Impact of Global RE speculation on local housing markets
Anyone doing research on this issue? I've got some anecdotal insights based on my very limited perspective here in Cambridge, but they are amplified by the chatter on one of Inman News's Facebook groups.
There are a sample of tweets on @RealEstateCafe that document why this situation has risen to crisis levels, and the only Realtor thread I've seen since unapologetic for pursuing money-making opportunities with speculators.
Time for real people to push back? How should do that? The Attorney General's office in MA has expressed an interest and is waiting for more information. Beyond and perhaps more important than that is the visibiliy that the movie, Million Dollar Shack is creating via their ongoing posts on Facebook:
Poll Created Wed 30 Mar 2016 2:31PM
Collaborate with LAUGHtivists to protest Global RE speculation on #AprilFoolsDay Closed Sat 2 Apr 2016 2:07AM
Timing in short, but the element of surprise is always what makes FLASH mobs news worthy. Let's use #AprilFoolsDay to invite housing advocats and LAUGHtivists to protest global real estate speculation.
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Agree | 0% | 0 | |
| Abstain | 0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 1 |
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0 of 1 people have participated (0%)
Bill Wendel Wed 13 Apr 2016 2:00PM
DRAFT TEXT : Virtual Townhall to invite stories, listen to victims of bidding wars / global real estate speculation:
Thankfully, the problem has more visibility given this story yesterday in the NYTimes:
http://bit.ly/RichRESpeculators
"Residents angry about the rise of rich foreign real estate buyers and absentee owners, particularly from China, have begun protests on social media, including a #DontHave1Million Twitter campaign. The provincial government agreed this year to begin tracking foreign ownership of real estate in response to demands from local politicians."
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From Canada to Cambridge, global investors are driving real estate speculation, sometimes bidding $100,000 or more over asking price. Beyond individual homes, investment funds are purchasing starter condos effectively removing rungs from the housing ladder (sometimes before units are ever offered for sale).
When homes are listed in the MLS, ordinary buyers are easily manipulated by a BLIND bidding process which plays on fear of loss; as a result, buyers overpay sometimes bidding against themselves or a phantom bidders.
The bottomline according to the New Yorker Magazine, is that owning a home becomes IMPOSSIBLE (emphasis added) for much of the city’s population.
Some communities are exploring or implementing policies to deter investors and calm housing markets but local victims feel powerless when they can't compete with cash investors. The goal of this town hall is three-fold:
Give bidding war VICTIMS a place to be heard,
Learn more about the impacts, positive & negative, of global investors; and
Invite housing advocates and policy makers from cities around the world to share best practices and ways to regulate BLIND bidding wars.
Our hope is to learn from communities around the world, and to identify and share best practices over time. During this Easter week, think of it as a Holy War on Bidding Wars. Want to join us?
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The DRAFT above was written before Easter, so if we go forward with a virtual town hall, the closing sentence would need editing.
Poll Created Wed 27 Jul 2016 10:00PM
Host Virtual Town Hall to learn more Real Estate Speculator Taxes? Closed Thu 28 Jul 2016 10:03PM
Please Vote up or down on this proposal, comments
IDEA STARTER: Let's host a virtual town hall meeting on Friday, 7/29/16 to learn more about Vancouver's new tax on foreign buyers and explore hosting a friendly competition to encourage other cities to do the same.
DISCLOSURE: The date is significant because it marks the 20th anniversary of a real estate roundtable in Boston featuring Ralph Nader and other real estate consumer advocates; and as bullet pointed in this thread, too many of the problems then still exist now and are contributing to an overheated housing market.
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Agree | 100.0% | 1 |
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| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 0 |
1 of 1 people have participated (100%)
Bill Wendel Wed 27 Jul 2016 10:00PM
Today's big headline: Canadians are following Singapore's lead by taxing #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders -- Should Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts become the next market to do the same?
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Posted additional information on Boston Bubble, with this closing question. Should we put it to a vote via Loomio?
Rather than simply asking which city, region, state will to tax #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders next, should we host a virtual town hall meeting(s) and invite activists from Vancouver to explain how they mobilized support? With so much money at stake ($2M/wk in #BiddingWars premiums in Cambridge, Mass alone), we could crowdfund a friendly competition between cities that would benefit from similar policies designed to slow speculation and protect local homebuyers.
FRIENDLY COMPETITION: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
What about inviting selected cities on East Coast and West Coast to compete? Seattle vs Boston (like the 2015 Super Bowl), Cambridge vs Silicon Valley (think Harvard & MIT vs Stanford & UC Berkeley). Who else?
Bill Wendel · Fri 1 Apr 2016 2:24AM
Posting this to BostonBubble.com:
Tomorrow is April Fool's Day 2016. But don't let that cloud your perception of the housing market. INSIDE TIP: chatter on a leading real estate "agent-only" Facebook group is that "2016 is a turning point." What's the pundit class saying publicly about buying now?
One media source @Bubbleinfo says YES
http://bit.ly/BuyUpRE
On the opposing side, @thefredglick says NO
http://bit.ly/DontBuyRE_1Q2016
Regardless of what's happening nationally, what are you seeing this Spring? Been burned by BLIND bidding wars, and tired of PLAYING THE FOOL? We'd like to present some "victim stories" to the Attorney General's office, and ask them to depose agents involved using Chapter 93. Read this and weep!
https://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe/status/714960136284975105
Read this and be encouraged!
https://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe/status/713018985688735744
CALL TO ACTION / CALL TO PARODY?
What's your take? How should we use #AprilFools to call attention to homebuyers who have #NoChange2Buy?
Want to host a virtual town meeting on @agoratownhall;
Launch a LAUGHtivism campaign with housing activists / #REFools in other cities? See: http://bit.ly/ViralREFools
Talk privately offline? Maybe a session at this real estate unconference that's trying to convene a number of Boston MeetUp groups?
REQUEST INVITE: http://bit.ly/RE2020_1Q2016