3 ms·

You're absolutely right that (many? all?) cities need to get way more serious about housing supply. It's a difficult topic, and it seems to be a divisive one as

by elric 5y ago

You're absolutely right that (many? all?) cities need to get way more serious about housing supply. It's a difficult topic, and it seems to be a divisive one as well. Any property that is empty (and not actively being renovated etc) should be taxed to death. There is really no room for empty, abandoned buildings in urban areas. It's a huge waste of space and resources, and it's disgraceful that homelessness and abandoned buildings can coexist within the same city. There's a disturbing amount of negativity towards squatters in this entire discussion, calling them "scum" and whatnot. I hope none of these posters ever have the misfortune of becoming homeless. A squat is a damn sight better than living under a bridge somewhere.

thehappypm 5y ago
I don't think empty properties are a big thing. The market makes that extremely unlikely. Got a derelict house in Boston? That's worth $500,000 cash. 6 months later there's a new house there.
- majormajor 5y ago
  IME it's much more common in industrial or commercial or office areas. You can often spot the empty and vacant ones because they're the ones that are easier for local homeless to sleep in front of. Whenever I see that I wonder why we spend so much time fretting about single family zoning instead of targeting these underutilized currently-non-residential areas.
  - thehappypm 5y ago
    that makes sense, but I also don't see how it's a huge problem. Commercial/industrial space can't be easily converted to housing.
- matthewmacleod 5y ago
  That’s great if you need $500k cash. If you have a spare home, this probably doesn’t apply to you. Why take $500k of cash you don’t need now when you can take $700k or more in ten years?
  - thehappypm 5y ago
    If you're savvy enough financially that $500k is not interesting to you, just holding, paying taxes and insurance, and hoping for appreciation is a terrible investment strategy.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      It is a pretty good strategy if it is just one of many of your assets, one where you can continue rolling into a higher value asset and never paying capital gains tax (1031 exchange).
      - thehappypm 5y ago
        For this to work you need at least some income — in fact this is the business model of many parking lots! Buy some land, make a bit of cash flow, and if it appreciates cash out and someone builds a condo.
  - seoaeu 5y ago
    Since if you put that $500k into the S&P 500 you could end up with $1M or more after a decade?
- elric 5y ago
  If there were no empty properties, there wouldn't be any squatters. Given that there are apparently a lot squatters (in Spain), we can assume that there are a lot of empty properties. Many cities have a lot of empty properties. Sometimes because they're derilict (and maybe the owner can't/won't repair); sometimes because it's hard to sell/rent out; or maybe the owner is just obscenely rich to the point of not caring. Whatever the reasons, this is something that shouldn't be allowed to exist. Cities are usually seriously space-constrained (by a river, or ancient walls, or roads etc). Not wasting existing real estate should be a no brainer.

by elric 5y ago

thehappypm 5y ago

I don't think empty properties are a big thing. The market makes that extremely unlikely. Got a derelict house in Boston? That's worth $500,000 cash. 6 months later there's a new house there.

majormajor 5y ago
IME it's much more common in industrial or commercial or office areas. You can often spot the empty and vacant ones because they're the ones that are easier for local homeless to sleep in front of. Whenever I see that I wonder why we spend so much time fretting about single family zoning instead of targeting these underutilized currently-non-residential areas.
- thehappypm 5y ago
  that makes sense, but I also don't see how it's a huge problem. Commercial/industrial space can't be easily converted to housing.
matthewmacleod 5y ago
That’s great if you need $500k cash. If you have a spare home, this probably doesn’t apply to you. Why take $500k of cash you don’t need now when you can take $700k or more in ten years?
- thehappypm 5y ago
  If you're savvy enough financially that $500k is not interesting to you, just holding, paying taxes and insurance, and hoping for appreciation is a terrible investment strategy.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    It is a pretty good strategy if it is just one of many of your assets, one where you can continue rolling into a higher value asset and never paying capital gains tax (1031 exchange).
    - thehappypm 5y ago
      For this to work you need at least some income — in fact this is the business model of many parking lots! Buy some land, make a bit of cash flow, and if it appreciates cash out and someone builds a condo.
- seoaeu 5y ago
  Since if you put that $500k into the S&P 500 you could end up with $1M or more after a decade?
elric 5y ago
If there were no empty properties, there wouldn't be any squatters. Given that there are apparently a lot squatters (in Spain), we can assume that there are a lot of empty properties. Many cities have a lot of empty properties. Sometimes because they're derilict (and maybe the owner can't/won't repair); sometimes because it's hard to sell/rent out; or maybe the owner is just obscenely rich to the point of not caring. Whatever the reasons, this is something that shouldn't be allowed to exist. Cities are usually seriously space-constrained (by a river, or ancient walls, or roads etc). Not wasting existing real estate should be a no brainer.