Comment on 'Starter homes' cost at least $1 million in over 200 U.S. cities, Zillow data finds

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shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

Nothing wrong with houses as individual investments. Why the hell else would you dump that kinda money and pay ALL the upkeep for decades?! You write the interest off your taxes, have something to show for 30 years of payments when you retire.

Also, nothing wrong with a landlord owning a few homes. He likely ain’t making shit and is taking huge risks. Yes, it’ll pay out someday, hopefully.

The issue is corporate home ownership and, to a lesser extent, B&Bs. Yes, a bank can easily “own” hundreds or thousands of homes. After all, they provide loans and sometimes have to foreclose. But banks renting homes?! Fuck no.

This is easily solvable with legislation, not even “devil is in the details” complexity. We drop the hammer on these corporate landlords, tax the fucking snot out them and run them out of the game. Same goes for entities sitting on real estate, waiting on prices to go up. Tax the hell out of empty homes that have been on the market X days.

The issue is corporate landlords. Rent didn’t used to be like this, it was competitive. My first place was a shithole in college, $250/mo. (I’d happily live there again were I a bachelor.) Same place should be $630. Anyone seen rent that low for anything outside renting a single room in a house?

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