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Shortly before home prices began to surge in 2021, Amazon.com Inc. Founder Jeff Bezos made a bet on a Seattle-based startup that had a mission to make real esta

by pers0n 3y ago

Shortly before home prices began to surge in 2021, Amazon.com Inc. Founder Jeff Bezos made a bet on a Seattle-based startup that had a mission to make real estate investments more accessible to retail investors. That year, Arrived Homes became the first company to legally sell shares of individual rental properties to nonaccredited investors. Bezos's investment in the real estate company's seed round appears to have been well-timed since skyrocketing home prices followed by rising mortgage rates have helped send the homeownership rate in the U.S. to its lowest level since 1970. The billionaire tech entrepreneur is betting on the U.S. becoming a nation of renters.

neodypsis 3y ago
> The billionaire tech entrepreneur is betting on the U.S. becoming a nation of renters. So like some parts of Europe?
- InCityDreams 3y ago
  >So like some parts of Europe? and here we go again... "Do you have any specific parts in mind?"
  - neodypsis 3y ago
    Parts of Germany, for instance.
  - bradknowles 3y ago
    Belgium. Lived there for almost eight years. They have the highest percentage of royalty that live there than any other country in the world -- very little of them are actually Belgian royalty. They have an effective tax rate of 90% through sales and income taxes, but no property taxes on rental properties. So, they also have the highest percentage of millionaires and billionaires who "live" there than anywhere else in the world. And that extreme concentration of royalty plus the wealthy means they own basically all the properties in the country, and it's extremely difficult for anyone to actually buy a house there, even if they are a Belgian native or an EU citizen. Also, if you're ever having any kind of work done at your place, the first question is "do you need a receipt?" Which is short for "is your employer paying for this, or can we do a cash-only transaction that would be much cheaper for you?" And everyone has at least one or two tax-free side hustles. Some of them are even legal. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I loved living and working there. Some of the best times of our lives. But we also have to be honest about what we saw. But maybe that was just Brussels?

by pers0n 3y ago

neodypsis 3y ago

> The billionaire tech entrepreneur is betting on the U.S. becoming a nation of renters. So like some parts of Europe?

InCityDreams 3y ago
>So like some parts of Europe? and here we go again... "Do you have any specific parts in mind?"
- neodypsis 3y ago
  Parts of Germany, for instance.
- bradknowles 3y ago
  Belgium. Lived there for almost eight years. They have the highest percentage of royalty that live there than any other country in the world -- very little of them are actually Belgian royalty. They have an effective tax rate of 90% through sales and income taxes, but no property taxes on rental properties. So, they also have the highest percentage of millionaires and billionaires who "live" there than anywhere else in the world. And that extreme concentration of royalty plus the wealthy means they own basically all the properties in the country, and it's extremely difficult for anyone to actually buy a house there, even if they are a Belgian native or an EU citizen. Also, if you're ever having any kind of work done at your place, the first question is "do you need a receipt?" Which is short for "is your employer paying for this, or can we do a cash-only transaction that would be much cheaper for you?" And everyone has at least one or two tax-free side hustles. Some of them are even legal. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I loved living and working there. Some of the best times of our lives. But we also have to be honest about what we saw. But maybe that was just Brussels?