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This is one of the reasons I became a landlord in the first place. One of my tenants recently experienced a terrible water damage issue that caused both bathroo
by sidlls 3y ago
This is one of the reasons I became a landlord in the first place. One of my tenants recently experienced a terrible water damage issue that caused both bathrooms in their unit to be unavailable while repairs occur. They were shocked when I told them I would cover the cost of their relocation expenses while the repairs occurred.
I got really lucky when the company I work for went public. Going from being nearly homeless as a child to being a well-compensated, and now wealthy, engineer really was motivating to give something back. Buying a few properties, renting them to lower income people, and really working with them when they're struggling might not be efficient/scalable with my little 7 figure windfall, but being able to make and see a direct impact really makes me quite happy.
- StockHuman 3y ago[flagged]
- cfiggers 3y agoEntering into and then holding up your end of fair bargains with other people is a good thing to do. We need that a lot more than we need altruistic gestures, in my opinion.
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoA “fair bargain” isn’t possible As throughly demonstrated in this thread - unless you go to extreme effort like threatening to take someone to court - Landlords hold all the power to set rates, increase rates, ignore complaints etc and there are almost no avenues for recompense. So no, there can be no fair exchange when lambs negotiate with wolves.
- Aloha 3y agoWhat happens if you have a landlord who follows (or exceeds) the law? I've rented from plenty like this, simply because I took the effort to find places that were locally owned (while not a cure all, it helps). Also, whats the alternative? not everyone can meet the financial or responsibility requirements that come with homeownership. So what are you left with after that, government owned housing?
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoYour point is bullshit. Anyone who can rent can afford to own. I’ve owned half a dozen properties at this point and it’s clear that Banks just do as much fuckery as possible to make lending impossible to anyone that doesn’t perfectly fit their mold. How about a system that doesn’t primarily benefit property owners?
- warkdarrior 3y ago> Anyone who can rent can afford to own. > How about a system that doesn’t primarily benefit property owners? Why would anyone want to own their house in a system that does not benefit them?
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoSo you can do whatever you like, within the zoning and social restrictions??
- Aloha 3y agoI dont think thats correct, as a recent homeowner. The deposit requirements are high to get a loan, now yes, we could change that thru subsidy or guaranty by the government. But what about maintenance? renting is turn-key, even when your mortgage is lower than rent, you still have the unexpected costs that appear? In the six months I've been here, I've had to replace or repair: Garburator Cooktop Oven Coils Shower Controls Sink Faucets A couple circuit breakers Sprinklers (all of them, 80% of them were broken) Also, yard maintenance is this ongoing battle, between tree droppings, grass mowing, and weed abatement (some of which you must do, like dealing with noxious vines). If you wanna fix a greater social ill, the issue isn't 'benefitting owners' its that people have been conditioned to treat their home like an investment rather than a place to live and prosper in. Property Values shouldn't be going up 5x faster than inflation, but they have been for a couple decades.
- kevviiinn 3y agoAre you aware that many homes don't have in-ground sprinkler systems or garbage disposals?
- matchbok 3y agoSpoken like somebody who has clearly never owned property, rented homes, or built anything, or risked money to build a business. You are so, so far off here. Landlords only hold "all the power" if we constrict housing. That is a policy problem, not "evil landlords". Read up!
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoHilarious assumptions Please just do a smidgen of research
- matchbok 3y agoAs a operator in the space, I assure you I have. :)
- Aloha 3y agoI think your tone was why you got downvoted. You're mostly right though, so long as housing is consistently treated as an investment rather than a commodity produced and sold in bulk, landlords hold all of the power.
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoWho are you agreeing with because that was precicely the opposite of what the person you responded to was suggesting.
- Aloha 3y agoI think there is a disagreement in what commodity means. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commodity https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commodity People who criticize the commodification of housing I think tend to believe the correct and valid definition is: (2) something useful or valued. or (5) one that is subject to ready exchange or exploitation within a market. (emphasis added) I tend to focus on: (1c) a mass-produced unspecialized product. or (4) a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (such as brand name) other than price. Housing was commodified after WWII, when we stamped out so much housing, it was cheap and available to everyone. When housing is that available, it removes much of the power of landlords to distort the market.
- uoaei 3y agoThere's a strong presumption that the aforementioned arrangement is fair, which is yet to be proven.
- sidlls 3y agoIt's possible to attack this problem from multiple angles. As it stands right now the tenants that occupy my properties either don't want to own (grad students) or can't afford it (e.g., service workers, low-end "white collar" job holders in the bay area). By charging (significantly) lower than market rent, deferring or waiving rent, setting up very long term payment plans, and basically treating them like they're people with lives that shit happens to them in I do what I can as an individual. By working in other areas (e.g. with NGOs) I do what I can to contribute as an individual to a larger group effort to change the way housing works in this area.
- TheOtherHobbes 3y agoGiven that one person can't make the rental market go away, no matter how much they might want to, mitigating it is perfectly reasonable. I'd go further and suggest forming a Humane Landlord's Association with explicitly stated humane values.
- Aloha 3y agoThis actually isn't a bad idea.
- whitemary 3y ago> or can't afford it That is the problem. Insofar as the only historical solutions to this problem have involved displacing landlords, I see no reason to thank them for anything at all.
- weard_beard 3y agoDoctors take this one step further and extract bullets and pancreas and dentists even extract TEETH for Gods sake! All those cold hearted professionals should be ashamed.
- Aloha 3y agoThe poor person it better served by someone who rents fairly at or below market rate, than it is by social housing that can take years to get into. Making money while also doing the right thing is the best thing at all, everyone feels good about it, and its a relationship built off mutual respect. Like, I want to encourage landlords to do this, and I want to move property holdings away from the consolidation we've seen towards private equity and massive REIT's holding rental housing - locally owned rentals, where the owner has a stake in the communities these homes are in, is the best practical case of all.
- allenrb 3y agoDo you really believe that homeownership is for everyone? It’s not. Hell, it is not for some of my friends in tech. You’ve got a lot to maintain, a lot of work to do, a lot to keep track of. That either means money, or pretty broad DIY skills. That’s not for everyone. It’s definitely not (at least right away) for someone who has perhaps not had the opportunity to experience homeownership via their parents. If earlier poster is indeed renting at comfortable rates and taking better-than-average care of the properties and the residents, s/he truly is doing some good in the world.
- itsoktocry 3y ago>You’ve got a lot to maintain, a lot of work to do, a lot to keep track of. Oh yes, and landlords, generally, are renowned for stellar upkeep of their properies and prompt repairs. >If earlier poster is indeed renting at comfortable rates and taking better-than-average care Cheap rent and better-than-average maintenence are probably 1% of available properties.
- jamilton 3y agoIt's not for everyone, and that includes a lot of landlords.
- endisneigh 3y ago> They were shocked when I told them I would cover the cost of their relocation expenses while the repairs occurred. Assuming you’re in the United States you would’ve been legally required to do this anyways. The bar really is set on the floor.
- sidlls 3y agoThat's not uniformly true, and often only applies if it's due to citation after an inspection. Regardless, the tenants are often not aware of these regulations. Besides, my point was mainly that the tenants I have are so used to landlords taking advantage of them that they are shocked when one shows basic human decency to them.
- jaltekruse 3y agoI could barely believe this story when a pretty big youtuber had his upstairs neighbor flood his entire apartment, mold started growing everywhere and all his landlord offered was signing a new long-term lease on a different unit he didn't want. He ended up somewhat deliberately staying after he got it out of them that they couldn't legally kick him out quickly, and he was trying to finish the purchase of a house at the time. But it seemed nuts that the landlord wouldn't be on the hook to provide him housing through the term of his lease without signing a new contract, or pay some large amount to break the contract that could have helped him cover a temporary mold-free option. https://youtu.be/2R-KDji7tGE https://youtu.be/2R-KDji7tGE
- sidlls 3y agoPetty landlords are the vast majority, unfortunately. All they care about is extracting rent. They don't see tenants as human beings who can struggle, but rather as a source of income to exploit and ignore as much as they can.
- smegger001 3y agoyeah i lived in one that got in trouble (after i had moved out) for not telling their tenants about the lead paint or asbestos. they also had the elevator out of order for nearly two years during which period they raised the rent three times. have fun moving out of a fifth floor apartment when you have to carry furniture down the narrow stairs with four right angle turns every floor.
- rubyfan 3y agoIf they had renters insurance that could have been a covered loss of use.
- joshuaheard 3y agoAs a landlord, I require my tenants to have renter's insurance. Otherwise, they would come after me for the losses.
- daydream 3y ago> As a landlord, I require my tenants to have renter's insurance. A landlord requiring renters insurance is illegal in the state of Oklahoma. It may be illegal in certain cities or towns as well. That said these are exceptions; this is broadly legal in the United States. Assuming you live in the US, presumably you have ensured this practice is legal where you live.
- joshuaheard 3y agoThanks for the heads-up. I live in California where requiring tenant insurance is legal.
- 50 3y ago> Going from being nearly homeless as a child to being a well-compensated, and now wealthy, engineer really was motivating to give something back. Buying a few properties, renting them to lower income people [insert that adam smith quote here]
- pavel_lishin 3y agoWhich quote?
- 50 3y agoreferring to the opening lines to marx's "rent of land": https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/rent.htm https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts...
- dfinninger 3y agoUnless I’m mistaken, that refers to farmland and not developed housing. The opening words describe harvesting keep, fish, and animal husbandry. It seems to be decrying the fact that rent can be charged for a field of wheat, where nature did the work. If there’s housing on that property, then that is something that was developed by the (current or previous) landlord for direct use by the tenant. However, I’m unfamiliar with this work, so if a different conclusion is drawn elsewhere it would be interesting to read.
- ShroudedNight 3y agoIn metro areas of most concern, the cost of the house is almost always a pittance relative to the cost of the land the house sits on. The value of that land rarely having been accrued as the result of the landlord's actions.
- 50 3y agodon't overlook the first line by smith which i originally intended to highlight: "Landlords' right has its origin in robbery." in effect, from smith's early draft of "the wealth of nations" (~1763): "In a Civilized Society the poor provide both for themselves and for the enormous luxury of their Superiors. [...] [T]hose who labour most get least." which calls for that staggering question by spinoza: "Why do men fight for their servitude as stubbornly as though it were their salvation?" deleuze & guattari following: "the astonishing thing is not that some people steal or that others occasionally go out on strike, but rather that all those who are starving do not steal as a regular practice, and all those who are exploited are not continually out on strike"
- wahnfrieden 3y agoAre you renting below market?
- sidlls 3y agoYes, substantially.
- antihero 3y agoIf you’re making profit from the fact that someone has not enough money or a good enough credit score to buy their own place, whilst you may be the nicest landlord in the world you’re still technically exploiting the situation for your own gain. I’m not saying you’re a bad person or a parasite, our landlady is lovely, but you have to be frank about the fact that someone else is working to enrich you to some level.
- ilyt 3y agoWell, we need to have better system for temporary housing first. Not everyone renting is poor or can't afford buying one either and you can't really expect people to go against their own interest. It would be nice if most of the renting was city-built and ran, with maybe buyout option if you live there for more than 5-10 or so years. THen city could easily control development, earn a bit of profit, and control the costs
- sidlls 3y agoWe need a better solution for housing in general. I don't actually want to be a landlord very much. I have a 7-figure portfolio including two rental properties, and I still rent. I'm not sure I could ever convince myself to buy in the bay area until/unless I had a substantially larger portfolio ($20M+). The numbers just don't add up.
- juve1996 3y ago> I’m not saying you’re a bad person or a parasite, our landlady is lovely, but you have to be frank about the fact that someone else is working to enrich you to some level. You can make this argument about literally any purchased good. Everything bought by a worker is the same thing.
- smogcutter 3y agoYou’re so close to figuring it out
- 3y ago
- treeman79 3y agoMine has a severe gas leak. Left me and kids with brain damage that took years just for us to get back to somewhat normal baseline again. Got nothing. Lawyers said too hard to prove that massive amounts of gas filling the house caused problems. Took years to just get our security deposit back. Screw Invitation Homes
- evilspammer 3y ago[flagged]