Indeed 40 years ago he was noting the failure of the American dream and the two realities of our society... that of the wealthy and that of the poor.Hard to believe a boomer wrote this almost 40 years ago.
I will still take the American Dream over the Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Indian, British, or Venezuelan Dream, any day of the week. Bet Mr. Mellencamp would agree.
False dichotomy, other counties being worse doesnât mean we shouldnât fix the problems with our own, or at least try to understand what the problems areâŚ
I think we are doing better today, than we were when Pink Houses was in the top 40. Unless you bought into crypto.....
Another interesting read. And a big can of worms.
The lede is buried: "we need to fix renting" and "Policy makers should...make their focus a housing market abundant with cheap and diverse housing types able to satisfy the needs of people at every income level and stage of life." The author proposes far-left-leaning and dramatic shifts to existing housing policies. The premise of owning a home as a consumable good is predicated on these changes coming into being. But we don't live it the world the way the author would like it to be, we live in the real world. Before our society goes de-incentivizing homeownership and moving away from it as an investment for the lower-middle class, there needs to actually be something better in place to transition to, something that currently does not exist.
Agreed that using home equity as a piggy bank for many of the common things people actually use it for is risky and foolish. Those uses really stretch the definition of "investment" IMO. The author highlights many poor uses of equity, but fails to list other more conservative investment aims such as generational wealth, security in retirement, and most significantly, becoming debt-free in a relatively short period of time while axing monthly housing cost from the budget...permanently.
The opposite is true. People tend to spend recklessly when it's Other People's Money.Isn't Dave Ramsey always arguing that credit cards are evil because people can't trust themselves with their own money
Agreed. If you play by the "playbook" provided by the bank, the National Association of Realtors, and the federal government, you are setting yourself up for failure. If you write your own playbook there is a lot of success to be had. I'd be in support of HS curriculum on navigating real estate, calculating ROR, and risk assessment. I'd rather people become wiser/more knowledgeable over making the whole system dumber, easier, and more tightly controlled by a grossly incompetent federal government.
It was your job. Working and saving it typically what makes people wealthy.
The common person let's other, "professionals" manage their 401 type plans. However, the housing market has always been a staple of retirement, by the person him/herself.
I didnât say it doesnât count, I am trying to say it needs to be split out of ROR calc. Example.
How about doing A and B at the same time. B during the work week and A during the weekends and evenings. While camping out or renting a dive apartment while building A. No time to go down to the bar and brag about how lucrative it it is. No time to feel sorry for yourself about how the man is keeping you down.
Congrats. But to be clear, the investment payoff was in yourself, not necessarily RE. That just happened to be the industry you chose.
Are zoning rules liberal or conservative? I think in some areas you could make a good argument that if there was more of a free market in housing, no min lot size, no max number of units, etc etc that prices would come down.
Absolutely, I mean end of the day we basically have the same risk assessment, and make similar personal decisions.
I started out on the bottom rung. Guess that's why over educated SBF/Atlantic Magazine types telling me what a victim I am doesnât resonate. Read and absorb @Pucky Freak above comments. He gets it. Dependence on a dysfunctional socialized government is not the way to "fix" the system.
Iâm sure you decided to become a builder when you foresaw how the creation of the 30-yr mortgage would cause the industry to explode.
The fact is YOU benefitted from government policies that helped to create the current dysfunction. I am not a proponent a âdysfunctional socialized governmentâ, whatever that is. I do find it funny that everyone wants the socialized stuff that benefits them but anything that benefits the other guy is overreach. I recognize every government policy has unintended consequences and given we live in a democracy we all bear some responsibility for fixing the negative consequences, if only through changing incentives.I believe you and I are the âwinnersâ not the losers here to be clear.
