I agree that comparing serfdom to market labor and housing isn't particularly enlightening. But there were reciprocal obligations involved that would be unheard

I agree that comparing serfdom to market labor and housing isn't particularly enlightening. But there were reciprocal obligations involved that would be unheard of nowadays even in the most renter-friendly places. A lord would be expected to provide physical protection against bandits. "Evictions" were comparatively rare. In times of hardship, it was customary to provide what we'd now think of as welfare. Common resources like ovens and roads were expected to be provided by the lord. On the other hand, serfs were also bound up in much more obligations than simply providing part of their income to the lord (e.g. it wouldn't be the lord building and maintaining the road that he had to provide). And they couldn't get up and leave, even in principle, if they had a bad lord.