4 ms·

Speculation just means flipping it to someone who wants to live in it.

erikpukinskis 7y ago
It can also mean: - Holding an asset until users become more desperate - Taking an asset off the market in order to drive up the price of other assets in the category - Buying an asset to hold, if reliable bonds aren't available in your locale, or there are limits to what assets you can book locally Not to mention ulterior motives: - Money laundering - A vehicle for bribes Money is quite complicated actually.
- skookumchuck 7y ago
  A dwelling has zero intrinsic value. Ultimately, it only has value if someone is living in it. Having real estate sit empty can only be a temporary affliction. Supply & demand - it's the law. --- Buying real estate to just hold is almost always a losing proposition because of taxes and the time value of money. It is not like a bond, because bonds have guaranteed payouts. Real estate fluctuates in value, quite a lot. It's very easy to lose pots of money in real estate. Thinking that users will become more desperate is hoping that the government will prevent supply from increasing, or that customers don't simply find other solutions. I suggest looking up what happened when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the silver market by buying up the supply. Buying up your competition to drive up prices pretty much never works unless the government makes entry of competitors illegal or very hard.
  - sandworm101 7y ago
    >> Ultimately, it only has value if someone is living in it. I got kicked out of my unit vancouver unit (3500$/month) because my landlord wanted to sell. In Vancouver's market a unit with a renter is worth LESS than a vacant property. Clearing it out to repaint and upgrade a few faucets is worth more than the rent income. That's how twisted the market has become. Professional landlords like paying tenants. Investors see them as potential problems, irritants and impediments to redevelopment or construction.
    - zaroth 7y ago
      Selling a unit with a tenant is hard, even if the new buyer is planning to rent. Typically before and after the sale there is work being done on a unit that can’t be done while it’s occupied. Also the new buyer might have different screening they want to do for a prospective tenant, or may want a different lease term, etc. It’s worth losing a couple months rent to be able to show the unit when you want, to have it cleared out so the buyer can inspect it, and sell it without a lease attached that they may not like. It also limits the buyer pool to sell it already leased to someone a prospective buyer doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know.

It can also mean: - Holding an asset until users become more desperate - Taking an asset off the market in order to drive up the price of other assets in the category - Buying an asset to hold, if reliable bonds aren't available in your locale, or there are limits to what assets you can book locally Not to mention ulterior motives: - Money laundering - A vehicle for bribes Money is quite complicated actually.

skookumchuck 7y ago
A dwelling has zero intrinsic value. Ultimately, it only has value if someone is living in it. Having real estate sit empty can only be a temporary affliction. Supply & demand - it's the law. --- Buying real estate to just hold is almost always a losing proposition because of taxes and the time value of money. It is not like a bond, because bonds have guaranteed payouts. Real estate fluctuates in value, quite a lot. It's very easy to lose pots of money in real estate. Thinking that users will become more desperate is hoping that the government will prevent supply from increasing, or that customers don't simply find other solutions. I suggest looking up what happened when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the silver market by buying up the supply. Buying up your competition to drive up prices pretty much never works unless the government makes entry of competitors illegal or very hard.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  >> Ultimately, it only has value if someone is living in it. I got kicked out of my unit vancouver unit (3500$/month) because my landlord wanted to sell. In Vancouver's market a unit with a renter is worth LESS than a vacant property. Clearing it out to repaint and upgrade a few faucets is worth more than the rent income. That's how twisted the market has become. Professional landlords like paying tenants. Investors see them as potential problems, irritants and impediments to redevelopment or construction.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    Selling a unit with a tenant is hard, even if the new buyer is planning to rent. Typically before and after the sale there is work being done on a unit that can’t be done while it’s occupied. Also the new buyer might have different screening they want to do for a prospective tenant, or may want a different lease term, etc. It’s worth losing a couple months rent to be able to show the unit when you want, to have it cleared out so the buyer can inspect it, and sell it without a lease attached that they may not like. It also limits the buyer pool to sell it already leased to someone a prospective buyer doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know.