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In many places, houses that were previously owned and managed by someone who lived a few blocks away are now owned by someone far away and managed by a (remotel
by jacobolus 8y ago
In many places, houses that were previously owned and managed by someone who lived a few blocks away are now owned by someone far away and managed by a (remotely owned) for-profit company whose goal is to cut expenses as much as possible.
I agree that many local landlords are terrible, especially in my experience those who own many properties.
Personally I think professional property management companies should be very strictly regulated, and both owners and management companies should face severe financial liability for mismanagement, and landlords should be taxed as much as the market will bear, with the proceeds spent on local residents.
But even in the best case, a property management company is never going to care as much as a good local landlord, and the best local landlord isn’t going to care as much as an owner-occupant.
- sokoloff 8y ago> landlords should be taxed as much as the market will bear, with the proceeds spent on local residents. For rented properties, taxing the landlord is taxing tenants (indirectly, but tightly, linked). Those local residents that you want to spend the money are the tenants in most cases.
- jacobolus 8y agoThat is only true when housing supply is unlimited and competition between landlords drives prices down. (In that case, housing stays cheap and there is no problem to solve.) When housing is limited, excess demand (competition among tenants) already pushes prices above the landlord’s costs. As a result, the landlord pockets an unearned profit. In such a situation taxing landlords does not change prices paid by tenants because they are already paying as much as the demand side of the market will bear. It just redistributes the profit toward public uses. For more about this basic idea, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand or your favorite high school economics textbook. Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent
- sokoloff 8y agoFor more about the basic idea of landlords passing through tax increases, see one semi-standard rental agreement such as this one: https://eforms.com/download/2015/11/greater-boston-residential-lease-agreement-template.pdf https://eforms.com/download/2015/11/greater-boston-residenti...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]