Inflation has raised prices of most goods and services by a sizable amount, especially during the recent pandemic COVID-19.

The prices for homes have been especially impacted by this, forcing some people to downsize and others to become homeless. 

Edmond, Okla. is no exception to this issue, however, inflation isn’t the entire problem. Recently, it has become more common for houses to go up for sale, only for a realtor investor to buy the house and then put it back up for rent for up to 37 percent more than the original price. This is very common around Edmond Memorial High School’s district. 

A question one might ask is if this is legal, but there are no laws that prevent it. In that case, one might ask if something should be done about this. Raising the price of the average United States home by 37 percent would bring it up to $524,710 to buy or $5,247 rent per month. For reference, the average salary of a United States citizen is $6,228 per month. 

Buying houses and selling them for profit is a pretty common thing to do, in fact it’s generally seen as an intelligent way to make money, but in cases like these, more harm can be done than good. For the city of Edmond, or anywhere this is happening, it could very well cause a rapid loss of citizens as prices continue to rise, leading to profit loss for the city. Edmond is generally considered one of the better cities in Oklahoma and one of the more costly cities to live in too. Prices of homes going up will only further cut down the range of people who can afford to live there. 

There are also personal experiences that should be taken into consideration. Although this is typically of lesser importance compared to city, state or even country wide problems, it still ends up hurting someone. Students could move away from school districts they spent years at due to things their families have no control over, and individuals could lose their jobs because they can’t afford to live close to their workplace anymore. If house prices continue to rise, there could be another wave of residents moving away or going homeless with no regard to the kind of history they have at their home or city. 

Part of the American dream is for an individual to work hard to buy and own their property and to improve on it for their own benefit and perhaps their children’s benefit. These investors thwart this idea by buying all the houses that could be owned and not giving the opportunity for families to own them. It would not be absurd for an individual to believe that the government would defend American ideals, yet they have made no effort to combat this issue. 

Overall, it is becoming more difficult and costly to be a homeowner in Edmond and across the country in general. Over past years, the price of rent has risen with this. In 2021, the average price of rent rose 17 percent, the highest ever in the United States. There has been a lack of government action towards this issue, meaning that citizens of the United States should make an attempt to put them on notice about this, regardless of if they know or not.

This article originally appeared in the Memorial Ruff Draft.