Comments on: Housing roundup

By: Westchester monitor: take down that criticism of HUD settlement - Overlawyered

Westchester monitor: take down that criticism of HUD settlement - Overlawyered — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:30:04 +0000

[…] in part because of his criticism of the much-disliked deal. [Newsday, paywall; earlier here, here, here, etc.] […]

By: rxc

rxc — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:12:09 +0000

In France, the proliferation of “tenant protection” regulations has made it extremely difficult for people to find rental properties. On average it takes about 3 years to evict someone. Potential renters are now being asked to provide guarantees from their banks that they will pay the rent – I have no idea how one convinces their bank to do such a thing.

In cities like Paris the problem is exacerbated by the many non-French EU citizens who purchase apartments to park their money because they don’t believe that the banks will give it back to them when they want it (see, e.g., Cyprus). They don’t live in the apts, other than an anual vacation or two, and leave them empty. We have one friend in a building that is more than half owned by Greeks, all of them empty. It probably makes the communal charges much lower, but at a price…

We are selling our house in SW France, and the real estate agents say there are a LOT of Belgians and Dutch with cash looking for houses to buy in the country because Paris prices have become a bubble. Hopefully one of them will like my house…

By: Paul McKaskle

Paul McKaskle — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:53:58 +0000

San Francisco rent control results in more than empty apartments. I inherited a duplex, rented it for a while (every tenant made more money than I did) but eventually concluded that draconian rent control (and other tenant friendly) rules made it a less than a good investment. I sold it to two couples (who took title initially as tenants in common but with the prospect to convert it, eventually, into condominiums) and it, thus, left the rental market forever. This has happened to many duplexes in San Francisco, almost all no longer on the rental market.

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:39:40 +0000

Link fixed now, thanks.

By: William Baldwin

William Baldwin — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:26:01 +0000

faulty link to Shapiro/Minnesota post?

By: Pete Warden

Pete Warden — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 05:25:37 +0000

I was surprised to see Ta-Nahesi’s article appear, and I was hoping for a bit more of a meaty critique. I’m not always on the same page as Coates, but I do respect his diligence in arguing from evidence. I’m guessing his counter-argument would be that the techniques may have been as old as the hills, but the environment of legally-sanctioned covenants, redlining, and other external measures kept black migrants in a position where they were vulnerable to such scams.

One lesson you can draw from his series of articles on housing is how dangerous paternalism can be, by showing how government has been abused to enforce social prejudices through the law. I feel like there might be some common ground to find there!