One of the reasons home prices in the US are so high is...
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Around 50 percent of people own their home or are paying a mortgage. It's fairly common, but the reality of renting for life needs to stop being treated like an anomaly or a mistake.
Everything about the US is set up to advantage home owners. It's kind of disgusting.
@futurebird @llewelly I don't agree, mortgage deductions mean that renters are effectively subsidizing home owners, which is sucky.
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@futurebird @llewelly I don't agree, mortgage deductions mean that renters are effectively subsidizing home owners, which is sucky.
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Like half I bet.
@futurebird @gbargoud I've been thinking of this too! Driving is objectively incredibly dangerous and stressful yet it's still held up as a luxury to a staggering number of suburbanites.
It's also a huge waste of time compared to pub trans- I don't care how many audiobooks you listen to in a car, most of your brain is focused on not dying, so your ability to actually take in that information, synthesize it, be changed by it, interact with it, enjoy it, etc. is very low, especially compared to someone listening to or reading the same thing on a train.
This all from a lifetime unhappy suburbanite who drives for my job a lot now.
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One of the reasons home prices in the US are so high is... the 30 year mortgage. For sanity, and the future we ought to be planning to slowly transition to 20 and 15 year mortgages as the default. This would increase middle class wealth, cool down the housing market and frankly, it might make buying a home less daunting.
Older Americans have most of their wealth in their home. Hence, the "slow" part. We won't be done till they are all dead. Not to be impolite about it.
@futurebird The recent construction in my neighborhood will probably last 30 years. Not sure those houses will make it to 50.
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@futurebird The recent construction in my neighborhood will probably last 30 years. Not sure those houses will make it to 50.
Ugh. The cheap McMansion construction is going to look so bad as it ages. They are disposable buildings with little to justify maintaining them past 40 years.
I guess that's a positive for cities... the construction we've gotten has been generally very well done in terms of durability. With the exception of those pencil towers which may not last except as curiosities. (The pencil towers are not really that numerous. Most construction has been more practical)
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Increasing supply is also important. I just hate the idea of people paying that much interest over their lives.
@futurebird @keefeglise pfft, interests in USA are tiny like Pica, we got a 30 year mortgage with 12% p.a. when we were 23-24 (in Russia)!
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@futurebird @keefeglise pfft, interests in USA are tiny like Pica, we got a 30 year mortgage with 12% p.a. when we were 23-24 (in Russia)!
Interest over 7 percent is evil and wrong.
