Is the legal environment tomorrow going to be the same for you as it is today? Are they going to change the law, (or the interpretation of it) tomorrow? Have they already done so, but that news hasn't reached you yet? If they have changed it, does a hostile entity have your information already logged?
To answer your question, yes, you should be concerned about exposing your public IP address.
Homeowner here: fuck landlords. The entire concept of renting needs to die in a fucking fire.
Residential property taxes should be increased: doubled, tripled, or more. Jack the residential tax rate through the roof. Simultaneously, we need to create a commensurate owner-occupant credit, so effective property tax rate on a homeowner's primary residence stays the same (or even decreases).
If we increase the non-occupant property tax rate enough, renting only becomes possible where the property owner lives on site. "Landlords" of single family homes will be looking for any way they can to get their tenants listed on the deed, so the property qualifies for the owner occupant credit.
We can target an 85% owner occupancy rate. By statute, the tax rate and credit is raised every year if the owner-occupant rate is under 80%, and lowered if the owner-occupant rate exceeds 90%.
Land contracts, private mortgages, condominiums, and similar approaches will replace renting.
Banks would have greater incentive to cooperate with struggling borrowers, because as soon as they foreclose, their costs massively increase. They are similarly incentivized to get any foreclosed home sold quickly, rather than leaving it as a vacant blight on the neighborhood.
So long as the property is desirable to corporate owners, they will be fighting to get around those regulations.
By increasing the tax rate substantially on non-occupant owners, we make residential property far less lucrative for corporate owners.
When they can make more money selling and lending on the property than they can make renting it, mission accomplished.
And you're now suggesting that instead of renting, property owners should hold the notes on subprime mortgages?
By and large, renters already have subprime credit. Landlords are already taking the risk on renters who would be subprime borrowers. That's how they are making their money: exploiting people who don't have the savings or income to qualify for lending.
Landlords aren't taking on any additional risk by lending to them vs renting to them. They are actually reducing their risk, as the same person as a buyer has more to lose than they would as a renter. Further, a stable mortgage payment becomes more affordable over time, as the borrower's income increases.
and that's assuming the seller doesn't also lose the house at foreclosure, since a foreclosure is a public sale.
That's the stupidest thing you've said. Yes, it's a public sale, and the beneficiary of that sale is the lender. The first bid at a foreclosure sale is always the lender, who bids what they are owed, including the foreclosure costs.
The only way the seller loses the house is if someone over bids them (or they are too stupid to bid the full amount they are owed) But if they are overbid, they receive the proceeds from the sale, and are made whole.
You don't get to talk about damage to the property: landlords have the same risk. The cost and process of a foreclosure is similar to that of an eviction, and the higher interest rate the buyer is paying more than covers it. Further, you're ignoring mortgage insurance that buyers would have to pay for as well.
And the owner-occupier thing? You know people can lie about their residency and building occupancy, right
Sure. That would be tax fraud. Property taxes are public records. Anyone can look up who was claiming what. Including the actual occupant of the property you say you live in, or the neighbor you pissed off. And when they look it up, you're on the hook for all the credits you claimed.
I'd sooner let it sit empty.
That attitude is a problem. You are contributing to the problem. You should be financially discouraged from this problematic course of action.
, it destroys class solidarity thay would otherwise exist between small landowners and renters.
There is no class solidarity between renters and landowners, nor should there be. The relationship of landowner to renter is the same as the relationship between tick and dog, fly and horse, mosquito and human.
Much like "impoverished child" or "battered spouse", "renter" is a class that should not exist, and for much the same reason.
Solidarity between the people you describe is best achieved by converting the renters into landowners.
A private mortgage involves a sale, but a private mortgage is the loan associated with the sale, and not the sale itself. The sale of the property may not be particularly lucrative, but the loan certainly can be, especially with subprime loans that commercial lenders won't touch.
also assume you understand that this scenario increases the likelihood that the seller is the one left holding the bag if the bad credit purchaser defaults.
Buyer/borrower defaults, lender/seller forecloses and sells the property again. Seller isn't holding the bag. Seller is holding the house.
Hog farm
You keep talking about a hog farm. Under my scheme, to avoid the higher non-occhpant tax on residential properties, you would have to rezone. I've never found anywhere that will allow you to rezone from residential to agricultural, so you'd have to go to commercial or industrial to avoid the residential tax hike, but the property taxes on commercial and industrial are considerably higher than residential, and both are currently declining in value. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Doubling property taxes doesn't get you the result you want either. It just hurts the small owners, because property tax doesn't care how many properties you own; it only cares about the property to which it's attached. Large corporations don't care about a doubled property tax, because they can just eat it and raise the rents
Tax rate isn't just doubled. It's statutorily increased so long as owner occupancy rate is below 85%. To keep their margins, they will need very high rental rates and very high occupancy rates, and those two are inversely correlated. The higher the rent, the more pressure they have to buy. Meanwhile, all these former landlords are looking for someone to put on a deed so they can save on their taxes.
Such a tax will decimate returns on institutional investors. They'll jump ship quickly, throwing their dollars at the next highest return.
No, the investors who stay in the industry will turn to private lending, or convert their rental units to condos, which can be sold instead of rented.
Lending != Selling. You're looking only at the sale, and ignoring the loan. Lending is an extremely good way of earning a profit.
My approach does not stop renting by fiat. I would double property taxes, and provide a commensurate owner-occupant credit, so the tax rate on your dwelling doesn't increase, or even reduces. I would statutorily adjust that rate and credit, targeting an owner-occupancy rate of 85%.
The investment market is going to be focused on figuring out how to get a renter's name on the deed so they can get that credit.
Meanwhile, an onsite landlord, living in one unit of a duplex, triplex, or quadplex is able to underbid any offsite landlords for his remaining units.
Just because you can't rent it doesn't mean you can't use it as part of an investment vehicle. You can offer a private mortgage or land contract, for example. In either case, the occupant of the property is the deed holder. The terms of the agreement are permanent, and established from the start. You can't arbitrarily increase the cost year after year. They earn equity from day one. You earn interest on the value borrowed from you.
We call it a "dormitory" instead of a "hotel", but yes.
Alternatively, they can buy a house, or a share of a house, and sell that house/share when they leave.
Yes, and no. They are more likely to switch to a different strategy, such as a private mortgage or land contract. Large apartment complexes will likely convert to condominiums or co-ops.
Basically, if we raise the rate and credit high enough, the landlord will be able to get a better return with one of these other options than they could get from renting.
All of these other options are permanent agreements, with terms established from the start. The landlord can't arbitrarily raise rent every year. The tenant gains equity from day one.
Basically, I'm killing the concept of renting. It needs to die in a goddamn fire.
Yes, offsite landlords with traditional rental agreements will charge their tenants more. However, there are at least three options that are better for tenants and landlords alike.
Land Contract. A rent-to-own agreement, recorded with the county, much like a deed.
Private mortgage. Available only to individual landlords, not institutional investors.
Condominium. Deeded property on the inside, rental on the outside.
In all three, the tenant gains equity in the property over time. In all three, the terms are established at the time of the agreement, and the agreement is "permanent" in that it can only be canceled by the "tenant". The "landlord" can't arbitrarily increase the price year after year. All three offer considerably better return for the landlord after the property tax increase. The landlord and tenant convert their rental agreement to one of these options, and there is much rejoicing.
The only traditional rental arrangement that is likely to remain widespread is where the landlord occupies one unit in a duplex, triplex, or quadplex structure. That landlord can claim the owner occupant credit for the whole property while renting out the additional units.
Double property taxes on owners, but give back a property tax credit on owner-occupants, so that the effective tax rate on owner occupants falls, and the only people paying the doubled tax rate are investors.
Statutorily increase the tax rate and credit when owner occupancy is below 80%, and reduce the tax rate and credit when owner occupancy rises above 90%.
Self hosted VPNs are not suitable for sailing the seas. Self-hosting a VPN server only provides remote access to your local network. It does not provide any sort of privacy benefits, because the tunnel exit is an IP address traceable to you.
If they are paying for it, it's either not self-hosted, or they are paving a licensing fee for the VPN software they are running locally.