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Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

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Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#191

Post by seltzered_ »

beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

Are you sure that it's foreign buyers?

While it has been true in the Vancouver market, I read an article recently mentioning otherwise for Seattle: http://www.sightline.org/2017/07/05/stop-blaming-foreign-hom...

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#192

Post by SandersAK »

rsync wrote: post #180
beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

"To me, this is absurd. This is a human rights issue (homelessness is growing by a large amount)." Homelessness is a mental health issue. Nobody is homeless because of foreign speculators. Yes, people are indeed incentivized to relocate to housing markets that Chinese people have never heard of like, for instance, Tacoma . If those people spent half their time working and saving (like their parents did) as they spent…

Mental health is one reason why people are homeless but it's not the only one.

The reasons you're bringing up are strawmen at best. The people who are homeless or on the brink of homelessness are not complaining about artisanal food stuffs.

In Oakland, a family of 4 has been living in a single family home for 15 years. This year, after new owners purchased the property, the rent went up 100% in one year. Needless to say, they are facing a housing crisis where they will be homeless.

If you want to understand the severity of the situation, I suggest just literally googling "homelessness housing crisis bay area" and read all the both qualitative and quantitive reporting done on the issue.

Here's a brief stat overview to refute your claim that it's a "mental issue" primarily: http://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/2016-homelessness-statis...

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#193

Post by sushisource »

mistermann wrote: post #86
beebmam wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, your career really does take you where it takes you. I'm in the same boat. I've lived here for 5 years and have been saving, was getting pretty close to being able to afford a house, and the last year or so has seen such a huge increase in home prices and a decrease in availability that I've given up hope.

The funny thing is, if you grit your teeth and bought recently or even now, it's possible you could retire on the capital gains in Or you could be bankrupt. Either one seems equally possible to me.

Well, only if you were willing to move to a much, much cheaper area to realize those gains.

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#194

Post by [deleted] »

neilparikh wrote: post #174
beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

I'm not sure why it matters if the buyer is foreign or American. You would get the same issue if an investor from Texas decided to buy 10 houses and live in 1. The key issue here is that there's housing that's unoccupied, even under lots of demand. The fix for that is to tax or ban unoccupied housing, not ban foreign housing.

[deleted]

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#195

Post by majormajor »

rsync wrote: post #180
beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

"To me, this is absurd. This is a human rights issue (homelessness is growing by a large amount)." Homelessness is a mental health issue. Nobody is homeless because of foreign speculators. Yes, people are indeed incentivized to relocate to housing markets that Chinese people have never heard of like, for instance, Tacoma . If those people spent half their time working and saving (like their parents did) as they spent…

If homelessness goes up 10% in a year, are you saying that means the incidence of mental illness somehow went up 10% in that year?

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#196

Post by njarboe »

rsync wrote: post #180
beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

"To me, this is absurd. This is a human rights issue (homelessness is growing by a large amount)." Homelessness is a mental health issue. Nobody is homeless because of foreign speculators. Yes, people are indeed incentivized to relocate to housing markets that Chinese people have never heard of like, for instance, Tacoma . If those people spent half their time working and saving (like their parents did) as they spent…

It probably was the case 5 years ago that most homeless people in the US has some kind of mental problem. These people were almost all men and you would see them sleeping on the sidewalks or parks with almost nothing in the way of possessions. Now, at least in Oakland, there are tents everywhere. From single ones trying not to get noticed to tent cities with 10-50 tents all in one area. Many of these people have a piles of possessions and some still have jobs. Maybe not quite on the scale of Hoovervilles in the Great Depression, but getting there.

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#197

Post by ejnulls »

notyourwork wrote: post #46
leggomylibro wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No wonder everyone is offing themselves with heavy narcotics these days! ...uh, not to make light of the huge issue we have with addiction, but you gotta feel like prospects might help peoples' moods.

I absolutely agree, money solves a lot of problems. Knowing that you can afford to pay your bills, knowing you can eat out and stretch your budget without breaking the bank next paycheck removes so much stress and frees you to focus on other things. Constantly worrying about money, bills and what you can and cannot afford to do is brutal. Watching peers enjoy life makes it easier for you to stretch your credit card a…

My therapist actually told me the other day that a higher salary will probably do a lot to reduce my anxiety (the reason I'm in therapy).

No fucking duhhhh.

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#198

Post by wan23 »

akanet wrote: post #179
beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

I sincerely doubt foreign purchases are the main driver of rent increase, and no study has ever demonstrated as much. The anti-foreigner mindset is extremely dangerous. Rising rents are almost entirely because of local restrictions on creating more housing. The beneficiaries of restricted supply are existing owners and landlords.

It's not anti-foreigner, it's anti-speculation. It's easy to see that home purchase prices are well beyond what any reasonable family would want to pay, and yet the prices keep rising. The problem isn't that it's foreign money coming in, it's that there's so much of it.

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#199

Post by nostrademons »

chimeracoder wrote: post #52
moultano wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Land Value Tax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax This is distinct from a property tax in that it only measures the value of the soil it sits on, so doesn't punish the landlord for improvements. The value of the land itself is almost entirely outside of the landlord's control, it's determined by the community around it. As a result, this is one of the least distortive taxes.

> This is distinct from a property tax in that it only measures the value of the soil it sits on, so doesn't punish the landlord for improvements. The value of the land itself is almost entirely outside of the landlord's control, it's determined by the community around it. As a result, this is one of the least distortive taxes. When land value is taxed at a higher rate than property value, it creates a perverse incen…

What are some concrete activities that would constitute blighting of the land value?

Re: Rising Rents Are Pushing More Tenants Past the Breaking Point

#200

Post by tytytytytytytyt »

beebmam wrote: post #36

In large cities across the US (and probably most of the world), there is some very large scale foreign speculation in the housing market going on. This is leading to rising rents and rising home prices. In Seattle, for example, many (newly) wealthy Chinese people are buying houses purely for investment purposes. I know some of them. One of them has purchased 10 houses, and lives in only one of them (when they are in…

It's easy to jump on the bandwagon and blame foreign investors. But aren't locals voting as fast and as hard as they possibly can to prevent development of the new housing we need? And aren't locals making tons on real estate speculation, too, or are you saying there's some great secret that only the Chinese know here?
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