Work quantity

[Terrel L. Shields]

he housing shortage, since you seem to live in your own world, is about Americans being priced out of the market, most of them living in rentals or with family squashed together because they can not afford to buy

"Affordable" is a term bandied about by government. And it is meant for low-income people. Not all low-income persons should try to own a home, but in not too many days past, almost anyone could afford a manufactured home and preferred it over living in apartments. So are you saying 15 million immigrants are going to just live in shelters the rest of their lives? There is real shortage of housing in areas with jobs...if there wasn't starter homes would not be selling for $300k.

Yes, a lot of people are packed like sardines for lack of resources. New construction is not going to fix that. Truly affordable apartments will go a long ways. I don't know anywhere in the part of the world I live in where there is a surplus of housing. And it's not going to be the case if prices do not come down. If they do come down, then even more people will be homeless but perhaps they can rent cheaper than the mortgages they were paying. Who knows? But I do know that low interest rates fueled an insane price spiral upwards that is unjustified by economics. It was just FOMO - fear of missing out. And the result is a bunch of houses over-priced and held only by a low mortgage.

The current state of the housing economy is frozen with record low sales and record low sales translates into no work for appraisers, Real Estate agents, nor lenders. So what breaks the dam and lets the water flow again?

 

[JLuther]

Is everyone in Florida slow right now, like barely any work at all??

Central Florida - Business is down +/-85% in 2024 so far.

October 31 Orders
November 23 Orders
December 21 Orders

This Year - 2 Appraisal Orders .. and 3 final inspection orders (food money).

My largest client has not sent 1 order this year and I called and they said I was still a Platinum level appraiser and all lights are green on my profile. Scary out here right now!! Spending more on marketing and making less.

Good luck everyone in 2024!!!

 

[JLuther]

I am in Florida. 2 reports so far this month. Very slow. was getting 8-10 for the past 6 months and even that was really slow for what I was typically getting at the start of the year.

2 orders here as well and we averaged 25/month October-December... best of luck!! Challenging year to come!

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

Biden is proposing building 500,000 new homes for "affordable" living. The question is how is "affordable" even possible when prices jumped 40% in 3 years? And to house who? The 15 million immigrants that barely speak English? That means more debt to subsidize this housing. And more bodies to compete mostly for low paying jobs will only depress wages.

government subsidies

 

[Deleted member 158458]

Is everyone in Florida slow right now, like barely any work at all??

I am in CA and have very little lender work. I get 2 or 3 bid requests every week but I never win them because I target an hourly rate which is higher than what McDonald's pays. Interestingly, I called one of my AMCs and asked them why I had not heard from them in a year and they told me that the only orders which they have are from FL and TX! FYI, I have been marketing myself and have been getting estate and divorce work. Spotty but more fun than lender work!!!

 

[DISfunctionalObsolescence]

Is everyone in Florida slow right now, like barely any work at all??

I’m at $6k a month in Florida. No FHA purchases (very odd), some purchase but mostly refi and foreclosure

 

[Sandra Koutsopoulos]

re: balancing housing need/economy/affordability. Milwaukee area has a BUNCH of duplexes; when I was a RE Broker there, I sold a huge number of duplexes, pitching the rental income as a help for the homeowner, as rents relative to mortgage payments was quite high. In many areas, that's still a good way to own your own home, but has the inconvenience and lack of privacy due sharing one wall or floor/ceiling. In those days, wages were adequate to barely pay for the rental or 1st home housing. Really tougher now.

In my area of SoCal, duplexes are scarce as hen's teeth. Much less possibility to own a starter duplex using the rent to enhance the affordability here. BUT... now ADUs are becoming very popular, though using the rent therefrom (though real) may not be acceptable for DTI etc. I recently did an appraisal on new construction touted as "2 for 1" in which the layout with 2nd entrance plus bedroom, bath and another room with kitchenette counter is the ADU, and also connected to the main residence space through a hallway door. The main part of the house is pitched as a single family-like space. Zoned SFR. Priced in low $500s. So maybe that ADU portion can be rented for $1200 to $1400? is that enough to make EITHER of the units affordable? Anyhow, it is a practical stab at having two families in essence pay for 1 house structure, and due to the continually rising prices (without continually rising regular wages) is one way for people to have housing.

I wonder what WAS the ratio of $Income of CEOs to Workers' pay rate in the 60s, 70s, 80s.
And what is that ratio NOW? We know prices have continued to climb on all kinds of products. How much of those increases can be attributed to increased CEO pay? If CEOs paid $millions would reduce their income to 10 times the typical worker's pay in their company, would pay go up for workers? or would prices go down to be more affordable by everybody? It seems our economy is out of balance, with the greatest burden on the worker-bees (that is, MOST OF US).

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

government subsidies

If they subsidize the construction of such, will it translate into cheaper rents? Or, will they have to subsidize that too? And at what cost to the taxpayer? We are going to run out of taxpayer's money sometime. And the idea we can tax the rich is ludicrous. The rich are great at hiring accountants to cut their taxes and not one single tax break was created without a benefit to someone. Punitive taxes are not constitutional. So, you end up taxing everyone trying to get to the pocket of the wealthiest people.

 

[J Grant]

If they subsidize the construction of such, will it translate into cheaper rents? Or, will they have to subsidize that too? And at what cost to the taxpayer? We are going to run out of taxpayer's money sometime. And the idea we can tax the rich is ludicrous. The rich are great at hiring accountants to cut their taxes and not one single tax break was created without a benefit to someone. Punitive taxes are not constitutional. So, you end up taxing everyone trying to get to the pocket of the wealthiest people.

Getting the wealthy to pay a share that reflects their income is not punitive. I read that with all the loopholes and deductions, they pay an average of 8%, even though their bracket might say 40%. They need to work on some of the tax code and enforce what exists. The R party is built around cutting benefits to us, the working class, to keep taxes ultra-low for their cronies.

That aside, affordable housing can mean purchases and probably means that when constructing new units. Any govt subsidies to build or price would be mitigated by the jobs the construction creates and the property taxes increase paid for what is now vacant sites

 

[BRCJR]

Getting the wealthy to pay a share that reflects their income is not punitive. I read that with all the loopholes and deductions, they pay an average of 8%, even though their bracket might say 40%. They need to work on some of the tax code and enforce what exists. The R party is built around cutting benefits to us, the working class, to keep taxes ultra-low for their cronies.

That aside, affordable housing can mean purchases and probably means that when constructing new units. Any govt subsidies to build or price would be mitigated by the jobs the construction creates and the property taxes increase paid for what is now vacant sites

I think you love the GOP as often as you allude to them....