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I am a landlord! Breaking the cycle is a farce: why do you think it’s a cycle? It’s self-reinforcing and resilient to small changes (like a few landlords here a

I am a landlord! Breaking the cycle is a farce: why do you think it’s a cycle? It’s self-reinforcing and resilient to small changes (like a few landlords here and there delaying rent increases for a few years).

mostertoaster 5y ago
Well have you charged less than market rate for rent? I had a place for 10 years that I was charging about 60% market rate on because the lady was old and lived off social security. I had negative cash flow on it. My other rental has a negative cash flow as well. I make good money so I can afford it. If every single person who complained about the plight of the poor actually physically went and helped the poor, their plight would be less, instead you do nothing and go vote for the politicians to do something. You wanna talk about a farce, how about this one - the politicians care about the poor. Talking to immigrant Uber drivers in SF, ironically they hate the government there and it reminds them of the corrupt ones in their own country, the one the “caring progressives” keep voting for.
- Pokepokalypse 5y ago
  >the one the “caring progressives” keep voting for. And the alternative is what? Keep on hoping the oligarchs will share their wealth and it will "trickle down"?
  - jquery 5y ago
    It’s boggles the mind how one can look at the long arc of history and come to the conclusion caring progressives were the problem all along.
- mindslight 5y ago
  You blew right past "It’s self-reinforcing and resilient to small changes". The two underlying problems here are zoning policy and macroeconomic policy (ZIRP), both only changeable through politics. Directly helping other individuals doesn't stop the overall trickle-up economy from doing its thing of skimming wealth upwards. Yes, you personally can alleviate some other individuals' suffering by not turning the screws as hard, and I agree that you should where you can. But it's foolish to think that the systematic problem could be solved by everyone just choosing to go against the gradient. Also I presume when you say "negative cash flow" you are leaving out the bit about your equity increasing due to mortgage payments and bubble inflation. So you can get off your performative high horse as well - you aren't describing a charity project, but rather an illiquid savings account.
- dwaltrip 5y ago
  Good for you, but it doesn't seem realistic to expect large numbers of landlords to do this.
AniseAbyss 5y ago
Be honest its greed.
- ethanbond 5y ago
  Yep! And here in reality, the question cannot be, “how do we eliminate basic human instincts like greed,” and instead, “how do we direct our instincts toward positive outcomes?” It’s a violation of basic logic to allow greedy people to just indefinitely claim stake of something they had no part in creating (land) so they can indefinitely reap rewards from activity on that land which they have no part in (rent).
jquery 5y ago
I’m a landlord too and this sounds suspiciously like an excuse for bad behavior. You can make a big difference in peoples lives by not being a greedy a*hole. Delaying rent increases for a few years can have huge positive impacts on individual lives. No it won’t change the system but a bad system shouldn’t be used to justify personal bad behavior.
- ethanbond 5y ago
  You don’t have any information whatsoever about my personal behavior. Even if I hypothetically did raise rent with the market, I don’t find it compelling to say doing so is “bad” behavior. This is what a market is, and prices are very important for allocating resources. “If you’re a landlord, don’t raise rent” is not a society-level solution, let’s not waste too much time on it :)

mostertoaster 5y ago

Well have you charged less than market rate for rent? I had a place for 10 years that I was charging about 60% market rate on because the lady was old and lived off social security. I had negative cash flow on it. My other rental has a negative cash flow as well. I make good money so I can afford it. If every single person who complained about the plight of the poor actually physically went and helped the poor, their plight would be less, instead you do nothing and go vote for the politicians to do something. You wanna talk about a farce, how about this one - the politicians care about the poor. Talking to immigrant Uber drivers in SF, ironically they hate the government there and it reminds them of the corrupt ones in their own country, the one the “caring progressives” keep voting for.

Pokepokalypse 5y ago
>the one the “caring progressives” keep voting for. And the alternative is what? Keep on hoping the oligarchs will share their wealth and it will "trickle down"?
- jquery 5y ago
  It’s boggles the mind how one can look at the long arc of history and come to the conclusion caring progressives were the problem all along.
mindslight 5y ago
You blew right past "It’s self-reinforcing and resilient to small changes". The two underlying problems here are zoning policy and macroeconomic policy (ZIRP), both only changeable through politics. Directly helping other individuals doesn't stop the overall trickle-up economy from doing its thing of skimming wealth upwards. Yes, you personally can alleviate some other individuals' suffering by not turning the screws as hard, and I agree that you should where you can. But it's foolish to think that the systematic problem could be solved by everyone just choosing to go against the gradient. Also I presume when you say "negative cash flow" you are leaving out the bit about your equity increasing due to mortgage payments and bubble inflation. So you can get off your performative high horse as well - you aren't describing a charity project, but rather an illiquid savings account.
dwaltrip 5y ago
Good for you, but it doesn't seem realistic to expect large numbers of landlords to do this.

AniseAbyss 5y ago

Be honest its greed.

ethanbond 5y ago
Yep! And here in reality, the question cannot be, “how do we eliminate basic human instincts like greed,” and instead, “how do we direct our instincts toward positive outcomes?” It’s a violation of basic logic to allow greedy people to just indefinitely claim stake of something they had no part in creating (land) so they can indefinitely reap rewards from activity on that land which they have no part in (rent).

jquery 5y ago

I’m a landlord too and this sounds suspiciously like an excuse for bad behavior. You can make a big difference in peoples lives by not being a greedy a*hole. Delaying rent increases for a few years can have huge positive impacts on individual lives. No it won’t change the system but a bad system shouldn’t be used to justify personal bad behavior.

ethanbond 5y ago
You don’t have any information whatsoever about my personal behavior. Even if I hypothetically did raise rent with the market, I don’t find it compelling to say doing so is “bad” behavior. This is what a market is, and prices are very important for allocating resources. “If you’re a landlord, don’t raise rent” is not a society-level solution, let’s not waste too much time on it :)