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A comment on I saw RealPage's crappy rent-jacking-up software so you don't have to. Parent comment

Re:I saw RealPage's crappy rent-jacking-up software so you d... by User23 on Friday February 24, 2023 @02:33PM (#34928909)
There are plenty of housing units in the USA. Housing is extremely affordable in parts of many major American cities such as Detroit and Baltimore to name just a couple. For example you can buy a house in lovely Baltimore for under $25,000 in a neighborhood with amenities like a walkable park, and tennis and basketball courts[1]. The complaint is never really "housing isn't affordable," it's more along the lines of "I can't afford to live in the most desirable coastal real estate in the entire world" or "I can't afford to live in a safe place with a good school district" (a classism/racism dog whistle if ever there was one).

[1] https://livebaltimore.com/neighborhoods/madison-eastend/

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Re:I saw RealPage's crappy rent-jacking-up software so you d... by pixl97 on Friday February 24, 2023 @02:47PM (#34929126)
Ah, yes, I found that $25k house in Baltimore...

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2011-E-Lafayette-Ave-Balt...

I see some 'houses' in the area that you're looking at for $130k, built in WWII and likely have heating bills high enough to bankrupt the wealthy unless the place is ripped apart and modern insulation is put in.

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Re:I saw RealPage's crappy rent-jacking-up software so you d... by mathgorges on Friday February 24, 2023 @04:37PM (#34930459)
As a native Detroiter I can confidently tell you that any house you can get for $25,000 will come with externalities that will make the house undesirable on balance.

Large back tax bill, lack of city services (e.g. if live in Springwells, good luck getting a reasonable response time from Detroit PD if you're being burgled) and an unsafe transit situation are the most common ones I can think of.

The houses are cheap for a reason. Its not as though Detroit is filled with provincial oafs that don't know what they're selling.

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