I hate hate. But if I hate hate....then...
Posted on 11/29/2022 7:45:12 AM PST by Twotone
I am standing on the stoop of an empty brick row house in Pittsburgh, looking into my phone and rotating my head from side to side. The house is in an alleyway facing the back of a church. The mailbox is stuffed with rain-soaked junk mail.
The rental company’s website finishes scanning my face and an algorithm decides that I do resemble the photo on the passport I uploaded earlier. I get a text with a temporary six-digit key code. There is no one waiting to greet me as I enter.
Inside, there’s a living room painted crisp white, a kitchen with new-looking fixtures and two plain bedrooms upstairs. There is also a tiny backyard with, for some reason, just two-thirds of a fence. Also strange: The only bathroom is in the unfinished basement. My guess is some house-flipper sacrificed the one upstairs to construct a second bedroom.
This house—840 square feet, a century old, imperfect but livable—could make for a good “starter home” for someone with a few grand for a down payment and the ability to make monthly mortgage payments, which would almost certainly be less than the average rent in this neighborhood. Instead, it was purchased by Imagine Homes Management, which has been gobbling up houses in Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and a few other post-industrial metro areas where there still are plenty of cheap single-family homes.
As soon as I leave, I get an automated text asking if I want to apply to rent the place at $1,590 a month. Just like the viewing, I could go through every other step—applying, paying a deposit, moving in and even living there a few years—without speaking to human being. No one would give me a key, just a passcode. This has been the experience of some actual Imagine Home tenants.
(Excerpt) Read more at vice.com ...
I hate everything, especially this.
I, for one, welcome our new Overlandlords.
That’s OK, Laz. Everything hates you too, especially this.
I hate hate. But if I hate hate....then...
Well played!
So, this is what happens when it’s too dangerous to go to an area. That should be a hint right there.
You’ll own nothing ...
That’s exactly what I was thinking....
Are institutional investors increasing their investments in the housing market? And if so is this helping drive the sharp increase in housing prices we’ve seen in the past few years?
I could see major inroads by institutional investors causing prices to increase, by pulling significant numbers of houses off of the market. Based on supply and demand, the cumulative effect of institutional investors would lower the supply of houses available to people who actually want to buy a house and live in that house.
“Your passcode has been changed and your access has been revoked due to your posting of misinformation on Twitter. We are sorry for any inconvenience.”
I recently got a real estate license and joined the MLS. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the game. It’s all pay to play, and a low entry fee for the r.e. rape competition.
Funny how it’s never supply and demand anymore, it’s always “corporations” like that would make a difference.
There’s a shortage of housing and it doesn’t matter who owns it.
Gahhh, people are ignorant.
65.8% of Americans own their home, that’s a historically high number. Corporations are just people working under corporate rules for tax reasons. Many corporations are one person.
Funny how it’s never supply and demand anymore, it’s always “corporations” like that would make a difference.
There’s a shortage of housing and it doesn’t matter who owns it.
Gahhh, people are ignorant.
*******
Real estate companies have always been around, they also multiple when real estate valuations get extravagant.
As far as ignorant people go, the girl in the article named Kaylee isn’t the brightest bulb.
Kaylee was willing to pay $1590 month for rent while looking for a roommate. She couldn’t find a roommate and left the rental when her rent went to $1700. She didn’t understand how little old ladies & blue collar workers could afford the high prices.
Kaylee doesn’t understand that ‘those people’ already own their homes & bought them at a lower valuation in an earlier time period.
I believe it. I got a robo-call yesterday from a robo-agent who was taking down my answers via computer transcription.
At first I thought a live “person” was talking to me.
I just was trying to entertain myself. After a few answers it became more clear that a computer was running the other end of the whole call.
The owner of the house next door is asking a princely sum to rent the house which ensures it will likely get squatted. Absentee landlords never know how to price the market.
I got a direct phone call last Wednesday-—Asked for me by name.
A person with a firm Hindu or Philippines voice asked my “IF I wanted to sell my house for cash”. I live rural on 5+++ acres.
I said I would take $30 MILLION CASH-—NO LESS....
Small pause-—hang up.
I keep getting written notes in the mail from OUT of State.
After several months in real estate, I’m well equipped for car warranty sales as a back-up.
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