idea: point, laugh, and say "sucks to suck!"

I did not say anything about how you should feel. That's up to you. I'm telling you why the system works like it does now. You can, of course, choose to deliberately not understand it.

If you didn't mean to imply that I should feel an obligation to compensate the risk of a capital loss, what was your argument?

No, the system works the way it does because it was built by the rich, for the rich, to ensure they had a way to get paid for being rich. You can, of course, choose to deliberately not understand that.

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

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this school of thought? Without renting everyone would have to buy a house / apartment on each move.

without renting though it would probably be more like buying a fridge. You could just buy it when you needed it and sell it when you no longer needed it.

With realtors taking a 10% cut on each transaction? Or do you envision a more liquid market with less paperwork? What about escrow, inspections, and handling disputes on large transactions?

BTW in the US, a big advantage of renting is not having to buy, sell, or maintain appliances like a fridge because the landlord has to deal with it.

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

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realtors are experts in the market. A good realtor pays for themselves by getting you the best selling price or finding the best home for your price range. If you don't understand opportunity cost, then obviously it appears to be a ripoff. But once you understand, it's clear that realtors have value. And realtors are probably going to be the last to be replaced with AI. It's all about value judgement and AI is garbag…

Realtors are indeed market experts (not product experts). Commission pay incentivizes them to close deals quickly, not to maximize sale price. Yes they can educate first time buyers that they cannot simultaneously get the best location, condition of the house, and price. Good realtors will ask their customer which two (or sometimes one) are their real priority and realistically match them to available listings. If yo…

> they legally cannot comment on schools or crime

Which for probably 70-80% of people, especially young couple with or considering children, are the top two things they care about if not the only two things.

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

#335
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that you blame apartment prices on landlords? If you build more apartments then market rent goes down and landlords can't charge more if people can just find cheaper apartments. It's not like landlords just choose whatever price they want - it's significantly bound by the demand.

Markets aren’t magic, they are the result of people pushing back and forth on each other. What do you mean by “blame?” I felt like my post was generally in the less-finger-pointing direction.

I guess I'm just confused why your entire comment is about landlords and the super-wealthy when the article and message you are responding to don't mention either.

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

#336
post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The force applies to "inflated," e.g. they agreed to pay a fee but were forced to pay an inflated fee. Not they were forced to pay any fee at all.

I don't understand the point of this clarification.

There is a difference between "forced to pay a fee" and "forced to pay an inflated fee." The GP said it's not about being forced to pay a particular commission, which is the first one, which is accurate.

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

#337

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

Have you ever owned property before? Maintaining property is a lot of work and locking up that much capital is a lot of risk. I personally think it’s usually a shitty investment and a waste of my life, so I’m glad to pay someone else to use theirs.

I have. it is work but definitely not a lot. It's more financial stress but that evaporates as your finances go up. Some people just like the control or have the asset though. Its all around a societal drain imo.

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

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have yet to read a comprehensive overview of how this happened and how we get out of it Allow me to introduce you to Bryan Caplan - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1952223415

i would love to hear a YIMBY consider the market forces/how capitalism works and not just reduce it to regulation. aka when it costs over $500k to build a single apartment unit and most of those costs are construction with very little of the regulation burden driving up that cost.

Permitting admin is part of regulation, which in turn is required for construction.

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

#339
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The common factor: the capital class screwing over the working class. This thought terminating cliche is getting real old. What are your solutions? and what evidence do you have that those solutions will solve the problems? Shaking your fists at "the elites" and regurgitating populist slop is not going to

It's the opposite of a thought-terminating cliche. It refers to an entire world and body of work, which include solutions. You could start by reading Marx, who laid a lot of the groundwork. > Shaking your fists at "the elites" and regurgitating populist slop is not going to I like the way you trailed off halfway through your knee-jerk reaction, underscoring just how much your response is an automated result of indoct…

> It's the opposite of a thought-terminating cliche

> You could start by reading Marx, who laid a lot of the groundwork.

Are you aware that you just responded with another? You did the "read theory" meme lol

> I like the way you trailed off halfway through your knee-jerk reaction, underscoring just how much your response is an automated result of indoctrination

so you don't have solutions or evidence is what I'm gathering? just another lefty populist spouting tired platitudes?

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then let's move all land ownership to the government and let landlords build housing on it

The landlords could then pay rents to the local government. We could call that landlord taxes or something and use that to fund local services with them. Wait...

Property taxes are voted on by property owners under the steepest moral hazard while leases are actually competitive: this is the difference between the government capturing a minimal vs maximal fraction of the land rents.

If you genuinely think there is little difference, why do you care so much about not switching to a lease system?

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