Speaker 1: Let's go. Where do we go next? It's tough to after that. It's
hard to know. Let's go to Andrew from Menlo Park. Andrew, you're on the air.
Speaker 3: Hey, David, you hear me. Speaker 1: I can't hear a little low,
but I'm going to bump you up. Go ahead. OK. Speaker 3: I'm I've been wanting to ask you
this for a little bit. It's not really related. It's kind of related to politics. But I'm with
the kind of skyrocketing housing prices seeming not to really. Down very much and first time
buyers really kind of signaling being completely shut out of the market from my generation.
A millennial. I'm 30 years old. What can the government do to help with that situation
or is buying a house just going to be a wealth generation tactic for my age,
who basically just inherit from their parents or just can't buy it all? And
they just they're being renters for life? Speaker 1: A lot of unknowns there. First of all,
any answer there's not one answer to your question about how the housing market,
because there's multiple markets and the answers are going to be extremely regionalized. There are
parts of the country where housing is still far more affordable than others, and there's still a
question as to with more remote work potentially becoming permanent. Whether you're going to see
a shift from folks earning OK salaries in big cities, going to cheaper areas and being very
well-positioned to buy homes there, of course, that will raise the value of real estate in those
second or third tier areas. So all of this is is a lot of moving parts. But
I've been reading a lot about this and there there are people who believe that these high housing
prices are essentially here to stay. If that's the case, it's going to make it really difficult for a
lot of young people, including people still paying off student loans to be able to buy homes. And you
can make the case that that's a really, really bad thing, particularly when for so many households,
their home is the number one driver of net worth. And without that, savings and net worth are
dramatically impacted. I just think there are too many unknowns, and much like with the question of
like, where's the stock market going to be in two years or in five years, we are terrible at
predicting this stuff. So I think anyone telling you anything definitive an answer to these
questions, they're just guessing and you should. I think we just do not yet know. And particularly
with work from home, there's people who say we're going to see like a nationalization of
of housing markets, of course, San Francisco still going to cost more than than Tulsa. Right? But
there's going to be less of a gap that may be the case. We may see things go in a different
direction. I just think we don't yet know, but there's no question that it presents massive
difficulties for people, particularly young people paying off student loans at this time.
Speaker 3: Oh, you don't think that as far as the question about what government can do,
you think that they should just. Virtually no government intervention in that. Maybe
the market corrects itself? I'm fine. Speaker 1: I'm fine with government
involvement in affordable housing. Now, when I say affordable housing, I don't mean literally
housing designated affordable housing units. But in making housing affordable, I have no moral
issue with government involvement. I think that that's fine. I'm just not sure exactly
what that involvement should be because much of the idea around what that involvement should be
conflicts. So I have I'm fine with there being a role for government. I think it could be a
good thing. Maybe it's state government, maybe it's federal government, but I would want to be
real clear as to what that involvement should be, and it's not exactly clear to me right now.
Speaker 3: OK. Thanks for. Yeah. It just seems like the government's really involved on one side
of the Earth aspect of driving housing prices. They're kind of supporting current homeowners
being able to stay in their houses, therefore kind of creating more, you know,
less supply less. You know, it just seems like they're involved in propping up the housing
market rather than kind of bring prices down. Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, government
is very involved in the regulation of mortgages, at least the ones govern Fannie Mae, Freddie
Mac. That's another area where government's already involved. You could argue that that's
not really made housing more affordable. But yeah, I have no problem with government
involvement. I just want to feel good that that government's being involved in a productive way.
Appreciate it. All right, thank you for the call, very much, appreciate it.
A lot of great questions today. Very much appreciate it.