Judy Graff's sublime-to-the-ridiculous (well, mostly ridiculous) take on real estate for east San Fernando Valley and North Los Angeles communities. This includes Hollywood Hills, Burbank, Studio City and Toluca Lake real estate and homes for sale, and also covers Valley Village, North Hollywood, Glendale, Atwater, Highland Park, Silverlake, Sherman Oaks and other L.A. areas too. General news and musings as well.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Sick of Free Marketers
I've said this before, but I'm sick of free marketers in the blogosphere decrying the newly-passed stimulus package. It will help some people keep their homes. It will help communities fight blight. Houses aren't like some disposable-income consumer item. Is there any awareness, at all, out there that people need a roof over their heads? That a house isn't just an investment but a place to live? Boy, I never thought I'd live to see opinions like these that are pro-homelessness and blight.
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Why do persist in this fiction that it's somehow a matter of staying in a house they can't afford and homelessness...
ReplyDeleteThere's a third option. It's what they were doing before they bought more house than they could afford.
It's called renting, and there's nothing shameful in it, is there?
As far as neighborhood blight goes... prices fall and people move back in - at way more reasonable prices that allow them to spend more of their income on things other than housing. How is this a bad outcome?
I so agree with the first comment. Judy, I have looked at close to 100 foreclosed properties in the past 2 years and you know what, almost every one had luxury cars in the driveway and multiple satellite dishes. I drive a (paid for)3 year old Ford and don't have cable and I KNEW I couldn't afford a home. The greedy and deceitful are getting what they deserve.
ReplyDeleteYou offer a false dichotomy when you make it should like the only options are home ownership or homelessness. People that can't afford to buy a home can rent and prices will fall to a level where other people can buy those homes. My husband and I have been saving and are just waiting until prices become more reasonable before we buy. If the prices are right, those homes won’t be empty for long.
ReplyDeleteThe first three readers see this issue clearly and fairly. Not only is it not about being "pro-homelessness," etc., but these programs will not, in the end, help people stay in their homes because they truly cannot afford them. These are PR campaigns for politicians far more than anything else. They would at best only delay the day of reckoning and the return to a healthy market, what is often referred to these days as "price discovery." There is no wizard of Oz, just politicians behind a curtain.
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