Austin housing affordability crisis

[Snake Diggity 4614]

I think, maybe not specific to Austin but at least generally, the housing crisis is temporary.  The 2 major factors (not enough new houses being built anywhere and not enough houses in cities as people migrate from rural to urban) are temporary.  First, as boomers die off (or get too old to live on their own), millions of homes will become available regardless of what interest rates are doing.  Second, the trend of urbanization will ebb as remote work becomes an established norm (short term) and as population decline sets in (long term).  So we should really be talking about a patch solution for the next 10-15 years.  By 2035 we may have the opposite problem (too many empty homes and rapidly falling property values decimating the wealth of the middle class).

My 2 off the cuff patch solutions would be increasingly subsidized loans for 1st time buyers (like, each person gets one 0% loan for their first home, after that you’re on your own), and freezing primary residence property taxes for anyone over 65.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Snake Diggity

[Foosters 17734]

5 minutes ago, immamac said:

I know everyone wants to talk about all the robinhood stuff and whatnot. That's not the real issue, the real issue is that my taxes for a house I bought in 2010 are now more than the mortgage, interest and insurance. 

~2000/mo in taxes

~1650/mo mortage+insurance

This is the issue. Housing is becoming unaffordable for those who already own a home. It's absolutely absurd to pay more than your mortgage to the local and state government to live in the house, even if it's paid off. There is nothing that can make that make sense, it's a problem and it's one that will destroy the city. 

Wages have become stagnant and employers are not adjusting for inflation, even in high paying jobs. It's completely unsustainable, there isn't a place for normal people to live in this city anymore - soon we'll have friends buying houses together and just being roommates forever. I don't know how much of this problem is attributed to "boomers" for living too long and staying in their houses, but something is extremely fucky about how this is going down and not just for those who don't already own homes (making it near impossible for them to own one) 

I mean who is going to fund the bump in rents that is going to happen across the board when the rental market adjusts to this complete assfucking by the city? I don't see companies shelling out the extra compensation required to live here - so what happens then? Where are all the service industry folks going to live? Austin isn't cool enough to live like a ski bum with 5 people to a 2 bedroom and the houses overall are much too nice to even allow for a setup like that generally speaking. 

I just don't see how this doesn't lead to some major reform once we get a normal government back in Texas instead of raping everyone for the 1% or better, which is what is happening all across the state. 

This is happening in cities/states all over the country. Along with rises in crime, wealth inequality, healthcare costs, homelessness, and stagnant wages. Regardless of whether jurisdiction has high taxes, low taxes, progressive DAs, conservative DAs, liberal or conservative leadership.

It's almost like something is fundamentally broken with our system.

[Brisketexan 104636]

Just now, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

some of this will ease as the outer communities become stronger.  living in austin will be expensive, but living in manor may be more palatable as the exurbs grow and begin to offer more.  sort of dallasing our austin, where people's nucleus is mckinney or plano and they don't come in to dallas.

That is absolutely happening already.  For example, the Wilco area now has its own employment hubs, entertainment districts, full-scale shopping and dining, etc.  Hell, the baseball team is out there, and the soccer stadium is on the N. side of Austin an easy hop in on the tollway.  You can live your whole life in Wilco and not come into Austin for anything.  Hays county is becoming similar.  The Lake Travis area too. 

It's an evolution we've seen before.  I grew up in Houston, and remember when Katy was where we went goose hunting.  Now, it's a self-contained burb, with everything you need including a lot of employers.  Etc. etc. -- happens all over Texas.

[Neonmoon 38127]

CA/NY have been having the same affordability crisis for a while, and they don't have high property taxes like Texas. They have high income taxes. Another example, NC doesn't have high property taxes and isn't that big of a worry for mortgage payments.  People are still having affordability issues due to home prices. I don't even think interest rates are the problem. 5%, while high for this decade, is historically low as shit. 

The bigger issues are wages. People are not seeing wages increases comparable to GDP growth, inflation, and home appreciation. So it may seems like taxes are the problem, or foreign investors, but in realty, the home prices are rising per usual and people's buying power is staying the same. 

[immamac 42527]

11 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

some of this will ease as the outer communities become stronger.  living in austin will be expensive, but living in manor may be more palatable as the exurbs grow and begin to offer more.  sort of dallasing our austin, where people's nucleus is mckinney or plano and they don't come in to dallas.

What about the people who have lived in Manor for 10-20 years? They are just going to get fucked, they will have property taxes that are triple what their mortgage ever was. 

None of this makes sense.

[South Austin 52154]

2 minutes ago, immamac said:

What about the people who have lived in Manor for 10-20 years? They are just going to get fucked, they will have property taxes that are triple what their mortgage ever was.

They'll move to Caldwell.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

20 minutes ago, immamac said:

I know everyone wants to talk about all the robinhood stuff and whatnot. That's not the real issue, the real issue is that my taxes for a house I bought in 2010 are now more than the mortgage, interest and insurance. 

~2000/mo in taxes

~1650/mo mortage+insurance

This is the issue. Housing is becoming unaffordable for those who already own a home. It's absolutely absurd to pay more than your mortgage to the local and state government to live in the house, even if it's paid off. There is nothing that can make that make sense, it's a problem and it's one that will destroy the city. 

Wages have become stagnant and employers are not adjusting for inflation, even in high paying jobs. It's completely unsustainable, there isn't a place for normal people to live in this city anymore - soon we'll have friends buying houses together and just being roommates forever. I don't know how much of this problem is attributed to "boomers" for living too long and staying in their houses, but something is extremely fucky about how this is going down and not just for those who don't already own homes (making it near impossible for them to own one) 

I mean who is going to fund the bump in rents that is going to happen across the board when the rental market adjusts to this complete assfucking by the city? I don't see companies shelling out the extra compensation required to live here - so what happens then? Where are all the service industry folks going to live? Austin isn't cool enough to live like a ski bum with 5 people to a 2 bedroom and the houses overall are much too nice to even allow for a setup like that generally speaking. 

I just don't see how this doesn't lead to some major reform once we get a normal government back in Texas instead of raping everyone for the 1% or better, which is what is happening all across the state. 

You think other states with governments more to your political preference don’t have these same issues?

[Brisketexan 104636]

2 minutes ago, immamac said:

What about the people who have lived in Manor for 10-20 years? They are just going to get fucked, they will have property taxes that are triple what their mortgage ever was. 

None of this makes sense.

Oh, they will get fucked.  It's amazing, you see somebody who has lived the "cheap country life" find the house they've lived in for 20 years, which has hovered around $150k all-in, jump up to $350k in a few years.  And they need to sell, and move further out.

I do think that part of our housing answer needs to be developing, and being satisfied with, more compact housing (see, e.g., the Mueller development - not perfect, but closer to that model).  Other parts of the world don't have a problem with that.  We stayed with friends outside of Koblenz, Germany a few months ago.  They have a very nice home....that's maybe 2/3 the size of ours.  Their annual energy usage is around 40% of ours (granted, we need to run A/C a lot more than they do, but still).  More compact, more efficient homes.  You get more homes into a smaller area, the home isn't as expensive to run, all of which helps with affordability.  The post-war American suburban dream of a 3,000 sf home with a giant front and back yard is not sustainable, but it's the primary housing model in this country still.

[Neonmoon 38127]

7 minutes ago, immamac said:

What about the people who have lived in Manor for 10-20 years? They are just going to get fucked, they will have property taxes that are triple what their mortgage ever was. 

None of this makes sense.

This is the same thing people of color bitch about when their neighborhood gets "gentrified". 

The collective response from society for the past 100 years has been tough shit. 

[The Dog 43810]

21 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

I think, maybe not specific to Austin but at least generally, the housing crisis is temporary.  The 2 major factors (not enough new houses being built anywhere and not enough houses in cities as people migrate from rural to urban) are temporary.  First, as boomers die off (or get too old to live on their own), millions of homes will become available regardless of what interest rates are doing.  Second, the trend of urbanization will ebb as remote work becomes an established norm (short term) and as population decline sets in (long term).  So we should really be talking about a patch solution for the next 10-15 years.  By 2035 we may have the opposite problem (too many empty homes and rapidly falling property values decimating the wealth of the middle class).

I agree with most of this - I think the part about remote work is a structural change that hasn't fully been accounted for so good catch.

I don't agree that the opposite problem will start in 2035 - it will occur but probably a bit later. It all depends on how much building we see in the next 5-10 years. The demand side will still be pretty high/stable due to the size of the Millennial and Generation Z generations:

It's going to get really bad once the Millennials start wanting to sell their houses unless they and Gen Z start fucking and having kids like crazy. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by The Dog

[Johnny Sack 8397]

Just now, Brisketexan said:

Oh, they will get fucked.  It's amazing, you see somebody who has lived the "cheap country life" find the house they've lived in for 20 years, which has hovered around $150k all-in, jump up to $350k in a few years.  And they need to sell, and move further out.

I do think that part of our housing answer needs to be developing, and being satisfied with, more compact housing (see, e.g., the Mueller development - not perfect, but closer to that model).  Other parts of the world don't have a problem with that.  We stayed with friends outside of Koblenz, Germany a few months ago.  They have a very nice home....that's maybe 2/3 the size of ours.  Their annual energy usage is around 40% of ours (granted, we need to run A/C a lot more than they do, but still).  More compact, more efficient homes.  You get more homes into a smaller area, the home isn't as expensive to run, all of which helps with affordability.  The post-war American suburban dream of a 3,000 sf home with a giant front and back yard is not sustainable, but it's the primary housing model in this country still.

Post war American homes were 2000 feet.  People consumed a lot less 60 years ago.  Less clothes.  Less food.  Less entertainment.   Less material possessions.  Closets were smaller.  No one had storage sheds for all their shit.  Most families had one car.  Vacations were to public parks or grandmas.  You ate out maybe a couple times a month.  Probably because they lived through a depression, but people were a lot more careful how they spent.  
 

The standard of living has exploded the last 70 years.  

[jimmyjazz 45560]

11 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Things are going up like crazy in the "lesser" cities too. My appraisal in Waco jumped 25% this year alone and it still doesn't reach true market value. We are still obviously way under Austin's prices, but people earn less here too so it's a big issue to us.

Personally, I blame Chip and JoJo.

EDIT:  dammit, @4th&Five

Edited April 20, 2022 by jimmyjazz

[DanRydell 799]

13 minutes ago, immamac said:

What about the people who have lived in Manor for 10-20 years? They are just going to get fucked, they will have property taxes that are triple what their mortgage ever was. 

None of this makes sense.

Texans' general preference for property taxes over income taxes has never made sense but here we are.

[Brisketexan 104636]

2 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Post war American homes were 2000 feet.  People consumed a lot less 60 years ago.  Less clothes.  Less food.  Less entertainment.   Less material possessions.  Closets were smaller.  No one had storage sheds for all their shit.  Most families had one car.  Vacations were to public parks or grandmas.  You ate out maybe a couple times a month.  Probably because they lived through a depression, but people were a lot more careful how they spent.  
 

The standard of living has exploded the last 70 years.  

No disagreement.  Tipping point seems to have been sometime in the mid-70s or so.  The cookie-cutter suburban 2000 sf ranch style home on the prairie (what I grew up in) was replaced by the 3000 sf house on a much bigger lot.  Not sure what drove it, but it happened.

[Snake Diggity 4614]

6 minutes ago, The Dog said:

Its going to get really bad once the Millennials start wanting to sell their houses unless they and Gen Z start fucking and having kids like crazy. 

Immigration will be a lever the Millenials and Gen Z can pull to solve that problem; in that way the US is uniquely well positioned to face the looming population decline.

[immamac 42527]

12 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

You think other states with governments more to your political preference don’t have these same issues?

I think states with governments that actually do shit that makes the state better for people that live in it exist - the states that you are referring to do the opposite of that regardless of political affiliation.

You and many other broken brained red-washed party fueled maniacs keep labeling me as something that I most definitely am not and I've clarified it many times. Stop calling me a liberal or leftist or insinuating that I'm discontent with the way the government operates because of the stupid fucking party affiliation of the elected officials. I want fucking idiots out of office, I want the clown show to stop and I want a government that actually works to come back to Texas, because we had a working government here for a VERY LONG TIME, it has just recently started to swirl the drain aggressively because of policies that align less with the people of the state, but more with the people who want to create a national identity through the states.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

No disagreement.  Tipping point seems to have been sometime in the mid-70s or so.  The cookie-cutter suburban 2000 sf ranch style home on the prairie (what I grew up in) was replaced by the 3000 sf house on a much bigger lot.  Not sure what drove it, but it happened.

somehow the flower children all converted into materialistic keep up with the joneses.

[jimmyjazz 45560]

I do think Americans (my family included) need to reset in terms of what a house design really needs to deliver.  We have a nice house, not particularly high end but at the high end of what a large builder will put up.  Our master bath is bigger than every bedroom save the master.  I mean, really?  Bedrooms are too big, and while we right-sized the house for our family when we built it, younger kids are now moving out (and older kids are moving back in, grrr, but if we didn't have the space, they'd have to find another option).

I'm starting to think my wife and I should be very comfortable in something like a 2/2.5 with one living space, one dining space, and smaller bedrooms.  No office, no game rooms, no mother in law suite, no laundry room, none of that shit.  Stacked washer dryer next to the kitchen.  One outdoor sitting area.  A one-car garage, maybe.  Maybe just a carport.  A smaller yard in a more dense neighborhood.  Walking distance to the beach.  That will work.

[Neonmoon 38127]

10 minutes ago, The Dog said:

The demand side will still be pretty high/stable due to the size of the Millennial and Generation Z generations:

Correct

Millenial and Gen Z coming 

[DaysOff 7853]

2 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Immigration will be a lever the Millenials and Gen Z can pull to solve that problem; in that way the US is uniquely well positioned to face the looming population decline.

 

I mean...we could easily encourage and bolster population by offering free childbirth, paid parental leave, and childcare for the good of the economy in the future. Nah, fuck all thatl.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I do think Americans (my family included) need to reset in terms of what a house design really needs to deliver.  We have a nice house, not particularly high end but at the high end of what a large builder will put up.  Our master bath is bigger than every bedroom save the master.  I mean, really?  Bedrooms are too big, and while we right-sized the house for our family when we built it, younger kids are now moving out (and older kids are moving back in, grrr, but if we didn't have the space, they'd have to find another option).

I'm starting to think my wife and I should be very comfortable in something like a 2/2.5 with one living space, one dining space, and smaller bedrooms.  No office, no game rooms, no mother in law suite, no laundry room, none of that shit.  Stacked washer dryer next to the kitchen.  One outdoor sitting area.  A one-car garage, maybe.  Maybe just a carport.  A smaller yard in a more dense neighborhood.  Walking distance to the beach.  That will work.

i think we need to accept the fact that people want to be showy with money, but just redirect it elsewhere.  right now people demonstrate their success through their home purchases.  if we could do that through shit like fancy watches or tweets showing your big carboard checks to the local school, we'd be better off.  even using your money to buy a car you can't afford is better.

[Snake Diggity 4614]

1 minute ago, DaysOff said:

 

I mean...we could easily encourage and bolster population by offering free childbirth, paid parental leave, and childcare for the good of the economy in the future. Nah, fuck all thatl.

While I would be in favor of those policies, I do not think they would have that much of an impact on population growth.  Western culture is what it is and current and future generations are not that interested in children or large families regardless of how subsidized the cost is.  Western Europe has those bennies and they’re still failing to maintain their population.

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

35 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

That is absolutely happening already.  For example, the Wilco area now has its own employment hubs, entertainment districts, full-scale shopping and dining, etc.  Hell, the baseball team is out there, and the soccer stadium is on the N. side of Austin an easy hop in on the tollway.  You can live your whole life in Wilco and not come into Austin for anything.  Hays county is becoming similar.  The Lake Travis area too. 

It's an evolution we've seen before.  I grew up in Houston, and remember when Katy was where we went goose hunting.  Now, it's a self-contained burb, with everything you need including a lot of employers.  Etc. etc. -- happens all over Texas.

Hi. Moved to Wilco a year ago now. Work in far north Austin (parmer/45). Furthest south I’ve been is domain, other than a trip to the airport in which I did not drive through Austin. 
 

any shopping is online or wolf ranch if possible. Dining out (hardly ever) around gtown square.

 

and since I’m sharing, 1400 sq ft home built 20 years ago on a 15k sq ft lot that I bought for 340k and the county wants to assess now at $430k.  

Edited April 20, 2022 by Pato del Muerto

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

1 minute ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Hi. Moved to Wilco a year ago now. Work in far north Austin (parmer/45). Furthest south I’ve been is domain, other than a trip to the airport in which I did not drive through Austin. 
 

any shopping is online or wolf ranch if possible. Dining out (hardly ever) around gtown square.

 

[justhookit 4182]

19 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Short term rentals are a problem in any vacation area.  

Yup. Port Aransas locals are fucked these days. There is no affordable housing left. I looked the other day when this thread started and there are THREE single family homes listed below 500,000. 2 are teardowns. Price per square foot is running 400+ for literal beach shacks and if the house was built after Hurricane Harvey it’s over 500. It’s insane. To make matters worse almost all the RV parks aren’t doing long term anymore and are kicking out people that have been there for years and years.

[immamac 42527]

1 minute ago, DaysOff said:

 

I mean...we could easily encourage and bolster population by offering free childbirth, paid parental leave, and childcare for the good of the economy in the future. Nah, fuck all thatl.

We don't want population growth, we want population stability and steady growth - like any developed nation. There isn't a shortage of births happening, there may be a shortage of births in your community focused around careers and earning potential etc. What everyone keeps forgetting is that most people don't own homes, most people don't have only 1-2 kids and most people are poor. 

The "bubble" that we all live in is just big enough for us to never "leave", because you can stay in the same bubble when traveling from big city to big city and staying in areas that resemble your own (or nicer). The simple truth is that most of dallas, houston, san antonio, fort worth, dallas are just not full of nice houses and they are largely populated by people that make at or below the median income. Just because your server isn't covered in fleas and doesn't live in a shanty doesn't mean there isn't a world between the normal white collar worker and the service industry worker. These aren't transient positions for most of these people, they are how they make ends meet over the long term. 

I'm fine paying more when I go out to eat, I hire a lot of things I could do myself out, mostly to small independent non-corporate companies where the lions share of the service charges go to the workers and the owner is usually one of those workers. The more people hire the Radiants of the world and pay triple for the same work, while the workers are making 50-75% and the rest going to the greedy corporate overlords (they claim marketing is expensive bla bla bla). It's the same problem that is happening with housing, everything is becoming too focused on "convenient for me, I don't care what it means for you" that it's a doomspiral. Eventually it's going to be inconvenient for those who can afford the convenience and they will be like "omg what happened?" 

[justhookit 4182]

17 hours ago, sidis said:

well, i think that houston isd definitely has to deal with a lot more shitty neighborhoods and crappy schools than austin does right now.  and the fact that it is so brutally cannibalized by friendswood isd, cy-fair isd (which should be contributing but somehow isn't), katy, etc... so i wouldn't expect it to contribute as much as austin, but having contributed 1/3rd of austin's last year...IN 15 YEARS is a bit insane to me.  where is cypress?  where is frisco?  where is alamo heights? 

You realize Alamo Heights is a 4A district right? I don’t think you can compare them to AISD, HISD, and Frisco.

Regardless, Alamo Heights is extremely affordable right now compared to Austin. If I lived in Austin right now and had school aged children I’d sell and move to that part of San Antonio. I’m somewhat tempted to sell my Port Aransas house for a huge profit and buy something in 78209 and something in Costa Rica and just split my time between the two.

[SimonBolivar 10937]

25 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Post war American homes were 2000 feet.  People consumed a lot less 60 years ago.

Yeah those poors with their tiny 2000 sqft houses

 

 

 

[The Dog 43810]

9 minutes ago, immamac said:

We don't want population growth, we want population stability and steady growth - like any developed nation. There isn't a shortage of births happening,

Yes there is:

"Replacement rate" is 2.1 births per woman. 

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

Also just yesterday I had a coworker resign and his reason was he couldn’t find a home in the austin area so he is moving to the Dallas suburbs.  I’ve overheard a couple others talking about how much more affordable the Dallas and Houston suburbs are than Austin now.  
I wonder if any compensation resets will be forced upon employers in order to keep/attract talent. 

[Snake Diggity 4614]

1 minute ago, The Dog said:

Yes there is:

"Replacement rate" is 2.1 births per woman. 

And that chart for 2020-2022 is gonna be a LOT worse.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Snake Diggity

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

2 minutes ago, The Dog said:

Yes there is:

"Replacement rate" is 2.1 births per woman. 

where's that dude that fathered a quarter of all latvians.  get him on the case.

[WBT 20424]

On the Houston vs Austin tangent, the most recent tax base data on TEA's page is from 2020.  AISD's taxable value is $140B.  HISD's is $200B.  4th column from the right:

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/cptd-2020.pdf

The M&O tax rate is the one used to determine recapture and they're very close.  AISD - 0.9487, HISD - 0.9277.  2nd column from right:

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/school-district-adopted-tax-rates.pdf

And finally, AISD has ~75,000 students and HISD has ~194,000.  

 

Take all that together and AISD takes in ~88% more per student.  

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

3 minutes ago, WBT said:

On the Houston vs Austin tangent, the most recent tax base data on TEA's page is from 2020.  AISD's taxable value is $140B.  HISD's is $200B.  4th column from the right:

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/cptd-2020.pdf

The M&O tax rate is the one used to determine recapture and they're very close.  AISD - 0.9487, HISD - 0.9277.  2nd column from right:

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/school-district-adopted-tax-rates.pdf

And finally, AISD has ~75,000 students and HISD has ~194,000.  

 

Take all that together and AISD takes in ~88% more per student.  

So does aisd take in so much more than Hisd per student because they have to fund the huge Robin Hood burden, or does the huge Robin Hood burden exist because they take in so much more per student?

[WBT 20424]

The latter.  They have 70% of the tax base with <40% of the students.

Edited April 20, 2022 by WBT

[Deej 76570]

30 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

right now people demonstrate their success through their home purchases.  if we could do that through shit like fancy watches or tweets showing your big carboard checks to the local school,

Used Corvettes and leaving the tags on their sport coats works, too 

[Immaculate Vibes 114]

17 minutes ago, The Dog said:

Yes there is:

"Replacement rate" is 2.1 births per woman. 

We all know the solution. This chart pulled from the Tucker Carlson Institute for Health. 
 

 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

they call that Operation Shawn Kemp 

[Huckleberry 32704]

Lots to read, so apologies for being that asshole who posts before reading. Not necessarily a huge fan of it from a philosophical point of view, but the concept of homestead exemption could be extended. Basically price people out of gobbling up inventory by placing huge fees and extra taxes on residential real estate purchases not used for primary residence. 

I'm sure this is a terrible idea for a reason I didn't think of in the 5 seconds I spent on it. Tell me why. 

[jimmyjazz 45560]

Just now, Huckleberry said:

Lots to read, so apologies for being that asshole who posts before reading. Not necessarily a huge fan of it from a philosophical point of view, but the concept of homestead exemption could be extended. Basically price people out of gobbling up inventory by placing huge fees and extra taxes on residential real estate purchases not used for primary residence. 

I'm sure this is a terrible idea for a reason I didn't think of in the 5 seconds I spent on it. Tell me why. 

I don't see it as terrible.  Municipalities need to serve their tax base, a large part of which would ideally be homeowners.  It creates stability.

I would add that the homestead exemption should be available on day 1 after purchase, without the 1 year delay.  This would encourage more home ownership, as well as create more movement in and out of existing homes.

[Immaculate Vibes 114]

6 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Lots to read, so apologies for being that asshole who posts before reading. Not necessarily a huge fan of it from a philosophical point of view, but the concept of homestead exemption could be extended. Basically price people out of gobbling up inventory by placing huge fees and extra taxes on residential real estate purchases not used for primary residence. 

I'm sure this is a terrible idea for a reason I didn't think of in the 5 seconds I spent on it. Tell me why. 

This makes sense but I’m not sure how much of a difference it will make. I don’t see it being a big deterrent to Blackrock or whatever other institutional firms are buying so many of these homes. They will just pass those costs on to renters unfortunately. 

[Vegas64 665]

1 hour ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

i think we need to accept the fact that people want to be showy with money, but just redirect it elsewhere.  right now people demonstrate their success through their home purchases.  if we could do that through shit like fancy watches or tweets showing your big carboard checks to the local school, we'd be better off.  even using your money to buy a car you can't afford is better.

That's why my Twitter Avatar is a bored monkey with a pirate hat and a pearl necklace. Gotta let all the people who will never come to my house know that I am smart and succesful and now I get to live in a smaller house.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11668]

3 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

That's why my Twitter Avatar is a bored monkey with a pirate hat and a pearl necklace. Gotta let all the people who will never come to my house know that I am smart and succesful and now I get to live in a smaller house.

boom.  i appreciate, note, and envy your wealth.  perfect.

[sidis 9755]

17 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Lots to read, so apologies for being that asshole who posts before reading. Not necessarily a huge fan of it from a philosophical point of view, but the concept of homestead exemption could be extended. Basically price people out of gobbling up inventory by placing huge fees and extra taxes on residential real estate purchases not used for primary residence. 

I'm sure this is a terrible idea for a reason I didn't think of in the 5 seconds I spent on it. Tell me why. 

i am actually a big fan of this idea.  it will have market implications and consequences that are likely desirable. 

[fattyflattie 4636]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

This is the same thing people of color bitch about when their neighborhood gets "gentrified". 

The collective response from society for the past 100 years has been tough shit. 

It is, though. I’m not certain it’s a bad thing that the 10 ac they bought for 12,500 is now worth 15x-25x that. But that investment has exploded, in real value.  

[LCHorn 2585]

2 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

You think other states with governments more to your political preference don’t have these same issues?

While I’m loath to agree with Johnny Sack on anything I also don’t see your point @immamac.  The fact you have a relatively affordable mortgage doesn’t really have any relationship to your property tax situation.  
 

If you feel over-taxed that’s a separate issue, or do you not agree that your household wealth has grown considerably as a result of property appreciation?

[Chewbacca 7730]

14 hours ago, HOOKEM4 said:

Again...nothing.

Tell us more about how you are rich and haven't used any public resources to get there. All on your own...lulz.

While he sits on the board of his grandparents' foundation.  Lulz.  Spaulding doesn't even know what he doesn't know.  Born on 3rd and thinks he hit a triple.

[Neonmoon 38127]

53 minutes ago, sidis said:

Basically price people out of gobbling up inventory by placing huge fees and extra taxes on residential real estate purchases not used for primary residence. 

Fannie/Freddie already did this. Secondary doesn't want to purchase second home loans. Buying a second home is not cheap anymore. The rates are 1% higher and you have to buy a point. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13547]

Just put a hot tub in the front yard and reap the savings. 

[We’reTexas 1469]

38 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Fannie/Freddie already did this. Secondary doesn't want to purchase second home loans. Buying a second home is not cheap anymore. The rates are 1% higher and you have to buy a point. 

Well, not for all-cash buyers, which I’d guess comprise a substantial portion of absentee owners. But that does bring an interesting fold to the issue. I used to own in TX but went back to renting in CA. We’ve been looking into an investment property as something to build equity in and get back in the home owning game, but higher rates (and recent rates spike) are making it look unfeasible. Seen a few articles that this is an increasing trend among millennials.