What's the Solution for Rising Rent Prices?

It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that rent prices are still rising consistently, across many areas of the country. As of March, the cost of rent was, on average, 3.7 percent higher than it was last year (according to the Labor Department, as reported by Realtor.com). Average wages grew about 3.2 percent during the same period, meaning rent is growing faster than wages can keep up with it.

It’s estimated that there is currently a shortfall of 2.6 million housing units for Americans with low to moderate levels of income. Fast-growing urban areas are hit especially hard, with exceptionally high demand and faster-growing rent prices than wages.

So what’s the solution? If you’re left-leaning, you might suggest the development of rent control, regulating the amount of rent a landlord can charge or restricting how much rent can increase from year to year. However, there may be some inherent problems with this approach, and if we’re going to cultivate an economy where everyone can thrive, we need a more comprehensive solution.

Buying vs. Renting

First, let’s consider the fact that many people currently renting could feasibly afford to buy a house -- and in many cases, end up paying far less in a monthly mortgage payment than they’re currently paying for rent. The two inhibitory factors preventing more people from buying houses are an inability to be approved for a loan (due to a low credit score or bad credit history), and not being able to save enough for a down payment. The former issue is difficult to navigate, since banks do need some reassurance that their loans will be repaid. The latter issue is directly tied to rental prices;

I think that as telecommuting becomes a viable option for more and more people, we will see flyover country increase in population as the cities are drained, left with only the criminal element and “welfare” recipients.

I think that’s quite possible. Considering the high housing prices in some parts of the country, particularly California cities and the Northeast, people may well ask, why put up with that if they can live elsewhere for much cheaper.

Already there is anecdotal evidence of many people leaving these expensive cities, and relocating to cheaper parts of the country, and having a higher standard of living. There’s also evidence of retirees from California, selling houses and moving out of state in retirement, and again, having a higher living standard due to settling in an area with a much lower cost of living.

But the relocated city dwellers will bring their unfortunate voting habits with them, and wreck their new locations.

Not all. The good news is that the first to leave are the conservatives that have simply had enough - like me.

I joke that I moved from a place where my vote didn’t count, to a place where my vote doesn’t count, but for the exact opposite reason. :D

My friend from high school owns his own home in the Seattle area. He and his wife (who I also knew in high school) are both 65. They are quite literally waiting for her parents to die and then they are moving either here (KY), or Tennessee.

His hatred for Washington state knows no bounds. He’s lived there his whole life and seen what it has become. He wants no part of it. And yes, they can sell their house there, pay cash for a nicer one here, and be pretty much set.

(1) millennials got screwed out of jobs in the great depression. The ones that got knocked off track had a permanent hit to their careers.

(2) The jobs that do exist are in high COL metropolitan areas. In those areas, boomer NIMBYs have restricted zoning and therefore supply, raising rents and home prices.

(3) Those same boomers voted to stop subsidizing education after going to college for free on the public’s tax dollars. So millenials end up making the equivalent of a down payment on a house when they pay off their student loans. Sure, tradesmen don’t have this issue, but those jobs can only ever be a fraction of the economy now and wages have generally been stagnant for non-college educated workers since the 70s.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Your overlords might decide to jack up the property tax to be more akin to the payments on a BMW i8 that you bought entirely on credit. Property taxes are without a doubt the most egregious thing to be foisted on Americans. What is the difference between us, and peasants on a lord’s estate? You stop paying ~~rent to the lord~~ property tax, and suddenly that house you own “free and clear” isn’t yours anymore!

Whether you pay rent, a mortgage, or “own”, you’re ultimately still in chains. Fun fun fun.

In many places, rent controls and rules/laws which overly favor tenants have made building rental properties a losing proposition. Zoning may have a role, too. What I do know is that in the cities I’m familiar with, while there was a lot of rental apartment building constructed in the 50s and 60s, there ha been virtually none built since. Development policies that favor the building of apartment condos may have had a part, too.

Build new housing, both in the form of new development and infill, additions, conversions, and rehabs. In many urban areas, there is a lot of newly vacant commercial space that can be redeveloped into mixed use. The key point is to maintain and add to the existing housing stock so as to expand the supply.

“Enjoy it while it lasts. Your overlords might decide to jack up the property tax to be more akin to the payments on a BMW i8 that you bought entirely on credit. Property taxes are without a doubt the most egregious thing to be foisted on Americans. What is the difference between us, and peasants on a lord’s estate? You stop paying rent to the lord property tax, and suddenly that house you own “free and clear” isn’t yours anymore! Whether you pay rent, a mortgage, or “own”, you’re ultimately still in chains. Fun fun fun. ”

It’s amazing to me how few people understand this fact. We have zero private property rights as prescribed by our Constitution. Home “ownership” is but a myth. Perpetual property taxes in any amount are a Constitutional abomanation. I think it would be ok to tax property as a one time fee in a reasonable amount but perpetual taxes literally invalidate or Constitution. We bave been brainwashed into thinking we actually have private property rights. We do not

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