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

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

#431

Post by epistasis »

selectodude wrote: post #409
epistasis wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that the people who get screwed the worst are all the people who can barely afford to pay current rent. They get displaced when rents rise, having to move away from their friends, family, their kids' schools, etc. All because "activists" convinced them that their enemies are the people able to pay slightly more, rather than the system that says "only the X wealthiest people can live here, oh and we won'…

I’m always a bit confused how this is so difficult for people to understand. If I want to move into your neighborhood, there are two options - I move into new construction or I move into your house. There is no option C where I decide that because the housing stock is garbage, I decide to go somewhere else.

Here's an academic paper on how many people don't understand housing economics, even though they understand the same concepts in other areas:

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.20241428

I can't tell you how many times I've been told that "supply and demand doesn't apply to housing," both by super wealthy NIMBY homeowners and by those struggling to get by.

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

#432

Post by estearum »

jonahx wrote: post #396
estearum wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, which you should be rewarded for as a developer. I recommend 0% tax on improvements and 100% tax on land value.

Without land ownership, how is it decided who gets to develop what where?

I didn't say no land ownership. I said tax the gains of land ownership. Nothing changes about who decides what gets built etc.

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

#433

Post by pocksuppet »

api wrote: post #22
foolfoolz wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one bedroom (and living alone) is a luxury and always has been

Stop this race to the bottom stuff. You know what else is a luxury and always has been? HVAC, transportation, anything beyond maybe emergency medicine, Internet access, education, drinkable tap water, … The fact that the bulk of the US population has these things is what makes us a first world country.

Actually the US is a first-world country because it's allied with the US. Russia is a second-world country because it's allied with Russia, and Switzerland is a third-world country because it's allied with neither.

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

#434

Post by lifestyleguru »

anthonypasq wrote: post #172
throwaway041207 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my neck of the woods (New England), home prices have doubled since March of 2020. I have yet to read a comprehensive overview of how this happened and how we get out of it. Of course, people went nuts offering over the asking price when interest rates were super low so I understand, to some degree, that baselines were reset. But the current housing market doesn't feel sustainable. I don't understand how a proper m…

covid was the largest money printing and wealth transfer event in history. When rich people get money they buy assets. We have had extreme asset inflation since then. Metals, equities, real estate etc. Watch Gary's Economics on youtube. We get out of it by building more, read Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Its extremely simple.

There is one hackish solution though. Unilaterally implode the real estate prices worldwide. People were so busy stealing covid money that they simply dumped the loot into real estate. This will not trickle it down (nothing ever trickles down), but at least would evaporate it.

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

#435

Post by cpburns2009 »

tancop wrote: post #359
WarmWash wrote: post #67

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...

increasing wages will fix part of the inequality crisis because as you go up from working class to billionaires you get less income from wages and more from capital gains. if you raise wages that changes the distribution to be more equal and thats a good thing. but i agree it wont solve housing by itself. for housing we need to replace zoning rules with a neighbor vote, put the community back in control instead of bu…

These are diametrically opposed:

> for housing we need to replace zoning rules with a neighbor vote, put the community back in control instead of bureaucrats who block new apartments for dumb reasons or take bribes from developers to build luxury investment properties nobody wants.

> there should also probably be an escape hatch where anyone can build affordable/rent controlled apts without a vote but only if the location has high enough average rent.

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

#436

Post by consumer451 »

holistio wrote: post #142

Yet if I open X, I'm being told constantly that my European mind can't comprehend how poor we are and the richest European country is poorer than the poorest US state.

Well, of course. The owner of the site believes:

> The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people

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

#437

Post by cucumber3732842 »

fooker wrote: post #246
smallmancontrov wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When ownership shows up at zoning meetings, the main risk they seem to be concerned about is accidentally letting someone build enough housing. Heaven forbid!

Are you perhaps too privileged to have seen situations where owning land is a liability? As we speak, close to a billion people are in the middle of ongoing wars. There are entire countries where land is worthless. Ukraine has several hundred square kilometers of land with a thick covering of fiber optic cables from drones.

A better first world example is laws change and now this site where you were gonna build self storage for 20yr before selling out to an apartment/office developer is now worthless

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

#438

Post by cucumber3732842 »

hgoel wrote: post #157
shlant wrote: 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.

It's largely landlords causing trouble building housing where it's needed because it would limit how much they can make.

Landlords don't care. You put a 5/1 beside their slum and they're ecstatic because that means the land under their slum is now worth "build a 5/1 here" money.

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

#439

Post by [deleted] »

ridgeguy wrote: post #348
jader201 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the jobs to get replaced by AI, I would be happy to see realtors to be first in line (but I also think this is wishful thinking). I feel like I get very little value out of what seems to be a mostly fixed/required price. I know flat fee realtors exist, and if/when we sell our home, I’ll be looking into this heavily. But I feel like they rank up there with car salespeople/dealers.

YMMV. When we sold in 2021, our realtor connected us with an interest-free lender who put up $76K for repairs and staging. This, and other services, made the difference between our selling for $1.8M and the $2.4M we got. Maybe we could someday get similar service from a realty AI, but in our recent experience, the humans made all the difference.

[deleted]

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

#440

Post by rpdillon »

georgeecollins wrote: post #239
cpburns2009 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The buyers or sellers. No one is required to use a realtor. They simply provide a convenient service for a fee.

Tell me you have never bought a house in the US without telling me you have never bought a house in the US.

I've bought several houses in the U.S., and the last one I sold, I didn't have a realtor. I'm not sure what point you're making here.
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