The Real Estate Meltdown Was Self-Inflicted - The Truth About Housing Prices: Panic, Profit, and Pure Chaos

Let me start this off with something crystal clear: I fully support President Trump and JD Vance. They are doing great things! But supporting someone doesn’t mean I have to co-sign every word that comes out of their mouth. And on the topic of why housing is so damn expensive? I heard JD Vance tell a reporter that it was because of immigration and that we have too many people in our country and that is why the cost of housing is so high. Although, I do think we have let too many people into our country and there's a lack of housing. I don’t believe that is the reason for the high prices.

Blaming immigrants for the price of housing is lazy politics. It makes a good soundbite, but it’s not the truth. The real estate market was a hot mess during the pandemic housing frenzy. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s this: Illegal immigration did not cause the housing market to explode. It was the perfect storm of a world-wide pandemic and people were scared for their lives. People were panic-buying, so much free money was given out, Interest rates were around 2%, and FOMO (Fear of missing out) was on steroids. That’s what did it. 

I Worked It. It Was the Wild West.

During the pandemic, I was a listing agent. Not scrolling Zillow. Not watching the market from the sidelines. I was boots on the ground, throwing listings into the MLS and watching my phone basically melt.

The second, and I mean the SECOND  a property went live, calls poured in like people were fighting to get Taylor Swift tickets. People were offering sight unseen, waving every contingency like they were allergic to due diligence. It got so insane I started writing “ABSOLUTELY NO SIGHT UNSEEN CONTINGENCY OFFERS” in the description… and guess what? It didn't slow a damn thing down.

Homes and bare land were still going under contract the same day they hit the market. Buyers were slinging offers like Monopoly money. I saw buyers drop $50K, $60K, even $100K over asking price like it was nothing. And yes, real estate agents encouraged it, the same agents who love to lecture the world about ethics while conveniently forgetting what steering, pressure, and “strongly suggesting” really look like. 

But let’s be honest. None of these buyers were illegal immigrants. Not one.

It was everyday Americans who were scared, emotional, stuck at home and staring at walls they suddenly hated. They threw everything they had at the housing market.

Then Came the Investors: The Other Pandemic Surge

Investors saw the chaos and said, “Oh look, opportunity!”

• Old homes? Buy them.

• Fix them up? Sure.

• Turn them into VRBOs? Absolutely.

Who suffers? Renters. Families. Young buyers. The long-term rental market shrank, companies like Blackstone swooped in, rent skyrocketed, and greed spread faster than COVID itself.

People paid the high rents because of stimulus checks and free money. Then those checks stopped, but the prices? They didn’t. And they still haven’t. That’s not immigration. That’s market manipulation and unchecked greed.

Enter Trump’s Housing Ideas: The Good, the Bad & the “Seriously?”

I appreciate that Trump is trying to think outside the box. I really do. He’s a real estate guy and he knows what he’s doing, but it doesn’t make good sense to me. But let’s break this down honestly.

The 50-Year Mortgage

Why it could be good:

• Lower monthly payments

• Could help buyers barely hanging on

• Might expand affordability on paper

Why it’s also… not great:

• You’ll pay an astronomical amount in interest

• You’ll basically be paying for a house until you're old enough to forget where it is

• It does nothing, absolutely nothing to fix the high prices themselves

Stretching a problem thinner does not solve the problem. It just makes the payments smaller while the total cost gets uglier.

Portable Mortgages (Now THIS is interesting)

Love this… and also don’t.

Why I like it: If someone’s sitting on a sweet 2% mortgage, they could take that rate with them to their next purchase. That means they might actually move, freeing up more houses. Inventory goes up. Prices come down. The market breathes for once.

Why it’s not fair: Current buyers, who got screwed with 7% rates get nothing. They get the short end of the mortgage stick while others get to carry around their golden ticket.

But do I think portable mortgages could help unstick the market? It could definitely help.

The Real Issue: The Fed Won’t Stop Punishing Americans

The Fed is holding interest rates hostage. They’re punishing the American people because they hate Trump more than they love economic stability. and meanwhile, everyday Americans can’t afford a house because the mortgage payment reads like inflation threw a tantrum and took it out on housing.

It’s not immigration. It’s not millennials buying avocado toast. It’s not builders not building. It’s the Fed acting like the American people are collateral damage. If they simply lowered interest rates, home buyers would have more flexibility and would be in a better place to purchase a home long before we need 50-year mortgages or mortgage passports.

Lower the rates. It’s not rocket science.

At the end of the day, affordable housing won’t be fixed by pointing fingers at the wrong people. It will be fixed by facing reality:

• We inflated home prices during a crisis.

• Investors and corporations took advantage.

• The Fed refuses to release the chokehold.

• And Americans are stuck in the middle of a housing crisis.

I might be a hot mess, but I saw this market explode up close. The real estate affordability crisis said, ‘hold my beer.

And the truth is: We deserve better than political shortcuts and economic punishment disguised as policy.