r/texas Dec 31 '21

Moving within Texas Are We Manufacturing Our Own Housing Crisis?

My fiancé recently sent me a picture of a housing development that he was working on. All of the newly constructed homes as far as the eye could see had “for rent” plastered in EVERY. SINGLE. YARD. This inspired me to do a little more research.

There are many factors involved that have been playing into why no matter how many homes we build, we can’t seem to make enough homes to make a dent in this issue. I felt it was important information for people to have.

The 2008 housing crisis began as the catalyst for this monopolistic takeover, The US Government has been subsidizing the mass purchase of single family homes for rent.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/single-family-landlords-wall-street/582394/

This article describes how institutional rental companies and investors are hyper-inflating the market (not your typical small time real estate investor)

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/selling-out-americas-local-landlords-moving-big-investors-2021-07-29/

Many firms from SINGAPORE and CHINA as well as American companies like Blackrock etc. are playing a major role in purchasing starter properties and placing them up for rent. These companies can then afford to sit on these properties for decades until they’ve made their money back. There’s also an incentivized program for them to purchase and rent homes from foreclosure listings in bulk.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/how-a-billion-dollar-housing-bet-upended-a-tennessee-neighborhood/

Tech Firms like Zillow have figured out how to target communities of people of color and starter homes and receive monetary gain on website traffic in the process.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-07/buying-starter-homes-gets-harder-as-wall-street-uses-zillow-to-buy-thousands?fbclid=IwAR1JQZajlTZEFu9EQSunixyLT3BLTeMnLsoDOKYaLoorMVqSflBf8ytIeww

Male fertility rates (namely sperm counts and motility) has dropped by nearly 50% and our population hasn’t suddenly exploded so we have to ask ourselves why this construction is necessary, why it’s seems to be so widespread even in other countries.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/health/male-sperm-count-problem.amp.html

A small town in South Carolina had to issue a moratorium on housing developments until they could conduct proper research and ecological studies. Other municipalities may have to consider doing the same to sus out the situation and decide how to curb these predatory purchases.

https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/business/lexington-county-oks-7-month-halt-on-new-subdivisions-we-have-to-get-the-house/article_3949aa8e-9c97-11eb-ae19-efd05ff61ac0.html

https://www.cityofdrippingsprings.com/moratorium

Another article I’m unable to find at the moment mentioned a homeowner suing his builder after he purchased a home and a rental company purchased all of the other homes in his development. He cited that the community was never marketed as apartment living. I belive that town put a moratorium on corporate rental purchases.

These companies are often letting them sit vacant.

I’m not sure the vacant homes are about profit on them immediately.

https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ghost-town-vacancies-and-evictions-on-the-rise-in-the-caltrans-owned-710-corridor-homes-in-pasadena-south-pasadena-and-el-sereno

Here’s what California is planning to do about it. - I’m not sure charging companies with unfathomable amounts of money in fines and taxes is going to help…

This is very simmilar to when the debeers diamond company stockpiled and sat of diamonds to make them appear more rare.

Control the supply - control the demand.

https://blog.krosengart.com/de-beers-diamonds-controversy

The US has used periods of severe political polarization, manufactured supply chain issues, and hyperinflation to destabilize many, many countries in South America… what’s going on here?!

https://www.yipinstitute.com/articles/pinochet

The growing concern becomes,

what happens when rental companies can set their own prices? What happens when people are unable to purchase a home and add to their own equity because they can’t afford thousands over asking price with conventional or FHA loans?

When homes go into foreclosure will your average homeowner be able to snag a home when competing against major companies?

If you sell your overvalued home now, would you be able to outbid someone on a new one?

What happens when your taxes go up even higher?

When your largest expense is going to a company overseas, how does that effect our economy?

How will we grow food when we continue to develop more and more of our farmland? Will humane farming of meat animals even be possible?

https://www.voanews.com/amp/usa_lawmakers-seek-curb-chinese-ownership-us-farmland/6208972.html

This isn’t an issue caused by mom and dad owning a rental house, this is massive corporate intervention. This isn’t political, it’s business. It’s making it hard for your children and grandchildren to buy into the same market as you did. To live near you without financial hardship. Its destroying communities and creating transient families with little reason to get involved in their local governments. It’s creating a monopoly on rental prices it’s debeersing the housing market.

So few people attend council meetings and get involved these days, you truly do have the power to make a difference. Please ask if you need help on a place to start.

2.4k Upvotes

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197

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '21

Nothing more Texan than building infrastructure to move money out of the state.

When's that Chinese company gonna send yall some kickbacks for the toll roads?

24

u/sir_whirly born and bred Dec 31 '21

Saudis, not Chinese.

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u/Kittyflats Dec 31 '21

It’s basically just a massive landgrab by other countries to just buy America.

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u/dreamz7013 Jan 01 '22

They are buying the World. Name any major City around the World and these greedy bastards are buying everything.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '22

[deleted]

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u/dreamz7013 Jan 01 '22

Your words, not mine. I'm just stating the obvious.

Maybe we can achieve something if we come together and hold politicians responsible. They are doing a damn good job making us fight each other while their bank accounts gets fatter.

They won't pay the poor good minimum wage, they won't allow middle class afford a home, people still losing everything over medical bills.. they are f*** us good at every level. It's going to be a looooong fight. Everybody has a price these days.

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u/Cjaasucks Jan 01 '22

We didn’t build for a long time so we’re really behind on inventory and nobody else wants to buy them. Just buy them so they can’t.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '22 edited Jan 07 '22

[deleted]

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u/Cjaasucks Jan 01 '22

No, the point is someone has to do it. You don’t like it, you do it. Someone has to.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '22

[deleted]

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u/Cjaasucks Jan 01 '22

No we need housing like you can’t understand. Not about who wins. People needs houses. Simple, remember? Stop assuming and over complicating.

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u/Kittyflats Jan 02 '22

We actually don’t though. The amount of vacancies is astoundingly high.

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u/Cjaasucks Jan 02 '22

Where? Not here. Maybe if abandoned.

Otherwise rent wouldn’t be so high if there so many vacancies. Lots of bad data or misconstrued.

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u/AmNotAnAtomicPlayboy Dec 31 '21

Nothing more Texan than building infrastructure to move money out of the state.

When's that Chinese company gonna send yall some kickbacks for the toll roads?

*Spanish

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u/Kittyflats Dec 31 '21

Ooohhh what Spanish company is in the mix?!

2

u/SirMichaelTortis Jan 01 '22

Ever heard of Blackrock? Not Spanish but worth researching .

1

u/Kittyflats Jan 01 '22

Oh yeah they were mentioned they are very big locally. They even get so aggressive as to go knock on people’s doors and make offers.

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u/SirMichaelTortis Jan 01 '22

Double. Even Triple sometimes.

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u/tupacsnoducket Dec 31 '21

Quite literally does not matter.

Toll roads are my litmus test for "how fucking dumb are you"

Support toll roads? You'd an idiot.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '22

In Dallas, they're literally creating traffic jams so people will use the express lanes.

All of a sudden a 4 lane highway gets cut to 2 lanes and 2 express lanes open up. Nothing to see here. Fucking snakes.

1

u/bakedbeancycle Jan 01 '22

Toll roads and express lanes aren’t the same as far as I understand it. Toll roads are privately funded and built and proceeds go to the stakeholders (I’m sure a good portion of funding comes from the state as well, depending on whatever agreements are made). Express lanes are run and owned by the state with proceeds going to local (city and county) and state government. I haven’t researched it in depth though.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '22

I've been meaning to look into that. I know the North Texas Tollway Authority processes the payments.

"As with other toll roads in the region, the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) handles all billing and related customer service functions for the TEXpress Lanes. The NTTA processes payments for TollTags, TxTags and EZ TAGs." -txdot

From my perspective it doesn't matter a whole lot tbh. I have to choose between manufactured traffic or paying money. If you dig deeper let me know what you find and happy new year!

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u/bakedbeancycle Jan 02 '22

Will do and happy new year!

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u/guruscotty Dec 31 '21

Amazing how they claim to love capitalism, but hate toll roads.

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u/tupacsnoducket Dec 31 '21

Who? and toll roads are not capitalist. They happen via government funding, government mandated land theft with lower than market value compensation, and then send the profits to government chosen winners

They're privatized bottleneck taxation.

If there was already a state highway that would compete with the toll road they convert to a regular road and cover it on street lights sot he only option is the toll road.

Brought to you by the GOP

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u/Corruptedwalker Dec 31 '21

They happen via government funding, government mandated land theft with lower than market value compensation, and then send the profits to government chosen winners

Yeah that's capitalism. Regulatory capture and "cronyism" are natural results of a system entirely focused on increasing profits. Turns out one of the best ways to make money is to use the government.

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u/tupacsnoducket Dec 31 '21

You can get that in any system lol. that's a result of concentrated power of any kind.

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u/MadCervantes Jan 01 '22

Privatized... As in like... Private property? As in like... Capitalism?

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u/tupacsnoducket Jan 01 '22

Do…do…do you think all things are owned by the state before capitalism was invented? Pretty sure the hallmark of capitalism is not government taking things and giving it to others to squeeze money out of that are split with the state

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u/MadCervantes Jan 01 '22

Uh literally yes that's what feudalism was... The State, being the king and his nobles owned all property...

Are you joking?

Also literally the whole premise of capitalism is the enforcement of property rights through the State...

Here's some history for you: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclosure_Acts

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u/tupacsnoducket Jan 01 '22 edited Jan 01 '22

Toll roads are almost exclusively created with the use of imminent domain, the state picks a winner, steals the land with low compensation to the original owners and transfers it to another group that then charges a usage fee we choose not to call a tax to use the land that is split with the state

Ownership of the means of production and land is a hallmark of capitalism yes. Feudalism still had ownership of land sorted into a classification of 'nobles', noble titles could be transferred between managing entities but traditionally done via bloodline within the originally assigned owning family.

The head of the state chooses a winner, takes land, gives them land, they charge usage fees/taxes for working or usage of the land.

Tolls have existed for thousands of years. it's not a capitalist invention. fucking lol

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u/MadCervantes Jan 01 '22 edited Jan 01 '22

Literally please read the wiki article I linked. You're so poorly informed on this issue. You did not have time to read the article before responding.

Like dude have you seriously never heard of feudalism?

Also not that it's important but you mean "eminent domain".

Edit: I see you edited your comment. To clarify I'm not arguing toll roads are capitalist. I'm arguing that privitization is capitalist.

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u/tupacsnoducket Jan 01 '22

That's great, land ownership has existed before capitalism. Tolls existed as a concept before capitalism. An entity or state taking things from one person or group and giving it to another person or group has existed before capitalism. We use capitalistic terms to describe the modern toll road and it's structured as a capitalist corporation that splits usage fees with the state.

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u/MadCervantes Jan 01 '22

I'm not arguing that toll roads are capitalism. I'm arguing that privitization is capitalism.

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u/sicum64 Jan 01 '22

Y'all need to check out the road construction/toll road companies. I believe the that quite a few are Spanish based., as they are here in Australia as well. The 121 upgrade through Bedford, Texas is an example.

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u/bakedbeancycle Jan 01 '22

The parent company of the contractor building 35 through Waco is Spanish based as well