Scary House on the Street That Gets Repossessed From the Bank as Collateral and This Title is Totally a Play on Those Horror Movies about a Creepy House That Have Unnecessary Long Titles

You know the biggest problem with horror movies about haunted houses?  How about leave?  Yes, there are some smarter-than-average horror movies where the family moves but the evil spirit follows them.  However, most of the lazy ones have lazy ghosts too.  Just move out.  It’s that simple.  The movie would be over in a couple of minutes.

So, allow me to paint a more realistic picture in order to justify why the family cannot leave.  Remember 2008?  The housing market crashed and so did the financial world.  Houses were getting repossessed, people were pushed out to the streets with all their personal belongings and the world was going to hell, at least some people called hell home.  And in this case, the ghost is more than welcome in the house, just pay your share of the mortgage.

Expectedly, the housing market has made a comeback because we all need to live somewhere that does not require us to dress up like Tarzan and Jane.  After such a great recession, a recovery and a successive boom would surely arrive.  It did but the boom looks like it is about to end though.

In The Star article titled “Malaysian property prices remain steady”, the circumstances actually paint a gloomier picture.  Yes, prices have grown marginally but there is a slowdown in property sales.  The number of vacant living quarters grew by 43.8% in the past year versus 2015.  And well, here is why that may be.

While there are some hardworking blokes and gals out there looking to buy a house for their families, there are also some rich people who treat the housing market like a game.  And a fun game this is not.  In Australia, property investors buy properties for the sake of buying properties.  And then, knowing how vital a roof over our heads is, they charge high rentals.  And gee, I wonder why the homeless population is increasing in that country?

However, Victoria is looking to tax investors who leave properties vacant for more than half a year.  In The Guardian article titled “Victoria to tax investors who leave properties vacant for more than six months”, the tax was introduced to hopefully help free up properties to renters and first home buyers.

I guess all would be fine if the housing market was not so important.  For instance, if some douchebag bought all the perfume shops in the country and jacks up the price of perfume, that’s not going to affect the economy.  It’s a douchebag move but honestly, you can live without perfume.  Shower more.  However, banks trade heavily on house.  In fact, according to The New Daily article titled “Bank shares lurk as an unseen danger in a property shakeout”, banks have traded significantly more in house lending than business lending.  And with the property market slowing down like in Malaysia, investors in Australia are sweating over the upcoming downturn.  Oh yeah, investors are the “biggest losers”, not the people trying to find a place to live.

Most aspiring home owners don’t really pay attention to the intricate details of how the property market works, nor do they really have to.  It’s the responsibility of the bank and property owners to manage their assets shrewdly and sensibly.  Holding them accountable for another meltdown isn’t enough.  Some measures need to be taken, starting with what Victoria did to property owners who own too much.  But as a way out, it’s not so bad to tell your bank that there’s an evil spirit living in your house.  It’s called the ghost of the GFC.