3 ms·
Shelter is something you need. If you rent, the cost rises with inflation. With the US government, taxpayers effectively pay the inflation for you. The laws of
by seibelj 5y ago
Shelter is something you need. If you rent, the cost rises with inflation. With the US government, taxpayers effectively pay the inflation for you. The laws of the USA subsidize your property to make it artificially cheaper. I can’t imagine a better deal for someone with enough money for a down payment.
- AnthonyMouse 5y agoThe US subsidizes it and then artificially constrains the housing supply through zoning, so the subsidies just inflate the purchase price and go to the banks as interest on higher principal or to the people who owned property when the subsidies were first implemented. The ROI is attributable to the supply constraint in the face of population growth, not the subsidies. If housing supply wasn't constrained the subsidies would lower the initial cost but then it wouldn't work as an investment because the real value would never go up since if it did that would cause an increase in supply through new construction. But that's also what makes it a pyramid scheme. More people bidding on the same amount of housing makes the price go up, but only if the population grows. Fertility rate tells a bad story there. And on top of that it's per-city; ask people who had homes in Detroit. Someday this is all going to fall apart. I don't know when it's going to be though.
- piva00 5y agoTragedy of the commons, when you got into this game your participation in it made it much worse to everyone else: prospect house buyers, taxpayers and so on. Not a judgment of your character or anything, it makes rational financial sense as an individual to participate in it but if everyone followed your path we'd be thoroughly fucked with housing prices. More than what it already is.