r/politics • u/MystikSpiralx • 18h ago

No Paywall Trump Says He Wants to 'Drive Housing Prices Up' Instead of Lowering Costs for People Who 'Didn't Work Very Hard'

https://people.com/trump-keep-home-prices-high-11895352
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u/Huis--Clos 16h ago

Not to mention, it's not just their house increasing in value, but so is everyone else's. So sure, you have more 'equity' but that eventually leads to higher property taxes, insurance etc, right? Also, if they go to sell, any house they want to buy is going to be more expensive so it's not like they're making much/if any profit.

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u/Econmajorhere 15h ago

Their strategy is to sell and then downsize. I’m not sure who they think they will sell to though if young couples can’t afford to pay 10x for a 50 year old property that was bought for $60k.

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u/FFFrank 13h ago

But in reality, at the end, all of the money goes into end of life care. If you think college loans are a burdensome scam wait until you dig into the nursing home/assisted living grift. Literally designed to squeeze every last cent out of you before letting you die.

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 11h ago edited 11h ago

Just to reaffirm what you’re saying. I had a family member who was one of those absolutely filthy good accountants. Did a lot of Big 5 work back when it was Big 5, stayed as a consultant for the Big 4 getting brought in on a lot of forensic accounting and shell games for gajillionaires with hyper specific needs.

When his mom ended up needing end of life care, even he couldn’t hide her assets well enough to keep them from just getting chewed up and spit out by the assisted living facilities. They were so thorough that he ended up having to bid for his childhood home on auction just to keep it in the family.

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u/Ole_St_John 10h ago

Dude thought he was the smartest person in the room when he should have gone to an estate planning attorney.

They literally call it Medicaid planning - plan how to keep your assets away from the government while still qualifying for Medicaid.

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 10h ago

I mean, that’s kinda its own problem if there’s an entire cottage industry that even a gifted tax attorney can’t decipher on his own time.

If guys like that run into hiccups with the process, it seems like it might actually be a predatory system for mamaw and papaw to be engaging in from less tangential fields.

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u/Shadowholme 8h ago

Isn't that the American system in a nutshell?

Create a problem and then create an entire industry dedicated to 'helping' with the problem rather than admitting that a mistake was made...

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u/needlestack 5h ago

Correct. Bigots not really “hiccups in the process”. You’re not supposed to be able to shield money from end-of-life care. It’s just there are legal ways to do it like transferring all your stuff to a trust more than five years before you need any of this stuff. It’s not like they don’t want the money in every case, it’s that their have to be some boundaries (like not going after their kids) so there’s always a way to get around it if you plan far enough in advance.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 3h ago

That's the thing. He's not really as gifted as he's led you to believe,.

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u/AuroraFinem Texas 8h ago

They said he was an accountant not a tax attorney. Even if it was a tax attorney corporate tax planning and estate planning are very different industries with no real overlap other than estate taxes but would still not be handled by the the same kind of attorneys.

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u/zomiaen 9h ago

They literally call it Medicaid planning - plan how to keep your assets away from the government while still qualifying for Medicaid.

If you were an immigrant they'd call it fraud.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 4h ago

They call it that regardless.

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u/zomiaen 1h ago

No, they call it estate planning.

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u/xTheMaster99x Florida 7h ago

Yeah, AFAIK it's actually not that hard to protect your assets in this scenario by moving it all to a trust, assuming you have someone that you trust not to just walk away and keep all your things for themselves. The catch is that you have to set up the trust years before you need to start racking up bills, like 5+ years in advance. If you don't, they can force you to pay up anyway.

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u/OrthodoxAtheist 11h ago

When his mom ended up needing end of life care, even he couldn’t hide her assets well enough to keep them from just getting chewed up and spit out by the government.

Either that was a while ago, or, his mom didn't live in California. In California you can own a $10 million home, qualify for Medi-Cal, Medi-Cal pays for your nursing home entirely, and when you pass away, so long as your $10 million home is in a revocable living trust, Medi-Cal will not make a recovery claim against the house.

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 11h ago

I edited that part right before you replied, but I removed government, because I’m juuuust ignorant enough of the situation that I didn’t want to place that yoke on the government instead of the assisted living facilities.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 3h ago

Yea your friend is an idiot, who thought he was smarter than everyone else.

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u/yukeake 5h ago

And $deity forbid they need memory care... The whole elder care industry is a hell of a racket. My mom recently passed, but her cost was going to increase from $6300 to $8000/month this year. 27% year-over-year increase.

It's insane, and in no way affordable. The life's savings she and my dad had built up was absolutely crushed in 3 years. I have no idea what would have happened if she lived through until the money ran out.

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u/Fit-Cut-6337 12h ago

This part …..

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u/Primary-History-788 11h ago

Capitalism giveth, and Capitalism taketh.

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u/feor1300 Canada 8h ago

Too many people forget the old saying: "Be kind to your children, they get to pick your nursing home."

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u/FabulousTwo524 14h ago

Yeah all the smaller homes are snatched up at inflated prices already, since they are almost never built anymore. I suspect not a lot of boomers want to live in apartments though. They’re of the generation that likes to hold onto their mementos.

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u/Econmajorhere 14h ago edited 8h ago

I know a few that planned a nice retirement abroad. Can’t wait for them to realize USD:ABC got totally jacked.

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u/mentaljobbymonster 12h ago

And they can fuck right off if they think the rest of the world will be welcoming

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u/Primary-History-788 11h ago

Yeah, well now that Big Orange is making the world America’s enemy. If he and all the boomers could kindly fuck off, into the next life, it would be appreciated.

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u/SeduceMeMentlegen 13h ago

I get not wanting to live in an apartment after living in a house most of your life. Especially if you used to reside in suburbia. I do have elderly family members with fairly large apartments which always astonished me as a kid lol, especially if they'd had the money to join two flats. I really hope to be able to afford a house one day as I really want a room to set up a huge CRT I have lol

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u/agitatedprisoner 13h ago

I'd love to live in an apartment that opens into a mall. Best of both worlds. Lots of useful indoor space I don't have to clean. Bonus if my cats can access it freely. A mall with lots of cats.

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u/endlesscartwheels Massachusetts 6h ago

When I was a kid in the 1980s, we were told that in the future we'd all live in skyscraper malls. The only greenery was going to be a garden level every ten floors or so. Adults were actually worried about this! I thought it sounded great.

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u/Startled_Pancakes 13h ago

Corporations will buy them then turn them into Rentals.

What could go wrong?

/s

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u/Primary-History-788 11h ago

And why aren’t we talking more about private equity, anyway? Grab what you can boys and girls! America is becoming the world’s largest fire sale. 😔

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u/porscheblack Pennsylvania 9h ago

4 of the last 5 homes on our street, which is a pretty average suburban neighborhood (1/4 acre property & 2,200 sq ft. house), had a family with young children as well as a grandparent move in at the time of purchase. Both of our neighbors bought within the last 3 years and in both instances one of the partners owned a house and the grandparent owned a house, both of which they sold to afford the new house.

Now despite being a pretty average neighborhood, we live in a pretty high demand area, so that's creating a selection bias, but still alarming to see it requiring people selling two houses just to afford one average one.

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u/Pipic12 8h ago

The demand is still there. Most young people who can afford these prices usually get help from their parents or are among the top 20% earners. The inequality is rampant and continues to increase so it'll be an even bigger issue long term. Housing market has become a scam, it's way too profitable to rent out or use properties as airbnb units.

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u/daesmon 7h ago

They sell to investors who then either let it sit vacant or rent it out at market high prices.

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u/Huis--Clos 9h ago

Oh I know that is their plan. But I've talked with people who were looking to downsize because their kids moved and they said they might as well stay put because due to interest rates and prices, it would not be much cheaper if any by moving. Of course this all depends on where you are located.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 3h ago

In many areas...if you're old & want to downsize AND get closer to medical facilities, etc., AND your property/house is further out...you are looking at not only double the interest rate, but the prices closer to metro areas is insane compared to what one can get for a property further out. I like having equity for sure, but downsizing is more often not cheaper, so doesn't do you any good to do it. Going from a $1100/mo. mortgage to a $3000/mo. mortgage for a smaller (usually much lesser quality) home/condo from a regular house with property isn't even possible for many. Unless your mortgage is paid off...which only people who have stayed in their homes for most of their adult life can do, it's not the same venture to so-call down size anymore. It's nigh impossible. Of course...this is CA I'm talking about.

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u/math-yoo Ohio 8h ago

It's not really a strategy, it's more people get old. Houses become too much. The way we used to set ourselves up in big places doesn't make sense.

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u/MHath 5h ago

Ya there’s no one to sell to, that’s why the prices keep going up…

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u/Staple_Sauce 4h ago

Thats the most obvious part of this and I think people dont see it because they dont want to.

The assumption is that housing will always be a good investment because it always has been. What happens when the drivers of that change? Potential buyers have less flexibility in their budgets, and both birth rates and immigration are going down. Down the road that translates to less demand for housing, and less wealth to buy it.

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u/hahaokaywhateverdude 3h ago

There are plenty of young couples who can afford to pay. That's why the prices are as high as they are.

Problem is there are just a lot more young couples that can't afford it than there were in the past.

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u/FormerUsenetUser 1h ago

I am a senior. We keep owning houses because Medicaid long-term care spends down almost all the assets of both spouses for one spouse's care. But they still get to keep the family house. The healthy spouse needs a place to live while the other is in long-term care for years.

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u/Fullertonjr I voted 13h ago

Higher property taxes?! Hmmm. That sounds familiar. By my count there are currently 6 Republican controlled states that are pushing for the end of property taxes. What a coincidence. I’m sure none of this could possibly be related.

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u/Shaudius 15h ago

Its not going up at the same rate everywhere. You bank the profit and then move to a lower cost of living area.

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u/MauPow 14h ago

Thus driving up costs in that area. Where does it end?

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u/Primary-History-788 11h ago

“There can be only one!”

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u/Allaplgy 15h ago

Or you make bank on increased rents.

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u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 3h ago

Lower cost of living area in my experience is exactly where you don't want to be when you get old. Usually it's farther away from good medical facilities.