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Go ahead, vote MAGA in the midterms if you're curious how fucked your life can get.

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[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 276 points 1 week ago

Here's the thing that I think a lot of people don't understand about home ownership: Housing prices going up is only beneficial if you plan to sell.

We were (very) lucky and were able to get in on the tail end of the early 2010s housing crisis and leverage the first-time homebuyer incentives that were offered at the time to buy a modest house. It cost $245k. It's currently worth $550k, and people seem to think this means we made $300k in profit! Yay us! And technically, on paper, sure, we did, but in reality, no.

Housing prices across the board are up, and we still need a place to live, so if we sold this place, we'd have to buy something else (at the same grossly inflated prices), or we'd have to rent (at grossly inflated prices). If the $550k this place is worth on paper buys us something that would have cost $245k in 2010, we haven't gained anything.

Either way, we have no intention of selling, so we will never see a cent of that increased value. What we are seeing, however, is increased property taxes since the property has, on paper, doubled in value.

What I'm getting at is, this doesn't benefit homeowners, it benefits housing investors, who are the group Trump really wants to prop up.

[-] Dadifer@lemmy.world 152 points 1 week ago

You know who it is good for? Boomers who are selling their big houses to go live in a condo or nursing home. Guess who votes for this shit.

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 59 points 1 week ago

Also good for people who want to flee the US before the bubble pops.

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 38 points 1 week ago

We absolutely want to, and if having money was the only barrier to doing so, we'd sell in an instant, but unfortunately it's simply not an option for a lot of people

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[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 27 points 1 week ago

And, you know, US Presidents whose families own real estate empires.

[-] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If no one can afford the boomer homes, the houses stay unsold so there's a balance when trying to maximise profit.

[-] MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 15 points 1 week ago

As mentioned above, that's fine for investors actually. They don't want individuals buying homes. They want people renting them. Across a long enough period, renting will be more profitable so they are happy to buy them up even if your average person can't afford the mortgage.

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[-] Lexam@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Same here. We bought our modest house and have been slowly updating it. But we never plan on moving unless we absolutely have to. So I don't need or want it to increase in value. The value is it's my home.

[-] TheRealKuni@piefed.social 11 points 1 week ago

What you do gain is equity. And while that equity can’t be used to pay for a new house, it can be borrowed against cheaply.

A second mortgage, such as a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit, means you can use some of that value in your house for big purchases or projects without the higher interest rates you would pay for other types of loans or a credit card.

It’s one of the reasons home ownership is financially superior to renting, even if your monthly payment might not be that different. Owning property has inherent value.

[-] 4am@lemmy.zip 26 points 1 week ago

I have a mortgage payment already, and groceries have tripled in what feels like a year and a half. My property taxes went up $200 a MONTH this year. What makes you think I’m in a position to make more fucking payments?

Equity is a fucking scam, brother.

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[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 50 points 1 week ago

He is setting USA up for the worst economic crisis in history.

The biggest, the best, the most beautiful financial downfall the world has ever seen.

[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

Crashed economies hurt the poor. The rich use their wealth to buy up resources, realestate, stocks, etc. on the cheap and then ride it out in their luxury homes while the rest of us stand in the bread lines.

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[-] D_C@sh.itjust.works 48 points 1 week ago

"Who didn't work very hard"
Says the obese orange paedo that has never worked a day in his life.
The only thing this fat tub of corruption ever worked hard at was finding and raping little children. Sweaty cunt.

[-] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Shit not even finding the little children. He had Epstein for that part of it.

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[-] SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 48 points 1 week ago

Today I could not buy the house I now own.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 week ago

Ditto.

Our first house was my late grandparents home. I bought it from my dad for 100k in 2013, which itself was probably ~25k below market.

We sold it in 2018 for 250k, and bought our current home for 375k.

Zestimate now for my house is 613k. I could never afford that. I paid what, a net 225k (plus taxes and interest ofc).

I don't discount how much luck has played into my current station in life....but damn.

The downside is...I feel like I'm stuck here now. We refi'd when rates were near their lowest, and any house that would be a sidestep in quality/neighborhood/size costs the same or more, plus higher interest.

My SIL and her new husband just bought a house and I damn near fainted when I heard what her mortgage is gonna be.

I was already teetering on the edge when my BIL told me how much rent is for his 1BR apartment (which is also much more than my mortgage on my 4br/1.5ba house).

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[-] tonytins@pawb.social 40 points 1 week ago

Says the laziest person on the planet.

[-] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 29 points 1 week ago

It's OK guys, I'm planning on buying a home later this year. Knowing my luck, property values should plummet sharply shortly after I do that.

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 15 points 1 week ago

Alternatively, hyper inflation will reduce your debt to nothing and you'll still have a house.

[-] jacksilver@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Assuming you still have a job/income.

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[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 28 points 1 week ago

I worked my ass off. Now I can pay for a place to live and keep paying it off no matter what for 30 years. No matter what? Yeah anything happens to me, that means my family looses their house for life because they are too young to work now but not having a house will make it harder for them to ever get one.

I'm basically a slave.

Now if I were to sale my home, then I could probably afford to buy a smaller house and keep paying even more! Yey! That's how math works right? You get 10 dollars for your house so that you can buy half that house for 11 dollars! Yey!

[-] lofuw@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago

I’m basically a slave.

That's the goal. Whatever keeps workers working is what the ruling class will force upon us.

It's why we never invested in fusion energy. Expensive fossil fuels keeps people working.

[-] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

I saw people on the Reddit conservative sub saying "100 year mortgages are actually pretty good, they offer a lot of flexibility". Madness.

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[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

LOL, I cannot wait until I have my next IRL conversations with the more-leftist-than-thou dumbasses that sat out or voted third party and the Enlightened Centrists that voted for Taco because they fell for the right wing/Russian agitprop that Biden's economy was so terrible and/or that Kamala was genocidal and/or something something "gerontocracy".

JFC.

[-] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 19 points 1 week ago

Maybe you should devote that energy toward more constructive organization efforts within your party, or good faith gestures that build trust and solidarity with new allies? As someone who did hold his nose and voted for the uninspiring, inept Democrat pick who went on to eat shit I have to say this preoccupation with rubbing your party's failure in the face of anyone you failed to reach is... Not inspiring, to put it charitably.

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[-] Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago

Christian USA basically had to choose between the Antichist and your average capital-loving politician and they went "fuck it, I'll vote for satan cause he said he I'll make gas cheaper.". And the pedo-guy still has a 40% approval rating at the current moment. This country is a lost cause.

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[-] Furbag@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

I hate him.

My dream is to be a homeowner and it's slipping away faster than I can chase after it.

I fucking hate him so much.

[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 24 points 1 week ago

Hahahahaha! This is so unbelievably fucking ridiculous.

All while they're crying about the falling birth rates.

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[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

vote MAGA in the midterms if you're curious how fucked your life can get.

Or don’t vote. Again. Either will have the same effect.

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[-] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago

Ask a Trump supporter why they want higher property taxes.

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[-] lofuw@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 week ago

Donald Trump never had to work for a house.

[-] LMurch 9 points 1 week ago

Orange monkey doesn't pay for housing, transportation, medical care, etc..

[-] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 week ago

Housing should become regulated infrastructure and stop being speculative assets. Fuck the real estate sector

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[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago

If only salary and net worth would be tied to the actual effort made at work.

Almost all CEOs would be homeless.

[-] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Honestly curious to see how this pans out. Trump's polling still seems higher than it should be given the shit show he's presiding over.

Here in the UK, we appear desperate to touch the Reform stove. I despair.

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[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week ago

Soon there will be a critical mass of people who have nothing left to lose. Thats why the Republicans and Democrats need a secret paramilitary police force in the streets. If they don’t quell uprisings and arrest activists (i.e. “domestic terrorists”), the citizens may gain enough momentum to enact another New Deal, and the wealthy benefactors of both parties will do everything they can to stop that from happening.

[-] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Per usual, read the article and not just the headline.

Sounds like he's talking about banning investor purchases of single family homes. Which is a good thing.

I fucking hate Trump and he's wrong about pushing housing prices higher, but banning investor purchases of homes is the right call, so he's kinda right.

Also, crashing housing value would destroy anybody who has invested in their home as equity. What needs to happen is a leveling off and investment in cheaper starter home builds, as well as a push for first time homebuyer loans that are low interest and up front down payment.

I bought my first home on a HomePath mortgage. No PMI, 5% down, and reasonable interest rate that was only a bit higher than a traditional mortgage.

Getting people into their FIRST homes and making sure they aren't beat out by cash offers from investors it's the correct way forward.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Why should I care about someone's equity? Houses are for shelter and privacy. Why do we treat them as investment vehicles?

My car doesn't become more valuable as it ages. Neither does my computer, or my clothing, or anything else. If they want their home to become more valuable, they should invest in improvements to it, not just depend on all houses getting more expensive for everyone else forever. It's a ludicrous, unsustainable idea.

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[-] Pika@rekabu.ru 11 points 1 week ago

Appreciate the nuance, though I think that "house as equity" thing should definitely be dismantled, at least over time.

House is a place to live, period. The rest is a fucked predicament we found ourselves in thanks to big investors.

But yes, first house should be made super accessible, and any subsequent ones could be sold for a major markup.

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[-] J92@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

What a shite take from the man who has no sense of real-world costs.

The price of a house is roughly, give or take, about one house. People might trade up and supplement the difference or have had savings from between purchases, but that initial upfront, first-time cost is the hardest one. It's not a grand difference of space between rungs on the ladder, it's that more and more of the lower rungs are getting actively broken off for the benefit of those with a surplus to sell.

Scum.

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[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago

I feel sad for the young people that voted for him, but maybe they’ll learn something from this. 

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this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
699 points (99.0% liked)

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