4 ms·

I really can't believe this is happening. The pandemic is making people so desperate.

tolbish 6y ago
Is it just the pandemic, or is there something fundamentally fragile about how American society is set up? Why aren't other countries so desperate?
harambae 6y ago
>I really can't believe this is happening That's because it's not. "could be evicted over the next four months" is the phrasing in the article, and its wildly unlikely. Look at the posts at /r/realestate. They show the Redfin/Zillow statistics and people selling their houses for more than last year in every major metro area I've been interested in. There's also a lot of concern that lack of construction during covid will lead to a shortage. If there's going to be 11M households evicted, why are real estate prices doing better than ever? Because all of America is clueless except this one brilliant Fast Company journalist?
- webninja 6y ago
  10 reasons why real estate prices are going up: 1) Home buyers are more likely to be younger people and older people are more likely to be home sellers. Younger people (buyers) are more likely to be active now and willing to move. 2) People are rethinking the small studio apartment they were quarantined in and are looking for better or larger places to WFH in. 3) Money is usually a chief concern for sellers but with the mortgage forbearance and deferral options why would anyone bother to sell their appreciating asset that they can keep and live almost for free in? 4) Interest rates dropped to near 0% and will remain there for about 2 years. That substantially boosted home prices. 5) Some people living in apartments felt that it was hard to social distance there so they bought a house with land and separation. 6) Substantially more free time to browse houses for some people now! 7) The inflation rate is increasing. Fed target is to overshoot 2% to get to 3% or more annual inflation. 8) Old people aren’t interested in moving out to nursing homes and end-of-life care facilities now where cases are perceived to be more concentrated and undesirable. 9) The Census is happening this year and the government would prefer if people move around less to keep their numbers accurate. 10) Homes containing unevictable tenants can’t be freed up for the housing market to consume. Even all the bad tenants that mistreat and mishandle their landlord’s rental homes get to keep mishandling their home while you have to keep looking for an unoccupied affordable home. There is a massive shortage of homes in certain parts of this country so existing homes keep getting bid up and up. Even if some of these reasons disappear, the others will still remain. On the first home I offered 5k over asking price when there were 10 other offers and was bid out by 1 other guy. The second home I offered 10k over asking price and narrowly beat out the 10 other offers. With that many offers, the housing supply could double in my area and housing prices would still keep going up. It’s a very hot market and I don’t see it shifting anytime soon. Not at least until we see the Momths of Inventory metric (which is a leading indicator for home price direction) increase to over 6 months and that might not happen until next year or beyond.

Is it just the pandemic, or is there something fundamentally fragile about how American society is set up? Why aren't other countries so desperate?

harambae 6y ago

>I really can't believe this is happening That's because it's not. "could be evicted over the next four months" is the phrasing in the article, and its wildly unlikely. Look at the posts at /r/realestate. They show the Redfin/Zillow statistics and people selling their houses for more than last year in every major metro area I've been interested in. There's also a lot of concern that lack of construction during covid will lead to a shortage. If there's going to be 11M households evicted, why are real estate prices doing better than ever? Because all of America is clueless except this one brilliant Fast Company journalist?

webninja 6y ago
10 reasons why real estate prices are going up: 1) Home buyers are more likely to be younger people and older people are more likely to be home sellers. Younger people (buyers) are more likely to be active now and willing to move. 2) People are rethinking the small studio apartment they were quarantined in and are looking for better or larger places to WFH in. 3) Money is usually a chief concern for sellers but with the mortgage forbearance and deferral options why would anyone bother to sell their appreciating asset that they can keep and live almost for free in? 4) Interest rates dropped to near 0% and will remain there for about 2 years. That substantially boosted home prices. 5) Some people living in apartments felt that it was hard to social distance there so they bought a house with land and separation. 6) Substantially more free time to browse houses for some people now! 7) The inflation rate is increasing. Fed target is to overshoot 2% to get to 3% or more annual inflation. 8) Old people aren’t interested in moving out to nursing homes and end-of-life care facilities now where cases are perceived to be more concentrated and undesirable. 9) The Census is happening this year and the government would prefer if people move around less to keep their numbers accurate. 10) Homes containing unevictable tenants can’t be freed up for the housing market to consume. Even all the bad tenants that mistreat and mishandle their landlord’s rental homes get to keep mishandling their home while you have to keep looking for an unoccupied affordable home. There is a massive shortage of homes in certain parts of this country so existing homes keep getting bid up and up. Even if some of these reasons disappear, the others will still remain. On the first home I offered 5k over asking price when there were 10 other offers and was bid out by 1 other guy. The second home I offered 10k over asking price and narrowly beat out the 10 other offers. With that many offers, the housing supply could double in my area and housing prices would still keep going up. It’s a very hot market and I don’t see it shifting anytime soon. Not at least until we see the Momths of Inventory metric (which is a leading indicator for home price direction) increase to over 6 months and that might not happen until next year or beyond.