REALTORS™ GET WISE TO SACRAMENTO'S EMPTY POCKETS, BUT IT'S TOO LATE

Well, bless their hearts. The Santa Barbara Independent is reporting that our intrepid local 'REALTORS®' — bless their all-caps™ branding — have finally woken up to the fact that California's perpetually parched public coffers mean more taxes for, well, everyone. And by everyone, we mean home owners, because that’s where the real money is, isn't it? The California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.®, of course) has announced their grand plan to 'mobilize' against a 'costly tax proposal.' One might ask where these keen observers of the housing market have been for the last decade or two as Sacramento turned California into a fiscal black hole, but never mind. Better late than never, we suppose, provided 'late' doesn't mean 'after the last U-Haul has left for Texas.'

Perhaps the REALTORS® are noticing fewer 'For Sale' signs and more 'Going Out of Business' signs in their own industry as young families flee for states where a starter home doesn't require a second mortgage on your soul. It’s almost as if endless fees, regulations, and taxes on everything from a latte to an ADU might, purely hypothetically, impact the affordability of housing. Who knew? This isn't just about one 'costly tax proposal'; it’s about a death by a thousand paper cuts delivered by a state legislature that views its citizens as an ATM and property owners as its personal piggy bank.

Our take? This 'mobilization' is less about protecting 'California homeownership' and more about protecting commissions on the few homes left to sell to the dwindling number of people who can still afford the sheer privilege of residing here. While we applaud anyone standing up to the tax-happy progressives who run this state, this feels like an intervention after the patient has already flatlined. The Independent might treat it like breaking news, but for Californians, it’s just another Tuesday. Meanwhile, we keep an eye on those 'experts' in Sacramento who are probably already drafting the *next* 'costly tax proposal' while you’re still digesting the last one, funded by real estate interests complaining about, well, *taxes*.