As another datapoint, the govt decided to add to the misery by making it harder to get mortgages. This doesn't affect the people coming into the country with suitcases full of cash but hurts us a lot. The banks are giving us a hard time since we changed jobs in the last year (both my wife and myself improved our employment situation so a move was a good thing; banks want 2 years in the same job; WTF??).
It's counterintuitive, but making it harder to get mortgages will actually reduce housing prices in the long run, because it discourages real estate investment. In the same way, lowering interest rates appears to make it easier for first home buyers to get into the market but just results in investors snapping up more properties, driving up both mortgage amounts and rents.
I seeing REIT's, and just about every wealthy person I kinda know buying up realeste, and renting it out at outrageous prices.
Some of the wealthy are buying the third house for the kid, and the kid is renting out rooms, at outragious prices.
Low interest rates, mortgages that are being thrown at the wealthy, all cash sales by wealthy foreigners/Americans--who only seem to care about ROA, young/middle class individuals who are just are being denied loans, young/middle class individuals who didn't want to be tied down and just rent, young/middle class individuals who will most likely always be just renters, a huge sector of the public who blame rent control on high rent, county and local building officials who are making it very difficult to build Anything.
If I had money, and believed their was absolutely nothing wrong with charging market rental rates; why wouldn't I buy every house I could afford, especially the under 1 million homes, that have at least 4 bedrooms, and room for four vechicles. Rent out the rooms, and make a profit?
Again, I hope your right.
Right now the poor, and middle class are being imprisioned, and I don't see much change on the horizon. (I was for Dodd-Frank--until banks just seemed to use it as an excuse to not loan, unless your Thrurston Howell the 3rd. And use the bill to raise bank fees on everything. Fees only the poor/middle class are paying.)
I've given up all hopes of buying real-estate.
I'm getting really tired of fees/fines. I'm tired of bank fees. I'm tired of being of overcharged by municipal revenue collectors(cops). I tied of new laws going up daily. I'm tired of being held hostage by the medical community for refills on drugs that should be over the counter. I tired of being charged close to a thousand dollars to get my 4 cylinder, 2300 cc engine to pass a CA smog test. A vechicle that in the bigger picture did nothing to the environment. Why, because I drove the same small car for the last 25 years. Even at it's worse, it doesn't pollute, or add to global warmimg like most newer vechicles--if you include the the carbon emitted when that new vechicle is manufactured in China.
I don't like this America.
It seems like some people don't realize they are being exploited?
Right know, Sausalito CA police are harassing Anchorouts.
They don't want the ugly boats there. I ate my lunch, and counted maybe 5 ugly boats form my vantage point. I counted 20 beautiful yachts, but they arn't the problem? See, there is no problem, but the powers at be just don't want the poor people out there. Ticket them until they are forced to abandon the boat, and it can be towed away--yea! "Rent a room for $700 week on land Sailor. Get your act together. Learn R, or ROR, I hear they are paying well in SF? Hay--put up a social network just for Sailors? I hear Adsence pays well? Oh, you can't code? There's landscaping, or I hear that burger place pays $12 per hr? Get off your old ass! I'm tired of looking at you. You arn't aesthetically pleasing, and no one get free rent in my world. Just think--instead of catching pneumonia on the frigid waters here, you can die on shore while being harrrased/ticketed in Dunphy park for falling asleep. Another yea!"
Yea, call it a narcisstic rant, but I'm just looking in, and hate what I see. It puts a knot in my stomach just writing about it.
