Half of U.S. Homeowners and Renters Struggle to Afford Their Housing Payments

[YoDoug]

was it immoral for Zillow to lose 881 million by speculating?

They weren't speculating, they were trying to corner the market to control prices. What they didn't account for was the fed raising rates high enough to stop people from moving. With interest rates nearly double of what most mortgage holders are in at, nobody is moving. If interest rates (and inflation for that matter) were still at 3% Zillow would be moving all those houses at inflated prices.

[mkd]

Real estate, as in land, is a finite amount. There is only so much land to build single family homes in areas where people want to live. If a greedy investors buy up the majority of housing for sale in an area they are effectively "cornering the market". This is what has happened since Covid. That is why housing prices jumped faster than ever before. They may well have overextended themselves, but they did it to try to corner the market and control prices.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corneramarket.asp

you could make a similar argument for other commodities like gold, which unlike your housing market theory, actually is limited in supply. What kind of deleterious-humans mind reading aspersion can be cast about gold speculation and how it's shot up in price?

 it absolutely positively cant be about the current Washington regime devaluation of the dollar like never before. We must stick to the commie script of evil corporations.
"We are the borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile,"

[mkd]

They weren't speculating, they were trying to corner the market to control prices.

your theory requires mind reading. The only actual price controls that i know of are from the commies in NYC, not the free market, so you have no point, that i can discern.

[gcode]

If interest rates (and inflation for that matter) were still at 3% Zillow would be moving all those houses at inflated prices.

Interest rates were still at record lows when Zillow's scheme went bust.
The algorithm they were using to buy houses was shit.
They were paying way over market, even for boom times and got stuck with a billion $$ worth of houses
they couldn't move.
At the time the Zillow website was willing to pay $100K over market for my house.
I wasn't ready to sell and thought this inflated price was a BS marketing scheme to get people to call
them. In fact, they really were paying that much over market.

[YoDoug]

I can't find the link, but I read while back where they (upper management of BlackRock, Zillow, etc.) actually admitted their strategy was to corner the market to make housing unaffordable for most people so they could own it all and rent it out. Zillow just got over excited effed up their numbers.

If you don't think that is immoral you need to crack open your bible and do some reading this weekend.

[neurosis]

We must stick to the commie script of evil corporations.

What if you just think that some corporations (the people running them) are evil? Is that still a commie script?

[gcode]

If you don't think that is immoral you need to crack open your bible and do some reading this weekend.

I never said that, nor was I justifying what they were trying to do.
I thought it was hilarious when their scheme went bust.
However, I am still a believer in the free market and Zillow's debacle is the perfect example
of the free market punishing a bad business plan.

Whenever .guv gets involved they will eventually wind up putting their thumb on the scale in favor
of those with the most influence (the rich or powerful) and their boot on the neck of the little guy.

Cali's AB5 law is the perfect example of that.
They say it's to prevent the gig economy from exploiting the little guy, but in truth it was written by the labor unions, for the labor unions. It has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs, including my
30 year old consulting business.

[mkd]

What if you just think that some corporations (the people running them) are evil? Is that still a commie script?

fair question.
only if they were conspiring with the government.
purchasing hard assets in a time ninth grader could recognize the upcoming inflation is just smart business. politics of jealousy that gets written is just that.

[YoDoug]

I never said that, nor was I justifying what they were trying to do.
I thought it was hilarious when their scheme went bust.
However, I am still a believer in the free market and Zillow's debacle is the perfect example
of the free market punishing a bad business plan.

Whenever .guv gets involved they will eventually wind up putting their thumb on the scale in favor
of those with the most influence (the rich or powerful) and their boot on the neck of the little guy.

Cali's AB5 law is the perfect example of that.
They say it's to prevent the gig economy from exploiting the little guy, but in truth it was written by the labor unions, for the labor unions. It has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs, including my
30 year old consulting business.

I agree that gov usually just rewards their biggest donors. I just am tired of the conservative talking points of never criticizing the free market. The big greedy investments corps tried to intentionally make housing unaffordable, that should be called out, not defended. It doesn't mean free market capitalism is bad, it just means that bad actors can intentionally harm others and this needs to be watched, called out, and if bad enough punished.

As I previously stated, I think local communities enacting limits on the percentage of single family homes that can be corporate owned is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes I realize this hurts the small investor that owns a handful of properties, but they were being pushed by the big corps as well.

[YoDoug]

actually is limited in supply.

How is single family housing not limited supply by way of real estate? You can't build as many houses in a city as you want. You can only build on land available. That makes it limited.

[mkd]

How is single family housing not limited supply by way of real estate? You can't build as many houses in a city as you want. You can only build on land available. That makes it limited.

materials and labor and density, like what made NYC the city that it is.

[mowens]

Urban sprawl is real. Most cities just keep spreading. Where I live now was empty fields growing up. I think that only stops when there isn't the population to support it or there is some physical barrier, like being on an island.

[neurosis]

politics of jealousy that gets written is just that.

That's a very narrow minded opinion, particularly on this subject. I don't mean that to be insulting. 

What they're doing is screwing future generations of potential home owners all in the name of profit. Or as YoDoug puts it, greed. It has nothing to do with jealousy. It's going to have catastrophic effects down the road and they know exactly what they're doing. But hey, Capitalism and if you don't like it, you're a commie. 

[mkd]

But hey, Capitalism and if you don't like it, you're a commie.

now you're catching on. Congrats.

commies love to conflate their jealousy by throwing the 'greed' stone.
 If they weren't jealous, as in also holding properties in these areas, they'd be happy blackrock is raising the values.

[neurosis]

now you're catching on. Congrats.

You must not have a very good sarcasm detector.