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During the housing bubble (as it was about to burst) I recall reading several stories about governments pursuing fraud charges where a family (or a bunch of clo
by datashovel 12y ago
During the housing bubble (as it was about to burst) I recall reading several stories about governments pursuing fraud charges where a family (or a bunch of close friends) would purchase several houses in a neighborhood from one another, each time raising the purchase price.
I would posit that probably in most cases of "real estate investment" by super wealthy, there is little to no difference, except it is not a "family bond" that exists, but a bond of being a member of the most exclusive club on earth. In many cases my hunch is (because of the opaqueness of the market) super wealthy can, and probably do, orchestrate purchases from and to themselves (not even requiring a separate purchasing party), each time raising the prices.
I think noone could argue that this kind of behavior doesn't affect surrounding real estate prices, and thus negatively affect everyone in the surrounding areas.
- datashovel 12y agoI should clarify. In fact I don't think super wealthy are necessarily corrupt in this way. I do, however, believe the people they may entrust with managing their wealth are in many cases. And it's not necessarily through any fault of their own. As a wealthy person I want the people who I entrust with managing my wealth to be very successful at what they do. So I make sure I get only the best. That said, I don't care to know "how the sausage is made". I think the only thing that really fixes this sort of thing is transparency in markets.