https://www.ktvu.com/video/1477492
Just another testimony about how out of whack housing prices are. I would like to thank all of the slum lords and companies buying up “value add” properties. I used to attend Fremont City council and planning commission meetings with the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) people complaining about the “rampant” building in the city. In the next breath they would complain that their kids couldn’t afford to live here (in Fremont). So congratulations everyone, we “won?” What did we win by letting homes become commodities instead of places to live and raise families? The market is freezing up and those who want to offload their homes in order to downsize are faced with few if any options. Every small home is a rental so there is no where to step down (retire) to or step into the market for first time buyers. I’m glad a generation could fumble through real estate choices and end up with equity no matter what. But this gave way to the flippers, investors, and international market buying and holding homes. There are just too many players in this game. With the rise of giant apartment buildings and entire neighborhoods of rental family homes the American Dream of home ownership is dead. In the short term investors will reap rewards, stocks will climb, profits will continue. However, very soon, with fewer mortgages, equity lines, maintenance, and home improvement projects to fuel our consumer based economy things will start to get worse. More layoffs and store closings are just the beginning. Then suppliers and manufacturers will cut back and so on.
This will be a very painful economic correction. Regardless of who is president, I give this economic trend three years. By then the majority of projects and housing initiatives will be in effect. It sounds crazy but I predict with the exodus of people from the bay area there will, briefly be an equilibrium in the housing market with buyers, sellers, and renters all able to do what they want to do. This will be short lived and no matter how impossible everyone thinks this is, property values (gasp) will fall. You can witness this now with homes having longer days on market (DOM), translation prices are too high for fewer buyers.
Adam Moura 