6 ms·

Where are those multi million dollars empty homes?

Beaver117 4y ago
Everywhere in the bay area?
metadat 4y ago
Up and down the Bay Area Peninsula e.g. SF, Hillsborough, Atherton, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Lost Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San Jose, Woodside, Saratoga, and so on. As well as plenty of other areas around the bay. Surprising amounts of Chinese investor houses and just plain vacant homes. Some forever vacant due to multi-year ever expanding build and remodel projects.
- astrange 4y ago
  Investors don’t make money from buying homes and not using them, they make money from renting them. Houses rot if not used. https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/vacant-nuance-in-the-vacant-housing https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/vacant-nuance-in-the-vac...
  - metadat 4y ago
    Agreed, sometimes they eventually do get rented.
  - xnx 4y ago
    Properties are sometimes purchased as a store of wealth outside of the reach of the "investor"'s government.
  - hammock 4y ago
    The goal is not always to make money
  - alasdair_ 4y ago
    People laundering cash acquired from dubious deals done outside the country likely don't care about making a little more money - the principal aim is to keep the cash in a hard asset that can't be seized by the local (to the purchaser) government.
  - pkaye 4y ago
    I doubt it happens a lot but there was an unoccupied house in my city that was burned down by an escaping suspect. Turns out it was owned by a lady living in China who invested for a future residence. Given that the Chinese real estate market is overheated it makes sense to diversify. https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Owner-of-Fremont-home-burned-in-standoff-with-7959749.php https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Owner-of-Fremont-home-b...
  - chasebank 4y ago
    That's most definitely not true. Plenty of investors place money in assets that don't generate cashflow, real estate included.
- carom 4y ago
  The percent of foreign home ownership is incredibly small.
  - carom 4y ago
    For the downvotes, less than 10% of transactions in the US in 2013 [1]. When I first saw this for Canada I looked it up and it really only accounts for something like 3% there. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_investment_in_United_States_real_estate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_investment_in_United_S...
    - metadat 4y ago
      When that small percentage is concentrated in the most desirable areas it becomes amplified and adds significant strain to a housing system which wasn't designed for it. The really interesting data would be the geographic spread. 10% of all total transactions in the United States is actually a huge volume and big deal when concentrated in NYC, SF Bay Area, and Seattle etc.
- eddsh1994 4y ago
  Not many around where I live in Palo Alto
- mertd 4y ago
  There is zero proof for this xenophibic claim.
  - metadat 4y ago
    Secret Samsung Executive Party Houses, vacant investor houses, I've seen it all firsthand. I don't have an issue with it except in cases where it takes desirable housing out of circulation away from people who actually would like to live there. My perception is the Atherton and Hillsborough NIMBYs cause far larger waste and trouble than the Foreign Investor homes who participate in the existing systems. The NIMBYs are the real xenophobes manipulating local political climate, city ordinances, and zoning preventing new housing from being developed.

Everywhere in the bay area?

Up and down the Bay Area Peninsula e.g. SF, Hillsborough, Atherton, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Lost Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San Jose, Woodside, Saratoga, and so on. As well as plenty of other areas around the bay. Surprising amounts of Chinese investor houses and just plain vacant homes. Some forever vacant due to multi-year ever expanding build and remodel projects.

astrange 4y ago
Investors don’t make money from buying homes and not using them, they make money from renting them. Houses rot if not used. https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/vacant-nuance-in-the-vacant-housing https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/vacant-nuance-in-the-vac...
- metadat 4y ago
  Agreed, sometimes they eventually do get rented.
- xnx 4y ago
  Properties are sometimes purchased as a store of wealth outside of the reach of the "investor"'s government.
- hammock 4y ago
  The goal is not always to make money
- alasdair_ 4y ago
  People laundering cash acquired from dubious deals done outside the country likely don't care about making a little more money - the principal aim is to keep the cash in a hard asset that can't be seized by the local (to the purchaser) government.
- pkaye 4y ago
  I doubt it happens a lot but there was an unoccupied house in my city that was burned down by an escaping suspect. Turns out it was owned by a lady living in China who invested for a future residence. Given that the Chinese real estate market is overheated it makes sense to diversify. https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Owner-of-Fremont-home-burned-in-standoff-with-7959749.php https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Owner-of-Fremont-home-b...
- chasebank 4y ago
  That's most definitely not true. Plenty of investors place money in assets that don't generate cashflow, real estate included.
carom 4y ago
The percent of foreign home ownership is incredibly small.
- carom 4y ago
  For the downvotes, less than 10% of transactions in the US in 2013 [1]. When I first saw this for Canada I looked it up and it really only accounts for something like 3% there. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_investment_in_United_States_real_estate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_investment_in_United_S...
  - metadat 4y ago
    When that small percentage is concentrated in the most desirable areas it becomes amplified and adds significant strain to a housing system which wasn't designed for it. The really interesting data would be the geographic spread. 10% of all total transactions in the United States is actually a huge volume and big deal when concentrated in NYC, SF Bay Area, and Seattle etc.
eddsh1994 4y ago
Not many around where I live in Palo Alto
mertd 4y ago
There is zero proof for this xenophibic claim.
- metadat 4y ago
  Secret Samsung Executive Party Houses, vacant investor houses, I've seen it all firsthand. I don't have an issue with it except in cases where it takes desirable housing out of circulation away from people who actually would like to live there. My perception is the Atherton and Hillsborough NIMBYs cause far larger waste and trouble than the Foreign Investor homes who participate in the existing systems. The NIMBYs are the real xenophobes manipulating local political climate, city ordinances, and zoning preventing new housing from being developed.