Found out my HOA is caught up in a fraud lawsuit.

[beej]

Always with the blanket defense of capitalism. Can't ever admit anything bad can happen if you want to be a good R. Must pledge undying fealty to the free market gods.

It is so hard to have a conversation with you.

In one post you call me a RINO, in another post you call me a Republican Loyalist, in another I'm anti-trump. I wish you would at least be consistent in your labeling.

[YoDoug]

It is so hard to have a conversation with you.

In one post you call me a RINO, in another post you call me a Republican Loyalist, in another I'm anti-trump. I wish you would at least be consistent in your labeling.

LOL, I bet it is. I am not bound by absolutist thinking. I can examine things and see the in between ground that moderns politics doesn't accept.

let's stick to topic. Do you think that any of the examples of the failures of free markets I listed are valid?

[neurosis]

But my question would be, how big are those investors.

The article doesn't differentiate so unless you did some digging, you wouldn't know.

Some common sense tells me that right now, with interest rates being as high as they are, most of this investment property is being purchased with cash and your average joe isn't going to be able to do that.

[YoDoug]

It is so hard to have a conversation with you.

In one post you call me a RINO, in another post you call me a Republican Loyalist, in another I'm anti-trump.

FYI, you can be all of those things at the same time.

[beej]

LOL, I bet it is. I am not bound by absolutist thinking. I can examine things and see the in between ground that moderns politics doesn't accept.

let's stick to topic. Do you think that any of the examples of the failures of free markets I listed are valid?

Yes of course, they are all valid, but I just believe that a free market corrects them. Sometimes it takes time. And that time might be painful but they do get corrected. As opposed to a place in china where the corruption might never get corrected.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. We had a local trash company at our house\farm that put a dumpster for me to put trash in. They were a good company. good prices. picked up every week. I never really gave trash much thought. But they got bought out by another local company. then the prices went up. that was a little frustrating but the service was still good. That company got bought out by another company that was national, headquartered in SC. I'm in Missouri. The prices went up again, this time they doubled. Then pretty soon they started only picking up every 2 weeks. then once a month. prices kept going up. I started looking for another disposal company. Nobody had any dumpsters to put out at my place, mostly because they couldn't keep up with the demand that this Poorly run big corporation was feeding them. It was stressful. We had no where to go with our trash. we had to start burning what would burn. In the meantime we were paying increasing prices for disposal that wasn't happening. People all over the county were complaining but the complaints went unanswered. Then some local people saw an opportunity. started a Disposal company, their prices were 1/4 of the Big Corporation. I started using them, and I'm right back to not even having to think about trash again.

another shorter story: is Dollar General and Walmart. Walmart moved in to towns put a lot of small grocer stores out of business, made their stores bigger and bigger. People hated it. Dollar General saw an opportunity and now they are building small stores all over, that you can walk in, get what you want and leave quickly.

I know the free market isn't perfect, far from it. it's just better than anything else.

[beej]

The article doesn't differentiate so unless you did some digging, you wouldn't know.

Some common sense tells me that right now, with interest rates being as high as they are, most of this investment property is being purchased with cash and your average joe isn't going to be able to do that.

people are paying cash here locally through home equity, which isn't actually cash, it's a loan on an existing home but it looks like cash to buyers. It's a lot of risk but people are doing it. And the other way they are getting cash here, is by the sale of farmland that is being sold into subdivisions. I still think that a lot of this is being driven by the large number of immigrants. They can't buy homes but they can pay rent, and that is driving a lot of the desire to buy homes as an investment.

[Jim at Gentex]

I know the free market isn't perfect, far from it. it's just better than anything else.

Since governments are THEE MOST corrupt entities on Earth, allowing them to regulate ANYTHING involving money is doomed from the start.

At least in the free market we have a fighting chance to NOT get automatically screwed. 

[mkd]

Always with the blanket defense of capitalism. Can't ever admit anything bad can happen if you want to be a good R. Must pledge undying fealty to the free market gods.

There is a whole lot of in between ground in your "built in corrections". CEO's and execs drive companies into the ground all the while getting their huge bonuses and golden parachutes. They know it and they know it will hurt employees, customers, and investors, but they do it any way. Small businesses overcharge and provide crappy service/products to maximize their profit. Then when the business starts to lose income, they shut it down and take all the money they made and move on to the next business venture. meanwhile their employees and customers are left high and dry. If the reward for "corrupt" business practices outweighs the natural "built in corrections", then are they really corrections. The people driving the corruption very seldom feel that correction. It's always someone else taking the haircut.

meanwhile your comrades are reducing housing. Blowing up housing supply is far worse than cornering a few neighborhoods. Right?

Right?

[mkd]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/01/17/blackstone-to-spend-1b-in-affordable-single-family-rental-expansion/
 blackstone investing in affordable housing and offering below market rents???
OMFG those Kapitolist pigs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Say it aint so!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RobertELee]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/01/17/blackstone-to-spend-1b-in-affordable-single-family-rental-expansion/
 blackstone investing in affordable housing and offering below market rents???
OMFG those Kapitolist pigs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Say it aint so!!!!!!!!!!!!

[neurosis]

OMFG

I wonder if they're doing this in response to the negative publicity they've been receiving. It wouldn't be long before Cities like Seattle tried to put a stop to what they are doing. Offering affordable housing might take the heat off.

They bought up a bunch of affordable housing in San Diego and raised the rent an average of 50%.

Blackstone Comes to Collect: How America's Largest Landlord and Wall Street's Highest Paid CEO Are Jacking Up Rents and Ramping Up Evictions

https://pestakeholder.org/reports/blackstone-comes-to-collect-how-americas-largest-landlord-and-wall-streets-highest-paid-ceo-are-jacking-up-rents-and-ramping-up-evictions/

[YoDoug]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2022/01/17/blackstone-to-spend-1b-in-affordable-single-family-rental-expansion/
 blackstone investing in affordable housing and offering below market rents???
OMFG those Kapitolist pigs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Say it aint so!!!!!!!!!!!!

You just keep proving my point. I said greedy capitalist mega corps are buying up all the single family houses to destroy home ownership so they can rent them out.

[neurosis]

You just keep proving my point. I said greedy capitalist mega corps are buying up all the single family houses to destroy home ownership so they can rent them out.

According to the article, they are offering the option to purchase the homes at a reduced rate. "Home Partners of America, a rent-to-own portfolio company "  I don't know anything about rent to own.

I'll believe that when I see it as Blackstones track record so far is exactly what you would expect. Buying as many homes as possible and renting them at inflated rates. 

[YoDoug]

According to the article, they are offering the option to purchase the homes at a reduced rate. "Home Partners of America, a rent-to-own portfolio company "  I don't know anything about rent to own.

I'll believe that when I see it as Blackstones track record so far is exactly what you would expect. Buying as many homes as possible and renting them at inflated rates. 

Regardless of if they rent them at higher rates, or 3.5% below "market" as the article says,  they are still using their incredible wealth to intentionally kill single family homeownership. Every single person on here defending free market capitalism is a homeowner. They are defending the practices of big greedy corps that will make it so their children or grandchildren will not ever be able to afford to buy a home. And when I point that out they call me a commie.

[neurosis]

And when I point that out they call me a commie.

Welcome to the flaming liberal socialist club.   

What I find kinda silly, is that I haven't seen anyone give an opinion on what the solution should be, only pointed out the problem. You can't even acknowledge the issue without getting labeled.