discussion Over 30% of all house sales in the US are now for-profit ventures

[Communion]

Quote

Last year, more than 5 percent of all houses sold in the United States were flips. The same has been true since 2017. Meanwhile, a quarter of all single-family-home sales went to landlords, aspiring Airbnb tycoons, and other types of investors in 2021. All told, nearly a third of American house sales last year went to people who had no intention of living in them. These trends show no signs of reversal: In the first quarter of 2022, as housing prices soared across the country and many hopeful owner-occupiers struggled to get their offers accepted, the flip rate was nearly 10 percent.

 

[LadyDiana]

I say EAT the rich before it is too late

[nathanspears]

It's gross. I hate it when I see Instagrammers and Tiktokers flaunting this type of behavior 

[makeme]

Yeah people who flip houses are assholes.

 

Honestly buying anything with the intention of just selling it again for a higher price is evil

[Raver]

China shouldn’t be owning any land in the US either. 

[A Bomb]

The collapse of American society continues. 

[Communion]

19 minutes ago, Raver said:

China shouldn’t be owning any land in the US either. 

Are you advocating for the US government enacting expropriation without compensation all for-profit residential homes?  I'm glad we agree that landlords needs to be purged from society. 

[TaggedGalaxy]

The rich really said you will own nothing and you will deal

[Attitude]

Sellers are also to blame though. They'd rather sell to someone who offers cash upfront opposed to families who need to go through loans and all that stuff.

 

Also apartments for rent are becoming a lot more scarce. People are buying out apartment complexes and selling them as condos. Pretty soon we'll all be forced to rent week to week airbnbs.

 

 

[Archetype]

2 hours ago, makeme said:

Yeah people who flip houses are assholes.

 

Honestly buying anything with the intention of just selling it again for a higher price is evil

That’s literally the point of selling your home, to sell it for more than you originally paid so you get some type of monetary return on your investment.  Doesn’t change anything if you’re a long or short term owner, the goal is to always sell it for the highest price because that money is used to buy/pay off your next place of residence.  Y’all are acting like this is brand new information or something.  

[Communion]

14 minutes ago, Archetype said:

That’s literally the point of selling your home, to sell it for more than you originally paid so you get some type of monetary return on your investment.  Doesn’t change anything if you’re a long or short term owner, the goal is to always sell it for the highest price because that money is used to buy/pay off your next place of residence.  Y’all are acting like this is brand new information or something.  

There is objectively a difference of selling a home because you no longer need what it offers - like parents whose children have moved out- and buying it without ever spending a day living inside it.

 

Also, no one calls "fixing up" a home that you're moving out of "flipping".

"Flipping" is exclusively when people buy a house with the intention of selling it, never living within it. 

 

A co-worker of mine who's an older man is selling his home and doing renovations in it to make sure he can get an offer on it to cover the costs of a new house now that their lives have changed (their kids are all grown and they want to move into a ranch style home because his wife's cancer battle has made walking up and down flights of stairs a bit challenging). Renovating and modernizing a home after living in it for 20 years to put it back on the market is not "flipping" it. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Communion

[Archetype]

27 minutes ago, Communion said:

There is objectively a difference of selling a home because you no longer need what it offers - like parents whose children have moved out- and buying it without ever spending a day living inside it.

 

Also, no one calls "fixing up" a home that you're moving out of "flipping".

"Flipping" is exclusively when people buy a house with the intention of selling it, never living within it. 

 

A co-worker of mine who's an older man is selling his home and doing renovations in it to make sure he can get an offer on it to cover the costs of a new house now that their lives have changed (their kids are all grown and they want to move into a ranch style home because his wife's cancer battle has made walking up and down flights of stairs a bit challenging). Renovating and modernizing a home after living in it for 20 years to put it back on the market is not "flipping" it. 

I agree, never said flipping and fixing/renovating are the same thing.  However, the same actions are taken (renovation) with the exact same intention… to sell for more than it was purchased/to meet market prices, etc.  The outcome is the same, even the most humble homeowners aim to sell their house for as much as possible.  

[Robert]

Landlords are ruining the world. I remember looking at new build apartments in a city near mine that I thought might be cheaper than the one I live in and they were all buy to let only. Like multiple buildings all of which were only accessible for landlords. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Robert

[Isaiah]

3 hours ago, makeme said:

Yeah people who flip houses are assholes.

 

Honestly buying anything with the intention of just selling it again for a higher price is evil

As far as I know the definition of house flipping is buying a beaten-up house, fixing it up so it’s actually valuable/desirable, then selling it for some profit, which IMO isn’t really a bad thing since you’re fixing up a rundown home and making it livable. 
 

That’s not the same as buying houses solely for the purpose of being an airbnb/landlord mogul, which verges way more into ******* territory imo 

[Communion]

2 minutes ago, Archetype said:

I agree, never said flipping and fixing/renovating are the same thing.  However, the same actions are taken (renovation) with the exact same intention… to sell for more than it was purchased/to meet market prices, etc.  The outcome is the same, even the most humble homeowners aim to sell their house for as much as possible.  

I agree and easily have my issues, as someone whose family never owned a house and who myself will never likely own a home, with homeowners who try and put the value of their home before poor people.

 

But, with that said, in the context of this conversation, and especially the bolded, the growing domination of for-profit ventures and corporations increasing their share of home sales feels key to why prices are increasing so much.

 

Housing is not a free market. People need housing to live, both ways. Yes, homeowners will want to maximize how much they sell their home for, but that reaches a natural ceiling if said person also has the need of themselves needing a home and taking what they can get. When that process shifts entirely over to just maximizing profits, this is the situation where we find ourselves in. Of course when individuals start buying multiple properties, the dynamic changes too, and I'm here for laws that also restrict such, but it feels like we're reaching an absurdity when it comes to home ownership.

[Communion]

14 minutes ago, Isaiah said:

As far as I know the definition of house flipping is buying a beaten-up house, fixing it up so it’s actually valuable/desirable, then selling it for some profit, which IMO isn’t really a bad thing since you’re fixing up a rundown home and making it livable. 
 

That’s not the same as buying houses solely for the purpose of being an airbnb/landlord mogul, which verges way more into ******* territory imo 

Most of these houses are livable but often lower-income families will inherent them but can't afford to pay the fees to maintain ownership of the home and bad government policy that favors corporations and affluent owners pushes those families out so these new buyers and those who flip houses can move in and ~change the scenery~.

[What_A_Mess]

It’s the same thing here in London. Regular people can’t afford flats. 

[Archetype]

2 hours ago, Communion said:

the growing domination of for-profit ventures and corporations increasing their share of home sales feels key to why prices are increasing so much.

This is the part that should be regulated or prevented.  Corporations shouldn't be allowed to snatch up residences like the way they currently are.  It's not a free market when corporations can easily outbid normal prospective buyers, put the homes back on sale for significantly more, and then hold onto a large stock of residences until people become desperate enough to buy at massively inflated prices. 

 

This is very different than house flipping, people who do that aren't putting the renovated homes back on the market for anything beyond what is market rate, and if anything, making a formerly not so nice home look desirable does actually increase the value of the neighboring homes as well (good for long term homeowners). 

 

I understand how this may be toxic in some cases, like someone buying up multiple properties in lower income neighborhoods, renovating everything, flipping for major profit while increasing the value of nearby homes that were formerly affordable to something not so much, BUT this is more of a problem in the rental market than anything else, and one that is less prevalent in towns and more of an issue as you get closer to a major city.  You're in the NJ/NYC metro area, so you know how expensive everything is and how competitive the rental and buyers markets can be.  Due to the constantly increasing demand and population, without enough new affordable housing, and without restrictions on companies buying up property, things will only get more expensive.  

[Into The Void]

Homes are great investments especially of you rent it out. Its what keeps my mom afloat