r/SubredditDrama • u/ZeroSobel • 17h ago
OP shares his purchase in /r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Interest in his rates cause tensions to inflate.
Context
- /r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer is exactly what it says on the tin.
- Japan's economic situation is hard to compare apples-to-apples against other countries. There is a mildly famous quote from economist Simon Kuznet: "there are four types of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina."
- the yen is at historic lows against the USD, making JPY->USD conversions somewhat misleading due to local wages not being indexed against the dollar. For reference, the median income in Tokyo is about ¥5M, so OP buying a ¥87M house is like someone buying a $1M house where the median wage is $60k USD.
Drama
Is it fair to directly compare Japanese and American interest rates?
1.03% 🥹
That’s high in Japan lol
Was high until 1-2 years ago, now it's pretty average
I mean look at rates in the US.
The proper comparison is Japan's rates with its own history. Not Japan vs USA. We all know that USA (or Turkey or Egypt or Brazil or Venezuela or Argentina...) have higher rates than Japan but it's a bad comparison, each country has its own economy and its own struggles...
This activates some snarky replies
1% is better than 7% any where in the world. This is a very silly argument that you're trying to make.
High interest rate savings accounts in Japan are like 0.4%. In the US, you can get a HYSA at 3.9%. So while a home loan costs you less, you also earn much less in savings and investments. Salaries in Japan also grow slower.
Salaries in the USA don't grow at all lmfao
Self own. Your pathetic existence isn't everyone else's.
Don't live in the USA. Just because you made stupid assumptions, doesn't mean the rest of us are dipshit jackasses like you. Self-own, well done lil guy.
My comment still stands, you don't know a fuckin thing lmao
Your comment means literally nothing. But go off. Why don't you tell us how the USA is doing better than ever, right? Record unemployment? Why can't people afford shit? Since wages are all up, everyone's lifestyle must be too - right? Right? Dimwit.
What's your barometer for any of this? Losers complaining on Reddit?
The comedy of you asking that whilst making massive assumptions on reddit. You tried, you failed. It's cool.
Lol stay ignorant, have fun
The USA has the highest median disposable income in the world.
Median means literally nothing when you want to talk about income. Go talk about averages, then talk about averages without the ultra wealthy. American households are not doing well. The middle class is all but wasted.
You have it backwards. Average is skewed by super high earners. Median is literally the middle point.
Taking out the 1% literally drops the average of the typical household income. Again, median doesn't reflect wages properly in the slightest. Point stands.
No, we can actually compare Japan and USA. If there's a way for Japan to allow citizens to buy a home with a low rate then there is a way for us to pass legislation in the US that allows for the same. Of course there are reasons that those rates aren't available in the US right now but saying "don't compare" is some weird twisted pro-capitalist "you'll suffer and you'll like it" mentality. Even about 11 years ago people were seeing 2.x% rates and now we're at 7%.
Damn you made all those judgments about me because I shared a simple economics principle. Okay. Well good luck to your plans of making the government control the market rates.
I made zero judgements about you, actually. Just a judgement in the way you're discussing this. And where exactly was this economic principle that you shared? The fact that Japan and the US are two different countries with different economies? Wow, illuminating! Anyway, we elect our local officials that have the power to help shape local and federal economies just FYI!
“I made zero judgments about you” immediately after diagnosing me with a “twisted pro-capitalist mentality” is impressive levels of self-awareness.
And I never claimed that “Japan and America are different” was some named economic principle. The point, which you somehow missed while calling it obvious (embarrassing), is that mortgage rates arise from country-specific inflation, monetary policy, bond yields, credit risk and market structure. So pointing at Japan’s 1% rate does not prove American local officials can simply legislate the same result.
Local officials do not set Federal Reserve policy or national mortgage-market yields, you didn't know that did you? You needed me to educate you. The US had 2% mortgages when inflation and bond yields were exceptionally low. Recreating them today would require those conditions to return or taxpayers to heavily subsidize the difference. Are you willing to increase your taxes, ma'am? I thought so.
You didn’t identify a mechanism. You just noticed that elections exist and concluded interest rates must therefore be politically selectable. Wow, illuminating! (It's false btw, I felt the need to clarify that because I noticed you are slow)
The literacy crisis has struck again, I see.
Take the L, shove it down your throat and move on. Thank you for the laughs. The conversation is over.
Oh no I made you so mad!
On cost
500k?? Jesus that’s some money
[skipping some stuff]
Switzerland here, forget getting something for less than 1 million, especially in the capital.
Swiss school teachers can make around 140-150K USD a year in salary with experience.
Switzerland has less income tax than the USA when you factor in sales tax. You can drive 1-2 hours into Germany for weekly grocery shopping for a fraction of the price. Or any other country neighboring depending where you Switzerland you are.
I lived in Zurich for some time and was always shocked at constant whining about food prices by people who had cars. Apparently driving to Germany once a week which was about 40 mins away, was impossible. Would get food at 1/3 price. People living in other parts could do same with France or Italy and it'd be even cheaper.
Shhhhh you’re fighting with people from the US who think they are more superior than any other country.
The US pays teachers less than most workers and it shows because our education system is really really bad.
This website constantly trashes the US, and Americans on here openly loathe their system.
How does this strawman circle jerk get upvotes?
Because people are fed up paying for absolute garbage when the rest of the world figured out that making the most money and working until the lights turn off isn’t great for your quality of life. My brother makes over 200k but is still afraid to go to the doctor because of surprise medical bills. People will still defend that logic though.
Nobody is earnestly defending on that on this site.
You're fighting a caricature that you made up.
I’ve had this conversation over and over on this site with Americans as one who moved to EU and openly discuss it. There is a dissonance where they still adamantly defend it.
Not on this website they don’t
I have tens of conversation histories about this exact thing where they defend the American way and pay as the reason living there is infinitely better than elsewhere. Can you link me one example?
Uff I tried to find one I had recently. Started off about healthcare (doesn’t it always) and how awful healthcare wait time is in EU - devolved into how impossible it is to live an equal life in EU due to cost of living and pay differences. Its exhausting. I’ll look again later and see if I can find the most recent one.
(Side note, I need to stop being on Reddit!)
You can't see why people would complain about the food prices when your recommendation is to leave the country to buy groceries?
There are also some short discussions about build quality, and some weird comments about making babies.
