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Comment by petcat | Hacker News Reader

What happens after the city buys it?

Also, most municipalities do not have the funds on hand to buy up people's houses just to call their bluff on taxes.

They attempt to sell it at market-rate which, assuming the previous owner intentionally under-valued the house, would earn them money that they can use to continue the program.

What if they have a backlog of inventory that they can't sell at "market rate"? Are the taxpayers just supposed to take a loss because of this brilliant tax assessment scheme?

I assure you, unloading property in NYC purchased below actual market value will not be a huge challenge.

You might be surprised how the gov't threatening to take your house every year affects prices. And the ability to get mortgages. And new construction.

> You might be surprised how the gov't threatening to take your house every year affects prices.

Which they won't do if it's assessed appropriately.

See California's Proposition 13 for the alternative.

You might be surprised how it doesn't

i guess we're at an imagination stalemate now

The idea is that the houses are being bought by the government because they were erroneously valued by the owner under market rate. That presumably gives them room to come down from "market rate" to actual market rate (the rate it sells at on the market).

The only way to end up with a loss is a coordinated attack by owners and potential buyers: to intentionally understate the value, and then to hold off ANYONE attempting to purchase before the market sale price is below the compelled price. So multiple rich people lose their houses in a naked gambit to bankrupt the government. I mean... I guess it could happen? But at that point, it's open class warfare.

conservatorship

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