09/21/2022
Jeremy posted this and I wanted to share, "I recently had a random individual comment on an ad I was running. He blamed me and other realtors for massively high housing prices. Unfortunately this is the problem with an uneducated view on the real estate market. Our real estate market is open to almost all comers. Large hedge fund backed vehicles come in and buy up massive amounts of real estate, artificially lowering the amount of inventory available. Just like Wall Street stocks, when the real estate market turns from bull to bear, these large entities sweep in with tons of cash, picking up properties for pennies on the dollar. Things like real estate investment trusts (REITs) allow fractional shares of real estate investments. This leaves many “blue collar” members of society often sitting out in the cold, barely able to afford a house to live in. By some estimates, REIT’s account for a $3.5 trillion share of the US real estate market. Blackstone is a global company that invests money on the behalf of pensions as well as private and commercial entities. So, blaming realtors for high housing prices is like blaming the checker because the eggs cost $.50 more than they did last week. Unfortunately, reigning in this process truly requires oversight and regulation –just like with Wall Street. Just like with any other governmental regulation, many in the masses cry foul at the specter of “Socialism” that they can’t typically even define.
