Meanwhile if BlackRock became insolvent, the government would bail them out
I find it interesting that during the mortgage crisis, banks couldn’t wait to unload the housing they were left with at fire sale prices, and now investment firms are overpaying to monopolize the housing supply.
It certainly doesn’t help that it’s literally illegal to build enough housing across the vast majority of urban land (at least in the US and Canada). Nothing like good ol’ fashioned manufactured scarcity to guarantee line keeps on going up.
It’s the mother of all regulatory capture, where our local governments (who are supposed to represent the needs of the people) have passed so many frickin laws to systematically manufacture and maintain the artificial scarcity of housing that keeps these ghouls’ investments so wildly profitable. Restrictive zoning that makes townhouses and duplexes literally illegal? Check. Arbitrary and pseudoscientific parking minimums? Check. Setback requirements so everyone is legally required to have a massive resource-consuming, space-wasting front lawn whether they want it or not? Check.
Utter insanity.
Yes! It’s also refreshing to see you mention parking minimums. It’s like everyone is blind to the sheer amount of parking lots everywhere taking up so much space.
Parking lots that are only close to full on Black Friday and Christmas Eve.
A friend of mine wants to build a small house on land he legally owns, but he’s forbidden by municipality law unless it’s a luxury home.
It’s dumb. He owns the property, but he doesn’t have the money to build a luxury house. Why can’t he build a small house?
I guess not dedicating your life to pay off your house is illegal.
land he legally owns
Well the thing is he doesn’t really own it. He owns the right to use it, and that right is extremely limited. You really can’t say you own land when:
- Men with guns will kick you off the land if you stop paying your
rentproperty taxes. - The rights you do have over the land can be removed if the community decides they have a better use for it.
- Someone else might own the rights to resources on the land like minerals, oil, or water.
- Any substantial improvements or change of use must be approved by the local government.
The crazy thing about the whole situation is it’s like the ONE time that the solution is actually deregulation and stronger property rights, but it’s also the ONE time libertarians WANT heavy regulations, weak property rights, and big daddy government interfering in your personal life.
I feel like I’m in bizarro world.
Imagine legally forcing everyone’s house to look the same. Seriously lawn laws in are so bonkers yet nobody bat’s an eye at them.
It honestly amazes me how Americans warship freedom while they don’t use it at all and shame people for being free
How many single parents with four kids can afford a house?
You people realize a supermajority of Americans own their own home, right?
And that the very premise of the meme is that the single mother could afford to place a bid that was beaten by an investment firm and not another individual?
You’d be shocked what you can afford outside of a major city, which is one of the reasons why WFH is what everyone should be fighting for for any industry that can feasibly do it.
Or mom has a respectable income herself. Or they just aren’t buying in California.
I think people misunderstand what BlackRock does. It’s a proxy for other investors. Investors all around the world buy assets, produced by BlackRock and BlackRock routes that money into corresponding shares/bonds/real estate, etc.
The word “Produced” is doing some heavy-lifting in that sentence. When I hear “produced” I think of a factory making stuff that has value or a farm producing food.
I create software. Its not farm work nor is it physical but I can assure you I produce deliverables.
produce /prə-doo͞s′, -dyoo͞s′, prō-/
intransitive verb To bring forth; yield. “a plant that produces pink flowers.” To create by physical or mental effort. “produce a tapestry; produce a poem.” To manufacture. “factories that produce cars and trucks.”
Sounds like the word fits just fine. The investment firm “brings forth” the investment opportunity that someone without financial advisors and millions to invest needs to get into real estate through eREITs. That opportunity wouldn’t exist without them providing the service of connecting investors with and managing funds for the investments.
I believe in the classic Homer Simpson line this covers the “services” portion of “money can be exchanged for goods and services.”
Gotcha mortgage backed securities. Well why not? Nothing ever goes wrong with those.
I think Zach Wilson would be doing something else with the single mom