$25,000 For Homebuyers?! Could Kamala Harris' Plan Work? A Recipe For Disaster?

[@cynaraanderson]

What are your thoughts on Kamala Harris’ economic plans specifically her housing plans?

[@dingdongditcher69]

I’m on a cellphone so I’ll keep it short. Giving away money does not fix anything. Policies like this keep inflation rampant. If we want housing prices to go down, incentivize the younger generations to build them. What’re your thoughts?

[@JoeSmith-jd5zg]

Rising house prices are not great for existing homeowners in many areas because the Central Appraisal districts will just jack up the property tax. They can't take the "dividends" of their "investment" and use that money to pay their kids tuition or go on a fancy vacation or whatever more money would mean to them. For practical purposes, it's not a liquid asset, and if you're using it to live in it's really just an expense or another liability. If you're into being a landlord, then it can be an investment, but don't think for one second that that's a passive investment. How is 3 million units going to solve the housing crisis, isn't the shortage much, much greater than that? As for giving people $25,000 for a down payment well that just translates into Jack the price up by another $25,000. As for all these other initiatives that aren't blamed for the housing shortage, they should be. Affordable housing means a person working a median-wage job can buy a house that is 3-4 times her/his annual income, just like it was when real market forces were in play decades ago. Not "we're only going to give the poor people $ so they can spend like an average person"-meanwhile that enables rent and prices to be continually jacked up artificially. Increase supply, stop letting zoning laws and NIMBY weenies stand in the way of building, stop allowing increasingly longer term mortgages so the banks get fatter, dumber, and happier at the expense of everyone else, and get rid of the damn national association of realtors. The median-wage worker should not have to pay 8-10 times annual income to afford housing. Giving free money to artificially support high prices makes things worse-fix the real problem with the previous sentence. All this crap does is sort of fixes the poorest people-prices jack, and now you have a new higher-earning segment that is house poor or overburdened on rent. Give those folks money and next is the next higher earners, etc. Do REAL affordable housing, not a government scam.

[@cynaraanderson]

Thank you for your perspective!

[@BrendaMiller-w7t]

Concur. There are many instances where people have run the expenses of owning a house from maintenance, taxes, insurance, interest to the lender, HOAs, etc. and shown OFTEN renting is the better option. Who cares your so called investment grew from $150K to $400K over 20 years when you've put in $500K to taxes, maintenance, insurance and interest. All that has been flushed down the drain as the pro-house folks like to say, so you have a $250K gain that cost you $650K (including the $150K of equity you had to put in the mortgage, assuming you had one). So, the American nightmare as a road to wealth is at best fuzzy math myth that got you a 20 year total return of -62.5% ($400K asset that cost you $650K).

[@BringBackMasculinity1987]

Her plan sounds disastrous... It's like you said at the tail end of your video, there's already plenty of down payment assistance. I'm not real estate expert, but am I missing something here? Lol

[@cynaraanderson]

Thank you for your perspective!

[@philp3234]

You're not missing anything at all, her plan is disastrous. If her plan goes into effect, my wife and I are already considering raising the cost of our house when we sell it, since new home buyers are going to get a bonus. Personally I'd rather not do that, but if the government is going to provide you a bonus, I'm going to take that bonus, like so many others.

[@marymassey7116]

@@BringBackMasculinity1987 unfortunately 25k isn’t even much money anymore. Might cover closing costs on a purchase and a couple grand for down payments. Most people can’t even afford to save $100/month for emergencies. Down payment assistance closer to $50k might make a difference.

[@marymassey7116]

They need to provide a fast track for permits for new builds. A national building standard would be great. If I want to build a new home I shouldn’t have to spend thousands and wait months for garbage regulations.

[@cynaraanderson]

@@marymassey7116 I agree. Waiting for permits can be frustrating.

[@phuoc9855]

Ít is disaster.