[DrPhish]

A lot of people are cash-poor and need to make up the difference with "sweat equity". That puts them in direct competition with professional flippers, since its the same unrealized value that is being leveraged. The difference is that for one its a tidy profit, whereas for the other its a way to own a home.

[lotsofpulp]

Then the people needing to make up the difference with sweat equity should be able to pay more for the house than a professional flipper, since they do not need to account for the profit and costs of subcontractors of professional flippers.

[DrPhish]

unfortunately sweat equity (ie fixing a place up) doesn't add anything to your down payment from the bank's perspective. Cash poor is cash poor. Most people start off as young people or young couples with little to no cash and have to make their way in the world in the basic range of minimum wage and starting off with zero savings. Saying that corporate profits should come before home ownership for the average person is what was being thought of as "disgusting" earlier in this thread, I think