So, if I am going to college and I am sick of living in a dorm, i would have to buy a house to live off campus?
Or I get a job offer in another city or state, I have to buy a place to live before I even get to find out if I want to stay long term?
Comment on Investors are making up the highest share of homebuyers in 5 years
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 3 weeks agoNah, all landlords are leeches. Rent-seeking is literally parasitic by nature.
Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Blame the system that makes it arbitrarily difficult to transition between houses, which is in part exacerbated due to the fact homes are being used by parasites as vehicles for profit generation through rent seeking models artificially increasing the floor price of homes.
What you’re mad at is the private property system inherent to capitalism restricting what you’re able to do because of arbitrary bullshit. Why do you need to purchase a house in the first place? It is empty and not being used, so why does the previous owner still retain control over it and be allowed to arbitrarily prevent others from using it unless we can satisfy their greed? Why do we support a system that arbitrarily restricts our access to basic necessities in such a way and just glazes over such blatant exploitation?
Instead of trying to justify exploitation under the current system, how about we think about changing this system to one based on the needs of people instead of one based on imaginary, monetary interests?
In a system of community property, any vacant homes would be readily available and the ownership of units transferred from communal to personal property based on usufruct where, so long as you live in the home, it belongs to you but, when you vacate to a new home, the ownership is transferred back to the community.
Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So, is the community forced to purchase the house if someone moves out? Or is it more of a renting situation and you never actually own your home, you just rent it from the community and when you move you lose all effort and time you have put into improving your home?
All you have to do is look at the military “on base” housing to see how bad places can get if you never own anything. And I am not really sure that I would want to live in an apartment situation my entire life. I already think things like “eminent domain” are bullshit, but I can’t even conceive of how truly dystopian it would be to have your housing controlled by the government and whatever whacko managed to claw their way into power most recently.Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
I do not have time or patience to educate you. Go read theory on alternative economic systems.
Please, for the love of God educate yourself. You limit yourself by only thinking of this in terms of the current, highly exploitative capitalist system.
It would look fundamentally different from anything that currently exists today.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So everyone who has enough money to rent, but not enough to own, should be homeless? That middle ground of renting has to exist, or we’re overall in a much worse state of affairs. And you can’t rent unless there is a homeowner to rent from.
Also, a lot of people deliberately choose renting over owning, because they value things like not having the financial burden of home repairs, or it being orders of magnitude easier to relocate, for whatever reason, and so on.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The concept of someone having enough money to rent but not enough to own is ghoulish in the first place. If my landlord can pay $1000 for this house’s mortgage and upkeep, and I can pay $1,200 a month for the right to sleep in it, then we should simply cut out the middle man and have me pay that $1,000 a month for mortgage and upkeep directly.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Don’t think you’re being a little dramatic? There are many more costs involved in owning a house than the mortgage payment.
You’re paying for not having the responsibility to pay for any maintenance/repairs upfront, and for having the ability to easily pack up and move on short notice. If the roof suddenly needs replacing, that’s $9500 on average that you have to pay right now.
Chances are, if you’re financially stable enough that you’d be able to handle things like that without it being a financial catastrophe for you, then you do have enough money to own.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Yes, and my rent covers literally all of them. Again, it has to, or else my landlord would be renting this house at a loss. I don’t want the opportunity to pack up and move on short notice. I’ve lived in this city since I was born, and I intend to die here. I should not be forced to pay a premium for a feature I will never use.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Who said that? Other than you?
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s not that complicated. Without landlords, there is no renting. Without renting, owning is the only way to have a place to live.
So without renting, if you can’t own, you have no place to live.
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
No, the system should be changed to not arbitrarily restrict people’s access to necessities.
Housing, and other necessities, should be community property. If you don’t live in the house, you forfeit ownership of that house so someone else who needs it can live in it. Fuck the exploitative system of private property ownership.
Renting is only necessitated because we live in a capitalist system. All your complaints only exist because of the capitalist system. It doesn’t need to exist.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So you’d want it to be the case that anyone can enter and live in the house you’re living in, and you have no say in the matter because you don’t own it?
Do you really see no massive problems with such a system?
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Holy bad faith Batman. What a blatantly ignorant misrepresentation of what I said.
You have no concept of what a community property system is. For the love of God, go read fucking theory and educate yourself on alternative political and economic systems.
If you live in the house, it becomes your personal property. Meaning you own it while you live and reside there. No one can just come into your personal space. Yet, when you no longer wish to live there and are moving away, the house transfers ownership back to the community until someone needs it.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
The entire concept of “rent” needs to die in a goddamn fire. There are much better arrangements to fill the niche you are talking about. What is lacking is a regulatory environment making those arrangements preferable to rent.
“Rent” is typically a year-to-year arrangement. Every year, the deal is renegotiated and the tenant ends up paying more.
A “Land Contract” is (initially) similar to rent, but it is negotiated only once, and the monthly fee is fixed for the life of the agreement, like a mortgage.
For the first three years of the agreement, you pay your monthly fee, and you live in the home. You are free to walk away at any time.
If you stay longer than three years, the entire agreement automatically converts to a private mortgage, with your first three years of payments considered the down payment. You continue to make the same payment, but now you are earning equity.
All that is well and good, but landlords won’t offer land contracts, because land contracts favor the tenant/buyer.
Not to worry. We’re going to restructure property taxes. We’re going to have landlords begging tenants to switch to land contracts. The way we do it is by offering an owner-occupant exemption to property taxes. This is called a “homestead exemption” in some states. Basically, if you occupy a home, you pay a tiny fraction of the property taxes that you would owe if you didn’t occupy that home. Or, more accurately, if you are an investor, your property tax rate is going to the moon.
Land Contract tenants/buyers are considered “owners”. The property you are living in is owned by the occupants, and financed by the landlord/seller. The property taxes are at the owner-occupant rate, not the investor rate. Property taxes on “rentals” melt all the profits the landlord could be earning, so they are incentivized to switch to land contracts.