patrick.net

I think there is something people don't think about or realize. If they dump fannie and all the bells and whistles, housing prices might drop because mortgages will be more expensive and harder to get.

But what is most likely to happen is cash investors will swoop in and convert more of these homes to rentals, forcing home owners into rental positions.

Big investors are looking for places to put their money, not places to borrow money. They want to buy up cheap real estate and make a great return on it. Currently, mortgages make it so costs are high enough that they're not that interested.

Whatever happens, a house will take roughly 30 years for most to purchase. why? because that is how society runs. If you can only get a 15 year mortgage, then you'll have to rent for 15 to save enough to buy that 15 year mortgage. If you can only get a 5 year mortgage, rents will be high enough and housing costs adjusted accordingly, so that it takes 30 years of work to aquire a house. Who gets that money might change, but it will take 30 years.

I definitely don't want to see how things turn out, if investors get in there and buy everything up. It basically because a feudal system again, where people are complete slaves to their landlords. Right now, it takes 30 years, but it's possible for all to get a piece of land with some hard work. If they can get a hold of enough land they can simply "adjust" rents to a point where no one could save a penny no matter what they did. At which point, if you don't own land, you're a surf and so will your children's children. The US has had such an abundance of land and such a small population compared with land that it was impossible to get a good stranglehold on all the land, but now? I'm pretty sure a few rich could do some serious damage to the whole system if they could get their money in there.

We have to be careful what we wish for. Each system has it's pit falls, but there is one thing we know. When the rules of the game change, the people who react the fastest and learn the new game rules will make a killing, in general, this isn't the public.

Who bought a personal house during the down years for housing? Who made out like bandits picking up houses for next to nothing. The rules changed, people didn't know what to do, what was going to happen... except the investors. They jumped, they bought and they hold all the best priced properties now.

I definitely don't want to see how things turn out, if investors get in there and buy everything up. It basically because a feudal system again, where people are complete slaves to their landlords. Right now, it takes 30 years, but it's possible for all to get a piece of land with some hard work.

You may be confusing land ownership with wealth, health, and happiness.

There are plenty of societies where almost everybody rents. The increased mobility and freedom from debt correlate with higher productivity and economic growth. Plus, people don't have all their assets tied up in a house, so they're not vulnerable to real estate crashes.

This conflation of home ownership with social status and happiness is one of the ways in which the lending class has enslaved us.

I don't understand how these two parts of an answer aren't contradictory. Does he think immigrating people and people on welfare borrowed too much money to support unsustainable lifestyles? What a con. I really pisses me off how rich you can get by lying and pandering to even richer people.

From the article:
Even in the 10-year bubble from 1997 to 2007, median family income was flat, when Americans were borrowing at historically high levels and taking on unsustainable levels of debt to maintain an unaffordable standard of living.

What it takes to restore economic competitiveness and get growth above 3% a year is to have bipartisan reform in areas like entitlement systems, immigration policy, and the tax code so that we can get the revenues we need and create jobs.

pkennedy says

Whatever happens, a house will take roughly 30 years for most to purchase.
why? because that is how society runs. If you can only get a 15 year mortgage,
then you'll have to rent for 15 to save enough to buy that 15 year mortgage. If
you can only get a 5 year mortgage, rents will be high enough and housing costs
adjusted accordingly, so that it takes 30 years of work to aquire a house. Who
gets that money might change, but it will take 30 years.

Lets say some people save for downpayment for 6 years and then pay off the "death pledge" in 8 years. Total time 14 years. Do you think that they have managed to beat the system or simply bought under their means?

dublin hillz says

Lets say some people save for downpayment for 6 years and then pay off the "death pledge" in 8 years. Total time 14 years. Do you think that they have managed to beat the system or simply bought under their means?

They were prudent with their money, and were within their means. On the other hand people who struggle because they bought too expensive of a thing... that's just stupid.