The Slippery Slope - Online Gambling & Housing
Friday May 16, 2008
In a Realtor.com article entitled How Online Gambling Hurts Real Estate, there certainly is some food for thought. With statements like "You can't save for a home if you gamble," Jim Leach, head of a policy institute at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, is making an excellent point. And he wants our help.
I'm a little concerned, however, that it could just place Realtors on a very slippery slope. What could be next as a worthy cause to promote home ownership?
- "Ban Starbucks"...a latte a day is enough to pay your PMI.
- "Raise gas prices"...less travel means we'll need a home to hang around.
- "Govt. restaurant vouchers"...some families spend almost their mortgage payment eating out.
- "Cap Realtor commissions"...cutting buying costs will put more people in homes.
See what I mean?
While it’s admirable to try and teach financial responsibility to folks, that’s just not my overall job and I’m not sure how well received it would ever be for me to play arbiter of their behavior! Sometimes I think we do stray too far…
I wonder how many lottery winners buy houses? I would think it would be a high percentage. And how much does the average winner spend on lottery tickets before he wins? I don’t have the statistics, just curious. But a few bucks a week isn’t going to make a mortgage payment. If someone has a real gambling problem, then whether or not he can afford to buy a new house is a small issue. Maybe he will lose his house and create more inventory to sell. Go gamblers! I want to sell your house so you can pay off you gambling debts.