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May 7, 2008 at 12:53 PM #200680
DWCAP
Participant

“Most of the people with 10 mortgages were/are investors, who have a vested interest in making their properties nice and rentable, providing a good source for habitable and quality housing. There are actually not a lot of people investing in middle-tier housing (most investors are either in SFR/condos or companies with 50+ unit apartments). So in my sphere, the structure is pretty good for supplying housing (and not necessarily encouraging homeownership, but providing housing).”

Exactly. That is government sponsored investment. They take the risk, you reap the reward, society is/may be alittle better off as rentals are more available, especially at a slightly reduced rent. That isnt free market actions, (again, not necessary a bad thing, but call it what it is.) And it isnt effectivly encouraging affordable home ownership which is the generally accepted rational for the GSE’s.

“And honestly, if it weren’t for many small landlords, the only affordable housing would be by corporations, who only tend to provide high density apartments because of economies of scale.”

Or, this tends to drive UP the price of condo/SFR housing, as demand from investors is higher, meaning fewer people can afford to own, but more can afford to rent. That is, investors make owning RE alittle less affordable, but they make rental housing alittle more affordable.

Look please dont take this as an attack against you or anyone else in your situtation. But people have a terrible tendency of talking up their contributions, but ignoring their costs. Investor/LL’s are good cause they provide rental housing to the market, especailly in a market that corperations dont usually take part in. However, they also drive up the cost of owning housing, as demand will not fall to the level inherent because of “owner/occupier”, making housing less affordable for ownership.
I am not against LL’s. My whole family are LL’s, some day I hope to join them. I just think that there is a big difference between someone renting out the condo they upgraded out of, and someone buying 9 houses as investment tools with government backing.