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Real Estate

Real Estate Industry Spends Big To Crush ‘Mansion Tax’

October 31, 2022 Aditi Ramaswami, The Lever. , , , ,
Los Angeles, California - In the coming weeks, Los Angelenos will vote on a ballot measure to hike taxes on the sale of multimillion dollar properties, with the expected near-billion dollars in annual revenue going towards addressing the housing crisis in the second-largest city in America. The initiative has been strongly opposed by real estate interests — from huge corporate landlords to realtor lobbying groups and pro-business groups — who have so far poured more than $5 million into efforts to defeat the measure. Measure ULA, which would increase real estate transfer taxes on properties in the city of Los Angeles valued at $5 million or more, would only apply to an estimated four percent of real estate transactions annually.

The World Has Millions Of Vacant Homes

October 28, 2021 Better Dwelling. , , ,
The whole world is undergoing a housing shortage, but vacant homes are barely budging. The OECD‘s latest data drop shows 42 million of its 426 million homes are vacant. Yes, roughly one in ten homes in advanced economies are empty. There are literally years of housing supply being used as an alternative to gold. Rather than pondering why it’s so attractive to have vacant homes, many countries doubled down on reasons to hoard. If we only build more homes and give the investors cheap money, there can be enough to hoard too, right? I mean, you almost tried, so partial points. Let’s take a look at how bad the issue has become.

Berlin: Protests Against End Of ‘Rent Cap’ And Real Estate Swindlers

April 20, 2021 Gregor Link, WSWS. , , ,
The repeal of the Berlin “rent cap” by the Supreme Court means massive rent increases, arrears payments and poverty for hundreds of thousands of people. The ruling, which exacerbates homelessness amid the coronavirus crisis, has a signal effect for the whole of Germany and is emblematic of the inhuman enrichment policies of the ruling elites in Germany and Europe. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, spoke on Twitter on Thursday of a “deeply disturbing judgment” and, referring to the pandemic, warned, “The German government still has an international legal obligation to respect the right to housing vis-à-vis tenants.” Despite the threat posed by COVID-19, more than 10,000 people took part in spontaneously organised protests that same day.

Tens Of Millions In Florida Properties Linked To Ecuadorian Candidate

April 1, 2021 Jake Johnston, CEPR. , , ,
In March 2017, ahead of Ecuador’s second-round presidential election, CEPR reported that Florida-based shell companies linked to then-candidate Guillermo Lasso owned 144 properties in Broward and Miami-Dade counties valued at over $30 million. In that election, voters approved a referendum barring politicians and civil servants from holding assets in tax havens and giving them one year to divest or transfer their holdings. Though Florida is not included among the list of tax havens, it is considered a “low tax jurisdiction,” which authorities will handle on a case-by-case basis. Four years later, Ecuador is again headed to a second-round presidential vote, with Lasso on the ballot. While additional layers of anonymity have been introduced in order to further hide...

Vulture Funds To Use Pandemic To Pillage The Global Economy

February 14, 2021 Matthew Ponsford and Ruairi Casey, Tribune Magazine. , , ,
There’s a new app with a tagline that promises that you, too, can ‘profit like a landlord from just £1 with no effort’. Proptee, set to launch this year (subject to approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority) allows anyone with, say, five grand to buy shares in a buy-to-let flat in London worth half a million. In return, you receive a slice of its tenants’ monthly rent—here about one percent—with the promise you can cash-out your investment as the value rises. ‘We’re building a stock exchange for properties that lives on your smartphone and combines the high yields and low risk of property investing with the high liquidity of a stock exchange,’ explains 24-year-old cofounder Benedek Toth.

Hoodwinked: How Wall Street And Big Real Estate Turned Anti-Discrimination Policies Against Blacks

March 13, 2020 Julia Thomas, Blackagendareport.com , ,
In 1970, Janice Johnson, a Black single mother in Philadelphia, was facing eviction from an old apartment building condemned by the city. She was desperately seeking a place for her and her 8-year-old son to live, and her attempts to rent nearby apartments were coming up short.

Israel Agents Sell Millions Worth In Illegal Properties In West Bank

September 2, 2015 Ben Norton, www.mondoweiss.net , , ,
By Ben Norton in Mondoweiss - Over 20 agents for the real estate corporation RE/MAX Israel, working in at least eight offices, are selling many millions of dollars worth of illegal properties in over 15 settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Mondoweiss has compiled a non-exhaustive list of RE/MAX Israel offices and agents engaging in these illegal transactions (embedded below). In 2014, the Electronic Intifada revealed that the real estate company was selling illegal Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both of which are recognized as occupied territories under international law. A 2013 United Nations report maintains that RE/MAX International, which is headquartered in the US, can be “held accountable” for RE/MAX Israel‘s illegal activity.

The Oligarch Recovery: $100 Million Homes Being Built

March 25, 2015 Michael Krieger, www.libertyblitzkrieg.com , ,
More developers and investors are racing to build increasingly lavish homes on spec. Built on prime lots with master suites larger than most homes and spas and entertainment spaces comparable with those in hotels, many of these homes are also attempting to break new price records. Real-estate agents say the surge reflects an ultraluxury housing market that is at an all-time high, fed in part by overseas buyers and house hunters looking to invest in trophy properties. “These are people who are going to buy these homes to park money,” says Jeff Hyland, of Beverly Hills-based Hilton & Hyland. Mr. Hadid declines to say what he’s spending on the home, but says the listing price will likely be in the $200 million range when the house is completed next year.

Activists Mobilize For Right To Counsel In Eviction

January 6, 2015 Eleanor J. Bader, www.truth-out.org , ,
Indeed, the imperative to provide free legal representation to indigent and low-income tenants not only has the support of CASA, but also of dozens of community agencies and legal services providers - including the city and state bar associations and numerous judges - throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The effort was kick-started by a bill, pending before the City Council, called Intro 214, that is poised to make New York City the first municipality in the country to provide free legal counsel to every person at risk of eviction who needs it. "We are not going to bring about justice in the criminal justice system until we address social crises including homelessness and poverty," said City Council member Mark Levine, the legislation's coauthor, at a December press conference touting the bill. "The issues are inextricably linked."

How The Iraq War Financed A Beltway Real Estate Boom

January 5, 2015 Ken Silverstein, www.readersupportednews.org , ,
Back in the DC real estate doldrums of the mid-1990s, before he helped pave the way for war in Iraq, Stephen Rademaker owned a modest condo in Arlington, Va. Then, a few years later, as a House staffer on the International Relations Committee, Rademakerwrote the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which called for regime change, a phrase that altered the course of history. Bill Clinton signed the Act, which became the basis for the congressional authorization for the use of force against Saddam Hussein four years later; by then Rademaker was working at the State Department. Things soon took a turn for the better, at least for Rademaker; he left government and went to work as a lobbyist, eventually joining countless numbers of retired government officials who cleaned up, directly or indirectly, by leading the country into war.

California Trial Places Mortgage Blame On Bankers

September 10, 2014 Alexander Reed Kelly, www.truthdig.com , , ,
In an “unprecedented” trial that challenges the Obama administration’s official position on who was responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown, a Sacramento jury in late August thwarted a federal prosecutor’s effort to charge borrowers with mortgage fraud after the defense successfully argued that executives who signed off on the loans didn’t care whether answers given on mortgage applications were accurate. The Sacramento Bee reported last month: [F]our people charged with mortgage fraud were acquitted Friday [Aug. 22] by a jury in Sacramento federal court after defense attorneys argued the real culprits are the so-called “victim lenders.” According to experts, it is the first time in such a trial that a court has allowed the defense to present evidence that lenders ignored gaping holes and blatant lies in loan applications during the years leading up to the economic meltdown. In his column at Salon.com on Sunday, political economy writer and cultural satirist Thomas Frank explained that President Obama’s Justice Department has shown “virtually no interest in holding leading bankers accountable for what went on in the last decade,” letting their response to the fallout of the crisis be guided by the logic that banking executives “could not have committed fraud” because “you would expect fraud to result in riches” when “so many banks went out of business instead.” This is what the federal prosecutor argued in the Sacramento trial.
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