I’ve heard rumors about plans the government is getting ready to set into motion that will force home owners to give possession of all private property over to where no one will be allowed to own their own homes. As someone who owns multiple rental properties that are my source of income, I find this very disturbing and especially scary.
Lender · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
This sounds like a far out conspiracy theory, probably by those wanting to create fear that the US is trending socialist. I give it 0% likelihood. Even in countries that actually are socialist, this isn't happening.
Lender · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 653 posts · 313 votes
5y
Instead of debating about something that doesn't exist, how about we hold our gov't accountable for literally not even giving people money for food and shelter (in a global pandemic, which people are told to stay home, unless they need to work) & accept that they don't care about 99% of its entire populace?
That is something that is much more infuriating to me.
Niskayuna, NY 12309 · Member since 2018 · 12 posts · 9 votes
5y
My understanding of government is that the only way to legally seize private property is through eminent domain.
em·i·nent do·main/ˈemənənt dōˈmān,dəˈmān/nounLAW
the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.
Even HUD - the Federal Housing Authorities are getting out of the business of managing public housing...it's too expensive for them because their federal budgets are being cut. They are depending more and more on public-private partnership to manage their public housing. So...if they can barely deal with the public housing in their portfolio I really don't see them trying to take on more private property from private owners. That's just not how our government works. Government operates based upon the "consent of the of the governed"...that's us. We live in a democratic republic...not Russia.
I concur with the others who believe what you've heard is pure conspiracy theory...
The reality is that nobody ever fully owns property. The government or corporations can take it over at any time. Pres. Trump is said to love eminent domain, the power of the government or a wealthy corporation to take over property ownership of any land for any convenience. See YouTube, "What Trump has said about eminent domain"
This is exactly right. The government doesn't need to outright lay claim to properties; there are enough laws in place that they can make the general population think they own property when in reality they don't.
In our current system of ownership rights, the government can:
Seize private property whenever it wants
Dictate how and what is built on each property (property owners need to ask for permission to improve their own property, and they have to PAY to ask for permission)
Demand taxes based on a property value determined by the government and a mill rate determined by the government (under threat of seizure of said property if left unpaid)
Demand fines if the property owner doesn't follow their guidelines
Demand rental and inspection fees
And now, they can keep you from removing a renter who has broken an agreement with you
All the while, since we are led to believe we own the property, we spend our time and money in maintenance and repairs, maintain our own insurance, keep our properties looking pretty, etc.
Property owners are basically tenants and we pay the government rent (property tax) every year. If we don't pay our rent, we get kicked out.
This is no reason to not own property - I own a lot of properties (after all this is a real estate forum) - but I think it's important to understand how the system is set up and the current limitations imposed on the individual property owner.
Investor · USA · Member since 2015 · 168 posts · 243 votes
5y
Unless we change the constitution and the whole system, an outright takeover is not imminent. However, the property owners’ actual RIGHTs will diminish gradually, and this trend will continue…
Some evidences:
The eviction moratorium is an obvious violation of ownership right
In some area like Seattle, owners do not have complete say to whom they can rent to
In California, some cities force the water utility bills must be under owners’ names. Why? they want the owners to be responsible for tenants’ unpaid utility bills. Think about it, you must be responsible for someone else's unpaid bills – ridiculous but true.
So the whole country is on the way to a more-or-less socialist society is the trend.