A log cabin set on 91 acres is on the market in West Virginia.

For $420,000.

After realtor Vera Sansalone showed the property to a Bostonian, he passed.

But not before “he said I should mark that property up by about $300,000,” Sansalone says.

Courtesy: Zillow

A $720,000 asking price… for almost four million square feet of property?

It would be a bargain in the Boston area where the rate of homeownership is just 35%.

On the other hand, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia has the highest rate of homeownership in the country: 74.5%.

But West Virginia, at $52,585, also has the second-lowest average personal income in the U.S.

Which underscores an unforeseen trend in the U.S….

Send your opinions to, feedback@newsyoucanacton.com

Your Rundown for Friday, July 12, 2024...

Shedding Light on “Dark Landlords”

“I would have expected that the more wealthy a place is, the more likely that its people can afford a home,” says Mike Simonsen of real estate analytics firm Altos Research. 

“It turns out the opposite is true.”

CNN adds: “New York, California and Massachusetts have some of the highest levels of personal income yet count themselves among the states with the lowest homeownership rates.”

According to CNN, it's all about major cities in these states which generally attract younger, more transient residents who might prefer to rent.

But even if renting isn’t their first choice, residents are often priced out of homeownership…

• In Manhattan, the average home value is $1,102,025, according to Zillow
• In San Francisco, it’s just under $1.3 million.

In other words, you’d need to earn a crap ton of money to comfortably afford a home in NYC or San Francisco!

Yet, the average annual income for Manhattanites is $79,285. For San Franciscans? It’s $95,033.

The truth is U.S. home prices have bounced 47% since 2020…

Mortgage interest rates have bounded up to 7–7.5% (still historically low, I’ll note)...

But incomes haven’t kept up.

Then there’s this nugget I spotted in the CNN article’s comment section from “Jess”:

The biggest reason, at least in California, when it comes to people renting instead of buying, is that companies like Blackstone and Invitation Homes are buying up all the single-family starter homes in the cities and suburbs and turning them into overpriced rentals.

I tried for 10 years to buy a home in California, but it’s impossible when you’re going up against all-cash offers that these companies are making.

Which happens to coincide with a 20-minute interview I hosted at our YouTube channel with Paradigm editor Dave Gonigam on the “Dark Landlords” phenomenon. Watch it at your leisure.

In the meantime, once again, the middle class is in the crosshairs with home prices, interest rates, nonexistent wage growth — plus Dark Landlords! — shooting down the American Dream.

Also, in the meantime, have you noticed any changes in your local housing market that reflect the trends I discussed?

And do you think homeownership rates influence a state's overall economic health?

I value your input, and look forward to reading your responses.

Market Rundown for Friday, July 12, 2024

The S&P 500 is up 0.10% to 5,595.

Oil is up 1.20% to $83.64 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold is down 0.60% to $2,406.40 per ounce.

And Bitcoin is up 0.20% to $57,620.

Send your comments and questions to, feedback@newsyoucanacton.com