[EconProf]

A state tax credit for buying new homes in CA is so wrong on so many fronts, I don’t know where to begin.
For one thing it helps the rich(er) at the expense of all taxpayers. Only the upper 1/2 or 1/4 of income earnings are buying new homes, generally speaking. Renters especially should be incensed at this subsidy to homebuyers and homebuilders.
And why should this bankrupt state, bleeding jobs, businesses, and middle-class taxpayers be handing out subsidies at all?
The tax credit even operates at cross-purposes to our professed goals. While the politicians claim to want to help underwater homeowners, they subsidize more new homebuilding, thus adding to supply and keeping prices from rising eventually due to natural market forces. The solution to the overbuilding and glut of empty houses is to slow building for a while.

[EconProf]

A state tax credit for buying new homes in CA is so wrong on so many fronts, I don’t know where to begin.
For one thing it helps the rich(er) at the expense of all taxpayers. Only the upper 1/2 or 1/4 of income earnings are buying new homes, generally speaking. Renters especially should be incensed at this subsidy to homebuyers and homebuilders.
And why should this bankrupt state, bleeding jobs, businesses, and middle-class taxpayers be handing out subsidies at all?
The tax credit even operates at cross-purposes to our professed goals. While the politicians claim to want to help underwater homeowners, they subsidize more new homebuilding, thus adding to supply and keeping prices from rising eventually due to natural market forces. The solution to the overbuilding and glut of empty houses is to slow building for a while.

[EconProf]

A state tax credit for buying new homes in CA is so wrong on so many fronts, I don’t know where to begin.
For one thing it helps the rich(er) at the expense of all taxpayers. Only the upper 1/2 or 1/4 of income earnings are buying new homes, generally speaking. Renters especially should be incensed at this subsidy to homebuyers and homebuilders.
And why should this bankrupt state, bleeding jobs, businesses, and middle-class taxpayers be handing out subsidies at all?
The tax credit even operates at cross-purposes to our professed goals. While the politicians claim to want to help underwater homeowners, they subsidize more new homebuilding, thus adding to supply and keeping prices from rising eventually due to natural market forces. The solution to the overbuilding and glut of empty houses is to slow building for a while.

[EconProf]

A state tax credit for buying new homes in CA is so wrong on so many fronts, I don’t know where to begin.
For one thing it helps the rich(er) at the expense of all taxpayers. Only the upper 1/2 or 1/4 of income earnings are buying new homes, generally speaking. Renters especially should be incensed at this subsidy to homebuyers and homebuilders.
And why should this bankrupt state, bleeding jobs, businesses, and middle-class taxpayers be handing out subsidies at all?
The tax credit even operates at cross-purposes to our professed goals. While the politicians claim to want to help underwater homeowners, they subsidize more new homebuilding, thus adding to supply and keeping prices from rising eventually due to natural market forces. The solution to the overbuilding and glut of empty houses is to slow building for a while.

[EconProf]

davejl: Please be specific. If she was right on the market’s direction and on the fundamentals, how did she lose people money?
Your comments are so often spot-on, so I hope you can respond.
Frankly, Merideth Whitney was early and right in so many ways, and caught flack for it until proven correct, so I tend to trust her forecasts.

[EconProf]

davejl: Please be specific. If she was right on the market’s direction and on the fundamentals, how did she lose people money?
Your comments are so often spot-on, so I hope you can respond.
Frankly, Merideth Whitney was early and right in so many ways, and caught flack for it until proven correct, so I tend to trust her forecasts.

[EconProf]

davejl: Please be specific. If she was right on the market’s direction and on the fundamentals, how did she lose people money?
Your comments are so often spot-on, so I hope you can respond.
Frankly, Merideth Whitney was early and right in so many ways, and caught flack for it until proven correct, so I tend to trust her forecasts.

[EconProf]

davejl: Please be specific. If she was right on the market’s direction and on the fundamentals, how did she lose people money?
Your comments are so often spot-on, so I hope you can respond.
Frankly, Merideth Whitney was early and right in so many ways, and caught flack for it until proven correct, so I tend to trust her forecasts.

[EconProf]

davejl: Please be specific. If she was right on the market’s direction and on the fundamentals, how did she lose people money?
Your comments are so often spot-on, so I hope you can respond.
Frankly, Merideth Whitney was early and right in so many ways, and caught flack for it until proven correct, so I tend to trust her forecasts.

[EconProf]

The prospective tenants sound like such nice people. Then again, they could be the Tenants From Hell. You really just don’t know.
There are so many many pitfalls for beginning landlords I don’t know where to start. By posting here you have a good beginning. You might have an experienced landlord-friend you could consult, or even have them screen this family.
One basic piece of advice I’d give is to not make friends with these people. Keep it on a strictly business basis, proper paperwork, no favors exchanged, no tenant painting allowed, etc. It simply rarely works to be friends with your tenants.
And the fact that you like pets and therefore are open to their’s suggests you are thinking with your heart, not your head. Talk to experienced landlords about the pet thing–there are many pros and cons and you need all sides to decide.

[EconProf]

The prospective tenants sound like such nice people. Then again, they could be the Tenants From Hell. You really just don’t know.
There are so many many pitfalls for beginning landlords I don’t know where to start. By posting here you have a good beginning. You might have an experienced landlord-friend you could consult, or even have them screen this family.
One basic piece of advice I’d give is to not make friends with these people. Keep it on a strictly business basis, proper paperwork, no favors exchanged, no tenant painting allowed, etc. It simply rarely works to be friends with your tenants.
And the fact that you like pets and therefore are open to their’s suggests you are thinking with your heart, not your head. Talk to experienced landlords about the pet thing–there are many pros and cons and you need all sides to decide.

[EconProf]

The prospective tenants sound like such nice people. Then again, they could be the Tenants From Hell. You really just don’t know.
There are so many many pitfalls for beginning landlords I don’t know where to start. By posting here you have a good beginning. You might have an experienced landlord-friend you could consult, or even have them screen this family.
One basic piece of advice I’d give is to not make friends with these people. Keep it on a strictly business basis, proper paperwork, no favors exchanged, no tenant painting allowed, etc. It simply rarely works to be friends with your tenants.
And the fact that you like pets and therefore are open to their’s suggests you are thinking with your heart, not your head. Talk to experienced landlords about the pet thing–there are many pros and cons and you need all sides to decide.

[EconProf]

The prospective tenants sound like such nice people. Then again, they could be the Tenants From Hell. You really just don’t know.
There are so many many pitfalls for beginning landlords I don’t know where to start. By posting here you have a good beginning. You might have an experienced landlord-friend you could consult, or even have them screen this family.
One basic piece of advice I’d give is to not make friends with these people. Keep it on a strictly business basis, proper paperwork, no favors exchanged, no tenant painting allowed, etc. It simply rarely works to be friends with your tenants.
And the fact that you like pets and therefore are open to their’s suggests you are thinking with your heart, not your head. Talk to experienced landlords about the pet thing–there are many pros and cons and you need all sides to decide.

[EconProf]

The prospective tenants sound like such nice people. Then again, they could be the Tenants From Hell. You really just don’t know.
There are so many many pitfalls for beginning landlords I don’t know where to start. By posting here you have a good beginning. You might have an experienced landlord-friend you could consult, or even have them screen this family.
One basic piece of advice I’d give is to not make friends with these people. Keep it on a strictly business basis, proper paperwork, no favors exchanged, no tenant painting allowed, etc. It simply rarely works to be friends with your tenants.
And the fact that you like pets and therefore are open to their’s suggests you are thinking with your heart, not your head. Talk to experienced landlords about the pet thing–there are many pros and cons and you need all sides to decide.

[EconProf]

Try near downtown La Mesa, a really overlooked area. Some of the ambience and walkability of Normal Heights, but with a bit of history and accessability to freeways too.

[Author]

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