Realtor's Housing Crisis Explanation Goes Viral

Buzz Feed

4 days ago

Zachary Foust is a 31-year-old real estate agent who has been working in Delaware for over eight years, but he's been going viral on TikTok for more than just selling homes. In a recent video, he shared a passionate rant about why it's so hard for young people to get on the housing ladder now, and it has people in his comments begging him to run for office.
He started the video by sharing that he originally joined TikTok back in 2019 to share information about the homebuying process. "But slowly but surely, I didn't realize that I had a VIP front row seat to watching the American Dream get sifted away from the working class," he says.
Zachary goes on to weave together threads showing how the wealthy and powerful have progressively made it harder and harder for average people to get ahead and own a home, from Reagan's tax cuts for the wealthy and the steady rise of private equity to the 2008 market crash and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that allowed the wealthy to pour more money into influencing politics than ever.
He argues that all of these factors have led to "the infestation of institutional investors buying up and banking on asset inflation that is housing, that is shelter, keeping normal everyday people out of having a roof in exchange for billionaires having bigger accounts."
He goes on to say, "It's clear and evident that the billionaires and trillionaires on this planet are bored because they have everything that they need, yet the ego continues to devour at them and because of pride, because of ego, because of a lust for power. Not only are they trying to financially line their pockets more and more, but they're doing it to the tune of draining out the bottom of our economy, draining out the working class income, draining out the upper middle class asset opportunity."
In one of the most fiery moments of his rant, he says, "I don't want to just sell homes. I want to start a change for something so that you can get in on the wealth, or we could change the system in some way, all together, promote more equality. Why am I labeled a communist if I want people to have a chance?"
Zachary shared with BuzzFeed that he sees real estate as so much more than just a place to live or just his career. "To me, owning a home is a bedrock of protection. It's a place that you have full ownership of with the people you love, a safe haven that's truly yours. It's also an investment that appreciates over time, a foundation of security when everything else in life might feel uncertain."
And he shared that in 2022, he started to get more and more disillusioned with his career as he saw clients who'd done "everything right" yet still were unable to buy homes. "The reality hit me when I had clients earning over $100,000 with 700 credit scores, and I still had to walk them through how to prepare to buy a home because they no longer had the freedom to purchase like they once did. Meanwhile, retirees, boomers, and investors (many of whom pay cash) were still buying at a remarkable pace. The market for first-time or working-class buyers stalled, while cash and retirement purchases hardly slowed."
Despite the financial challenges the average young American faces, Zachary encourages people not to give up. "Take action, even in a tough market. None of us can predict the future, but you can control your financial foundation. Keep debt low and credit high, ideally over 700. That shows you're handling money well and also positions you to save. I'd invest those savings into something that can yield 4–7% annually to grow your nest egg for a future down payment."
And he says there's no shame in not being as fiercely independent as the ideal American Dream. "The best advice I've given in the past two and a half years is to ignore the stigma around living with family or friends. Living with your parents, family, or a group of friends, 'homie hacking' a mortgage together, is one of the smartest things you can do. It's awesome. Avoiding rent for a few years to save aggressively?? It can be life-changing."
Finally, he says, "When I bought my first home, it meant the world to me, it was my wife and my very first nest egg, my first big step into adulthood, and my first real responsibility. That experience shaped so much of how I see homeownership today."
Are you a homeowner or saving up to buy your first home? Tell us about your experiences in the housing market in the comments or via the anonymous form below: