00:00Would you pay $330,000 for a house? In this economy, I guess that's not so bad. But what
00:06if I told you it was so small it doesn't even have a real bedroom? Not so appealing anymore,
00:12huh? One realtor in New York thinks there's someone out there who will shell out more than
00:16a quarter million bucks to purchase a shoebox. Now, to be clear, when I say New York, I don't
00:21mean the city. $330,000 for a tiny studio in Manhattan or San Francisco or Los Angeles,
00:27maybe. But the burbs? What the heck's going on here? This 446-square-foot home on Long Island
00:34is somewhat of a poster child for a housing market that simply isn't buyer-friendly at all right now.
00:41I'll link to the Post article about this house so you can see it for yourself. It literally looks
00:45like a toy. Real estate experts call the size and price of this home ridiculous, owing to the fact
00:51that it's ridiculous. And they're pointing to it as a prime example of the affordability crisis
00:57in the housing market. But let's break down just how ridiculous. A buyer of this home would have
01:05to cough up a $65,000 down payment and would likely pay about $2,000 a month for the mortgage,
01:11then add on utilities, upkeep, and about $3,700 a year in property taxes. And this teeny tiny home
01:17starts to feel out of reach for the demo it's targeting, first-time homebuyers. The good news
01:22here? This mess could be turning around soon. One expert says the housing affordability problem
01:27has been made worse by billion-dollar corporations that snatch up starter homes and then rent them
01:32back to the people they outbid, driving up the asking price for other homes in the same area as
01:38a result. Now, that practice should be coming to an end across the country, thanks to a rare show
01:44of bipartisanship. First, the president signed an executive order banning such practices. And then last
01:49week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to limit the amount of single-family homes that a big bank
01:55can own. In a bit of poetic irony, saving the American dream of owning a home will now come down
02:01to the House of Representatives, that is. But as of Sunday night, it wasn't yet clear when they would
02:06start the process of debating and voting on that bill.
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