this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Now come on, this isn't fair to all the mom-and-pop landlords who speak to you politely while exploiting the fuck out of you and your family
I don't understand, is lemmy flooded by reddit kids now?
Comments here make it sound owning a house is free and doesn't cost money to not make it fall apart (houses tend to do so if left unmaintained).
I've rented for 20 years since I left my parents' house and finally bought my house last year, with great expenses and time waste. I'm still wondering today if renting was a better choice financially.
This is one of the reason why I think the price of property should be regulated somehow by the government. The cost/ tax of a second house should be exponentially higher to discourage people doing this, so that a renting a second house should be a financial catastrophe. Capitalism, free market does not work, especially for basic human needs (food, shelter, health, energy, and if I may say education).
I myself bought my house 2 years ago, and the price was already ridiculous. Let's say I paid almost 100k€ more than the estimated worth of the house (cause of market price). I'm pretty sure the price will collapse after some time. The price can increase 30-40 percent in 3-5 years. It's crazy. The money invested here is much higher than I did when I was renting an apartment tho.
I don’t think the government should control the price. That just leads to problems. The government should control supply, by changing zoning laws from single family to multi-family. It should also fund building new housing units that can be sold or rented. This is how Singapore solved its housing crisis. We should build denser. There is no reason to have a housing shortage in America when we have so much land. We just use it terribly.
The Singaporean are forced to do that because of how small their land is. In places where single family unit shouldn't be a problem (Europe or States), it shouldn't be forced to make the people to live in a multi family unit.
Owning an extra house should be punished (financially) to discourage people buying houses only to rent them away.
One political party suggested that recently in my country. Nothing happened because every study showed it will just increase the rents.
I'm actually a grown adult who works my ass off and is lucky enough to own my own home.
None of this changes the fact that landlords are predatory capitalist leeches.
Winning life's lottery doesn't make me lose all empathy and become an ignorant buffoon who abandons my ideals and the hope for a better world for the sake of all people.
Mutual aid, autonomy, and horizontality -- these are all beliefs that I hold for a better world.
Landlords are making the world worse by exploiting renters. They are at best class traitors, but in reality they are much, much worse. They are actively making the world a worse place for other people. They do not "provide housing," as some would say -- these are the true words of the foolish child. Instead, they create homelessness and exploit the misfortune of others for their gain.
Landlords aren't alone in this, of course. Anyone who is an actual capitalist has to go. Either they will do so willingly and live, or they will be unwilling to abandon their position and perish.
Renting was probably a better choice in this market.
But they’re entitled to the results of my labour!
Why?
Because!!!
They're just trying to pay for their grandma in the nursing home!
Oh, what about your grandma? Fuck her, pay your rent.
If someone's grandma goes into assisted living, how does selling their house help anyone who can't afford a house? Especially given the cost of assisted living. That's a ridiculous criticism. It's the people who own a dozen houses, or complexes, who are the problem.
The "kill landlords" crowd doesn't care for this nuance.
Because they provide something that is so valuable to you that you give them a good amount of money for it. Thats why.
You choose to give them money because their house seems to be a huge quality of life improvement, otherwise you could always find a cheaper house.
If anyone was free to buy a house whenever they liked, renting wouldn't be such a problem. The problem is, renting nowadays is the only solution and therefore those who own properties are free to charge what they like and people either put up with that or be homeless.
Renting should be a temporary measure, however nowadays people can't afford to actually buy homes because renting means they don't have money for deposits.
Renting isn't a choice for most people, it's a means to keep them off the streets. The landlords have the monopoly.
Serious question: Cant you just take out a loan from a bank, buy a house, move there, cancel your rental apartment/house and then pay off the loan?
Of course houses are expensive but is there a genuine lack of availability?
Except there really isn't a choice. You pay rent or... What? Sleep on the street or in a car? Which is illegal in many places already.
"Just find a cheaper house" isn't actually an option available to people who you know... Want to have a job. It's just a glib thought-terminating cliche that doesn't engage with the actual issue.
... and because you dont really have a choice, you shouldnt have to give them any money?
You also dont have a choice not to buy food but that doesnt mean that the farmers shouldnt be payed for it. I have the impression that with landlords, people are just envious because they dont have to actively do labour even though that doesnt change anything for you...
That isn't comparable, and you know it.
The farmer produces food. I am paying for the labour involved in creating the food I consume. The farmer works.
The landlord collects my rent because he owns the house. Not because of any labour they do. And you admit that.
Extracting profit without working to create value is parasitism.
It does change things for me. It makes living expenses higher.
And I'm not envious of landlords, I don't think they should exist.
In your previous comment you said "You choose to give them money".
So you know what you are saying is utter horsecrap, and you are deliberately being a disingenuous dickhead.
Exactly, as is the case with any investment.
So should nobody be able to own any land OR should one not be allowed to rent out one's land?
You said you dont have a choice, and the question refers to that statement. Those are both your statements ("I dont have a choice" and "they dont deserve my money"). That doesnt mean that I agree with either of them... I still stand by my point.
Im asking for the reason why not having a choice (according to you) would mean, if that was the case, that they dont deserve money.
So you are admitting that comparing it to farming was a stupid thing of you to say. Good. Glad we agree.
Sure. Those are options. Or limited ownership where one may own land they live on, but not additional land. Or make rates and taxes on additional land ownership higher potential rental profits. And then direct public funds into public housing, as well as fixing zoning laws to allow for denser housing.
That's not my argument.
I don't thing parasitism is healthy for society. That's why landlords shouldn't exist.
The fact that we don't have a choice was in response to your assertion that people choose to pay landlords.
(?) No... It makes no difference to me if there was labour involved or not, what matters to me is the value.
About the public housing thing, how would that help? Isnt that just everybody (the public) paying for everybody else's housing? How would that make any difference?
I dont know anything about zoning laws but after looking it up it sounds pretty dumb, we dont have that here where I live (large city in central Europe).
Then you should be opposed to landlords. Because rent-seeking extracts profit without producing value.
Then housing is built for people to live in, not as an investment vehicle that is expected to generate profit. That brings down the price for everybody.
It also solves other social ills by drastically reducing homelessness.
Because they provided you with shelter?
Did they provide me shelter or did they sink their temporarily excess capital into the local single-family home market driving up prices?
I'm paying a fair bit to live here so it seems I'm providing my own shelter.
Both
No, you pay off their mortgage in exchange for not being homeless. All renting should be rent to buy. No renting without equity in exchange.
"Rent to buy" already has a name. It's called a mortgage and you get it from the bank. As a bonus, you get to do all of your own maintenance and take all of the risk. It's awesome.
The downside is all these greedy landlords make the prices outrageous so nobody can get a deposit on a house. It's easy when you already own one house because you can use it as collateral and also your tenants will pay off your mortgage.
The landlords built those homes with the sweat of their brow?
Once the home is paid off they’ll reduce the rent to only cover the outgoings on the property?
The speculation on property as an asset class has no effect on pricing people out of the market for ownership?
HA HA HA! That's funny!
I bought a house last year after renting for 20 years since I moved out of my parents' house.
My kids will probably still pay for my house.
You can blame the investment landlords for that