A friend of mine was at a housing conference and the guy there told them that houses are a "great investment" and the price will just keep going up. I tried to explain to them that of course he would say that, it's literally his job to convince people to buy overpriced houses they can't afford to keep the market working, and all the charts and graphs and data he shared are just there to manipulate people into being convinced to buy an investment property. My friend really struggled with the idea that a friendly and charismatic salesperson could lie in order to convince people to buy something, even something as expensive and profitable as a house.

[–] laranis@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Did your friend get there in the end?

I'll admit, in my youth I would have passed most of the beliefs I now hold about the world as trite and overly cynical. All of the old men who yelled at clouds in my life were right.

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago

I hope so. They agreed with me in the end, but I think it might have been more "I'll agree to shut him up" rather than agreeing with my point. I know they agree with me now, after having actually bought a house and going through that whole nightmare.