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idreamofchickpea t1_j8lahkx wrote

Reply to comment by GrilledSpamSteaks in How Vermont’s Housing Crisis Got So Bad by punkthesystem

Weird that they’re not even renting them out, that would have been my guess. Also weird that no one seems quite sure who is buying up all these houses and why. Who is making all-cash offers all of a sudden if not institutional investors? Thanks for the links.

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suzi-r t1_j8lo0y4 wrote

Some say hedge funds. Some in my area are empty, too. We need our communities back!

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idreamofchickpea t1_j8lp39n wrote

Hedge funds, private equity, investment banks - why all the mystery? Rhetorical, I just wish government gave a single shit about anything other than their endless fundraising.

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suzi-r t1_j8lq3h8 wrote

Yeah, it’s all about the almighty dollar. Can’t wait till the pendulum swings back to better values and strong community for all.

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Pctechguy2003 t1_j8ooyxv wrote

So wait.. as in the house is used simply as a line on an asset page - without generating income? Its one thing to own a $250K house rented at $1500 a month and say “thats a 250K asset producing $1500 a month…” its another thing to buy that same house and say “its a $300K asset” - and let it set empty. Sounds great on paper. But at some point these houses need to get off loaded to produce cash somehow. If nothing else when the boomers die off there will be a housing surplus - one that ‘buying a shit ton of empty houses to inflate prices’ will not be able to fix. If you only have a population of 275 million, but 500 million homes in the country…. Something doesn’t add up.

Sounds like we found ourselves the next Ponzi scheme if thats the case.

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ArkeryStarkery t1_j8n98k1 wrote

It's an investment, just like stocks. A place to park money owned by people who have too much. Except unlike stocks, people who hoard real estate are complicit in an active and ongoing murder of the homeless.

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idreamofchickpea t1_j8nd4a6 wrote

So they function as tax shelters while the investors wait to sell at a profit?

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ArkeryStarkery t1_j8pq9jp wrote

Pretty much! Best thing we can do is tax the fuck out of fully unoccupied homes, imo.

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RandolphCarter15 t1_j8nun8t wrote

I know out of state people who were thinking of buying up houses as investments, and explained to them how obnoxious that was

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idreamofchickpea t1_j8nvc87 wrote

Were they planning to be landlords or wait to sell for more money later? Just curious.

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RandolphCarter15 t1_j8nvh2v wrote

The latter. Basically buying them as stocks to sell when value went up. I'd be all for buying houses to rent out

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