does anyone know if there mechanisms in other countries that stop this from happening? specifically these companies buying up whole neighbors to rent or flip houses
it seems inevitable that bad things are going to happen when you let corporations have a monopoly on single family homes. but is this just america, or is this everywhere now?
Can’t say it’s everywhere but here single family homes, from new developments, have not been sold to individual buyers for a few years now
Certainly some municipal authorities, eg Amsterdam and Berlin, have started fighting back against REITs but it is a general trend
Oh, and China. China is willing to burn the fuckers.
Who knows how that will end up?
Yeah, lots of new build stuff seems to go that way, rental vampires and ogliarchs with suitcases of cash…
I wonder if it would be possible to do something that isn’t legislative, maybe find estate agents who will, or even sell directly to the people who are buying, and putting their name on the title?
Can’t speak for everywhere but here developments get bought wholesale by vulture funds, REITs etc. Estate agents are not the enemy. The only situations where that has not happened in the last few years have involved government intervention (usually local through planning permission).
Developers struggled to get loans and funds during the long recession and REITs stepped in and bought everything in the pipeline as they were flush with cash. Unless the government stops it, it will continue. They all landlords though so fuck them.
Yeah, government intervention seems to be the only way… but good luck getting the tories to do anything about the landlords.
Ah well, back to panicking over imaginary drones, then
Another Oregon county votes to join Idaho, but the stats really highlight the many problems with the whole concept.
Harney County has less than 7500 people and is Oregon’s largest county by area. More than 80% of that land is public land, and a big chunk of the remainder belongs to indigenous people. 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. The county spends almost 20 times as much per student as Portland Public Schools and would collapse without massive state funding.
What makes people who own <10% of the land in the county and are entirely dependent on state funding think that they can “take” all that public land with them to another state? If they want to leave, sell the land to a conservation group and go. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.
there was a bit on that earlier too
okay, so not a person with a jetpack. still trying to figure out though why a balloon needs a jetpack. seems redundant 
How do businesses not understand capitalism?
The Navy fired the USS Connecticut’s top officers and enlisted sailor on Thursday, days after an investigation found the nuclear-powered submarine was damaged last month when it struck an uncharted undersea mountain, according to the service.
[…]
“Fired” means they were removed from their prior positions rather than that they lost employment in the Navy? Were they demoted or discharged? Presumably it ends any likely chance at further career advancement.
Yet another version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was just unearthed:
More on this story about Chicago police misconduct while raiding the wrong house:
looks like the texas gop has really come through for people /s
[Texas] ratepayers could see an increase in their bills for the next 30 years… and ratepayers as far away as Minnesota will be paying surcharges for years to come after their utilities had to pay $800 million more than expected for natural gas
meanwhile:
Gas sellers made record profits in just a few days, together bringing in as much as $11 billion, about 70–100 times more than normal, based on spot prices at the time.
at least all that money means this winter will be better:
In a law passed in May, the Railroad Commission was given the authority to write regulations for critical gas infrastructure, including winterization. But… the law includes a loophole that allows gas producers, for $150, to file for an exemption
