I was trying to explain to DH what I think is going to happen with housing, owned and rental, in this current insanity.

[chowmama]

I think he’s finally listening.

First, we’re deporting a lot of people. They all lived somewhere. Then there’s the number of people who are losing their jobs due to Douche. The tariffs are also going to force a lot of workplaces to close or cut way back because they can’t afford or simply can’t get the tools, parts or supplies they need to operate. We can't make them here without building the facilities that will need the imported machinery and supplies to get started and that process takes years anyway. More jobs lost.

People who aren’t working won’t be spending, so there goes retail. People who depend on Social Security and the other safety nets also won’t be spending. As retail fails, more jobs will be lost. People who lose their jobs often lose their homes. Go figure.

So, with a lot, and I mean a lot, of empty units, housing and real estate values are going to eventually plunge. Now the banks get involved. I remember this from the last recession. Your property goes underwater and you owe more than it’s actually worth. Often a lot more. They’ll start calling in the loans to be paid in full and when you can’t do that, they’ll foreclose.

And who can pay their loans in full at a moment’s notice? Our economic experts and entire economic structure insist that you be mortgaged to the hilt. You were supposed to buy or build the biggest house that anybody would loan you money to afford. (Hello, McMansion!) Same with cars. No debt, no credit rating. And I’ve personally sat through 401k investment meetings where the speaker told us it was crazy to spend money paying down debt when you should be investing it instead. One stopped me personally after the meeting because I’d stopped paying in and I pleasantly told him that none of his funds were paying anywhere near the interest on my loans. I was actually money ahead paying off my debt. He smiled and walked on. Research is a bitch.

Of course, now the stock market is tanking. Goodbye, 401k. At least it wasn’t a lot of money.

All of these foreclosed homes? Now empty. And we take another circle around the drain. Rinse, repeat.

I think we’re headed for a full-fledged depression, lasting a number of years. I hope I’m wrong.

[SARose]

1. My neighborhood in small town Texas

is 30 percent investor owned! Yep. Three investment companies are driving up home prices and rents. At the moment, no one is buying or renting in my neighborhood but new homes are going up near me. When the sell off begins, these young families are in a heap of trouble.

My husband and I watched the fallout from the space shuttle shutdown at NASA in Houston. At one point there were more than 600 foreclosed homes within 2 miles of us. Watching home values tank is scary. Our home has lost 3% in value in the last 30 days.

Our children and adult grandchildren have never been through tough times other than 2008. In Texas, they have only known go,go,go times.

Time to tighten belts and hunker down.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. And here I'd been thinking that since my home

here in Santa Fe sold within 24 hours of being on the market, that maybe I'd lost out on major price appreciation. I'm thinking maybe not.

What I will have is a bunch of cash which I intend to spend on little luxuries for myself, and some travelling.

[Ocelot II]

3. Some economists are predicting stagflation like in the '70s and early '80s.

That's a combination of inflation and recession and unemployment and it sucks. It's hard to manage because if government policies try to control one characteristic it makes the others worse. The stagflation period lasted more than 10 years and included the farm crisis of the early '80s and mortgage interest rates of more than 16%. It was "cured" when the Fed gradually raised the federal funds rate over time to 19% to control inflation, which caused two recessions. "By 1984, over 52,000 businesses had failed, home and car sales dropped dramatically, and unemployment rose to as high as 10%." So breaking out of a stagflation pattern will certainly be painful.

[everyonematters]

4. Very good explanation. I agree with all of it.

Especially on the part of why the tariffs will throw us into a recession.

[usonian]

5. So the plan is working.

Depression?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220099845

[ms liberty]

6. I agree. I think a recession by June, full blown depression by Labor Day.

If Americans get their shit together, we might be rid of them by Christmas. They're moving too fast, too hard, and too brazenly. Americans don't want what they're trying to shove down our throats. .

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

[Native]

7. and even if you own your home outright, what about property taxes?

Because Krasnov is ending so much of the federal dollars that states get, from education to disaster relief, that money is going to have to come from somewhere else. And if spending decreases, so does sales tax revenue. Where are states going to get their money? I'm guessing increased taxes on property and income. You may not owe the bank, but if you can't pay your taxes....