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> If both of these stories are true, it makes me wonder why they're acquiring so much real estate. Same reason as the Catholic Church. They aren't making more

> If both of these stories are true, it makes me wonder why they're acquiring so much real estate. Same reason as the Catholic Church. They aren't making more land any time in the foreseeable future.

supertrope 4y ago
Land is finite but the desirability of the land can change. Detroit used to be a tier 1 American city.
- beauzero 4y ago
  So did Butte and Anaconda, MT.
- vidanay 4y ago
  For a corporation that is flush with cash, Detroit is potentially a good buy with long term potential. A 50 year timeline is not unrealistic.
  - selectodude 4y ago
    Such as, say, Dan Gilbert and Rocket Mortgage.
  - asdff 4y ago
    Is it a better buy than somewhere else is the big question though. Sure maybe you'd make your money back in 30 years but that's not what gets investors going. Otherwise everything would be powered with nuclear energy by now.
- redsparrow 4y ago
  Detroit going bust is bad if all of your property is in Detroit, but if you have property in 100s or 1000s of cities then the individual booms and busts become less relevant.
Spooky23 4y ago
Little different- the church doesn’t pay property taxes. Amazon does, unless they have a religious investment arm. If I had to guess, I’d say land purchases are some sort of vehicle to filter profits for tax purposes. There’s a million rules that benefit property owners for that purpose.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  Perhaps they are getting tax abatements by bamboozling the local county officials into thinking that there is going to be some huge local economic benefit from their land purchase.
- asdff 4y ago
  OTOH when amazon wants to build a warehouse, they probably shop around for municipalities that are willing to waive collecting property taxes for X amount of years to get that development and income tax.
hinkley 4y ago
Part of King Henry VIII's fight with the Catholic Church was due to the amount of rent-seeking that was going on in England. They were such a ridiculously massive land owner by that point that they threatened the Crown.

> If both of these stories are true, it makes me wonder why they're acquiring so much real estate. Same reason as the Catholic Church. They aren't making more land any time in the foreseeable future.

supertrope 4y ago

Land is finite but the desirability of the land can change. Detroit used to be a tier 1 American city.

beauzero 4y ago
So did Butte and Anaconda, MT.
vidanay 4y ago
For a corporation that is flush with cash, Detroit is potentially a good buy with long term potential. A 50 year timeline is not unrealistic.
- selectodude 4y ago
  Such as, say, Dan Gilbert and Rocket Mortgage.
- asdff 4y ago
  Is it a better buy than somewhere else is the big question though. Sure maybe you'd make your money back in 30 years but that's not what gets investors going. Otherwise everything would be powered with nuclear energy by now.
redsparrow 4y ago
Detroit going bust is bad if all of your property is in Detroit, but if you have property in 100s or 1000s of cities then the individual booms and busts become less relevant.

Spooky23 4y ago

Little different- the church doesn’t pay property taxes. Amazon does, unless they have a religious investment arm. If I had to guess, I’d say land purchases are some sort of vehicle to filter profits for tax purposes. There’s a million rules that benefit property owners for that purpose.

SoftTalker 4y ago
Perhaps they are getting tax abatements by bamboozling the local county officials into thinking that there is going to be some huge local economic benefit from their land purchase.
asdff 4y ago
OTOH when amazon wants to build a warehouse, they probably shop around for municipalities that are willing to waive collecting property taxes for X amount of years to get that development and income tax.

hinkley 4y ago

Part of King Henry VIII's fight with the Catholic Church was due to the amount of rent-seeking that was going on in England. They were such a ridiculously massive land owner by that point that they threatened the Crown.