I was born in 1948, at the foot of an enchanted mountain whose spirit enjoins me to rise higher

Ordinary citizen, empathetic contemplator (maybe a little too empathetic to be fully comfortable in the world, as it is). Don't look for academic credentials; this guy has none, save those gained over the course of many interesting (and, at times, difficult) life chapters, spent surviving on a shoestring budget.

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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Why not use the Ebay model to sell/buy rental contracts?

If you are familiar with how Ebay works - some people aren't, I know - you will notice how the structure of that enormous marketplace helps the buyer by allowing him/her the opportunity to counterbid. This vital feature has had the effect of freeing up the demand/supply balance in the market that Ebay serves.

There is absolutely no reason this same dynamic model can't be applied to the sale of rents, more especially if government acts to help make it so. The challenge isn't intellectual; it's the age-old one of people needing to get out of the rut of outdated ways of thinking.

Let's do to renting what Uber has done to intra-urban commuting. Why, we may even be able to get Ebay, itself, on board. People tout Craigslist but, as anyone can see, Craigslist has not improved the situation for renters because it doesn't have a counterbid option.

In my previous writing, I have advocated for a system whereby rents are paid through a government register so that the accrual in rental payments can be applied toward some form of credit system that offers assistance in purchasing a home of one's own, after having helped others purchase equity over the years. It's simply a different spin on the old Social Security System. The option of being able to counterbid, online, if not picked up by some private sector entity, could be handled by the same government entity, without having to adopt the recourse of outright rent control.

Come on, people, let's get motivated. All too soon, you're going to see the dread product of millions of renting Babyboomers losing their jobs, years before they qualify for Social Security benefits. A fat slice of them is going to end up homeless, dependent on government largesse to just stay alive. We need to interdict this, as fast as we can, or live to regret having done nothing.