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This. 1. Immediately turn a profit would mean that monthly rent is higher than the cost of the property. This is not a thing. If they person you are replying t

This. 1. Immediately turn a profit would mean that monthly rent is higher than the cost of the property. This is not a thing. If they person you are replying to means “cash flow positive” then sure in 20-30 years the renter will have paid off the property for the landlord. 2. Renting provides choices. Tenant wants to move across the country or across the street? No problem: ride out your lease and move when ready. If you own the property you need to sell it to move in most cases. Ever try to sell when the market changed and suddenly your property lost 30% in value and you are suddenly underwater? I have. On the other hand if you are renting you can just move on a relatively short timeframe and get the fuck out of dodge no matter where property values are. 3. The responsibility for maintaining the building is on the landlord. Sure, some are bad at this but know your rights and interview your landlords well and it won’t be a problem. 4. Rentals provide inventory. If you don’t have $500,000 saved up for a large single family home in an expensive state (like where I have been stuck for the past decade), what do you do for housing? Mortgage your life away and hope jobs and markets go your way? Or rent for a small premium over a mortgage payment with no money down and a 12 month commitment? For most people renting is actually a much better choice provided they save the difference between renting and owning the home and invest it wisely. Over a lifetime there are few places in the US where you’d be better off buying instead. NYT had a nice comprehensive calculator to this effect.

bombcar 5y ago
Most landlords aren't even cash flow positive if you correctly account for everything - http://www.johntreed.net/positive.html http://www.johntreed.net/positive.html The majority of cash single-family landlords are because they're paying a mortgage on 2005 prices whilst charging 2020s rent. But to properly do the accounting you'd want to compare selling the house and buying it again vs the rents. Buying is usually worse than renting unless you value the relative freedom to do what you want with the property and even then renters have the ability to change the house they're in (unless they're effectively stuck because of grandfathered in lower-than-market rates). The idea that housing problems are caused by landlords is obviously false on its face, as each landlorded house already has people living in it. Speculators sitting on empty inventory and refusing to landlord, now that could be a cause.

bombcar 5y ago

Most landlords aren't even cash flow positive if you correctly account for everything - http://www.johntreed.net/positive.html http://www.johntreed.net/positive.html The majority of cash single-family landlords are because they're paying a mortgage on 2005 prices whilst charging 2020s rent. But to properly do the accounting you'd want to compare selling the house and buying it again vs the rents. Buying is usually worse than renting unless you value the relative freedom to do what you want with the property and even then renters have the ability to change the house they're in (unless they're effectively stuck because of grandfathered in lower-than-market rates). The idea that housing problems are caused by landlords is obviously false on its face, as each landlorded house already has people living in it. Speculators sitting on empty inventory and refusing to landlord, now that could be a cause.