was reading a thread on twitter about this. i know it’s a topic that comes up every so often on communist spaces too, how do we approach house ownership - i don’t mean a house to live in, I mean owning a second home that they won’t live in?

I might come into a second home through inheritance at some point (hoping my parents still live long though lol). getting through a first home is probably going to be a mess bc of how i live in it with my siblings and here you get a mortgage until you die, because it makes more sense for taxes. Usually when kids inherit a home, they sell it because they’re already living somewhere else and the next owner inherits the mortgage + a new one. oh well it’s still far off lol, we’ll see when we get there.

but if you come into inheriting a second home… what is the best solution? sell it to someone who will rent it out instead of you?

i know usually these discussions revolve around no ethical consumption in capitalism but they never seem to reach a final answer.

  • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    13·
    13 days ago

    This. Sell it to someone who wants to live in it. Your realtor will hate this idea and will be super against it but find a realtor that understands what you’re doing and it’ll work out. You will make less money. You will have to compromise in weird ways. But sell it to someone who is going to actually live in it.

    • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      8·
      13 days ago

      Here we have land banks at the municipal level. They buy up houses and finance first-time buyers who don’t qualify for normal mortgages, in a contract where the home sells below market rate but they can only sell it back to the land-bank at an appreciated value so they aren’t taking a loss. To me that’s the most ethical western model outside of UK council homes. It’s giving kids a stable childhood and workers a sense of long-term stability instead of giving yourself a nicer car from the price premium of a private sale.

    • Maeve @lemmygrad.ml
      2·
      12 days ago

      I think it’s also acceptable to rent it if the cost doesn’t exceed upkeep, repairs, taxes, and it’s well-maintained. You could provide a good dwelling for multiple families trying to get on their feet without being a slumlord.