Reason I’m asking is because I have an aunt that owns like maybe 3 - 5 (not sure the exact amount) small townhouses around the city (well, when I say “city” think of like the areas around a city where theres no tall buildings, but only small 2-3 stories single family homes in the neighborhood) and have these houses up for rent, and honestly, my aunt and her husband doesn’t seem like a terrible people. They still work a normal job, and have to pay taxes like everyone else have to. They still have their own debts to pay. I’m not sure exactly how, but my parents say they did a combination of saving up money and taking loans from banks to be able to buy these properties, fix them, then put them up for rent. They don’t overcharge, and usually charge slightly below the market to retain tenants, and fix things (or hire people to fix things) when their tenants request them.
I mean, they are just trying to survive in this capitalistic world. They wanna save up for retirement, and fund their kids to college, and leave something for their kids, so they have less of stress in life. I don’t see them as bad people. I mean, its not like they own multiple apartment buildings, or doing excessive wealth hoarding.
Do leftists mean people like my aunt too? Or are they an exception to the “landlords are bad” sentinment?
As an sp member in the UK I can give you the parties stance. We aren’t going after small business. Your aunt while not giving to society and being a member of the owning class is more a symptom of capitalism and under a socialist programme she would not need to degrade others to live a fulfilling life. Dignity should be afforded to all but we also understand that material conditions govern us.
We go after bigger issues than your aunt.
I would still consider this horizontal violence. That equity could be used to make the world a better place instead of extracting value from fellow workers to pay for their kids college and inheritance … and where the debts incurred buying 5 properties?
You’re right that they are good people, because no one sees themselves as the villain in their own story. That insurance CEOs wife isn’t lying when she says good things about him. Capitalism not only alienates you from your labour but also from your exploitation of others.
The sheer weight of human misery in your immediate surroundings is immeasurable and you never pay it any mind.
“Landlords provide housing like scalpers provide concert tickets.”
https://lifehacker.com/why-everyone-hates-landlords-now-1849100799
That said, I do think there need to be ways to rent housing rather than buy it, since many people need that flexibility. Looks like the answer to that might be community land trusts?
Or public housing
What a magnificent comparison!
I reckon if you’re doing the work involved in managing a rental property yourself, you’re doing work and providing a service.
If you expect an employee/contractor to do all that for you, but to still collect profits: what would you say you do here?
Why don’t you ask them?
I would say that if you live on site, in one of the units of the rental property, then no, you are not a parasite. So, live in one side of a duplex, or in one unit in a quadplex that you own, no problem. But, if you’re renting out a unit where you don’t live, you’re some degree of parasite, yes. Maybe you’re just an an annoying little gnat, rather than a 40’ intestinal worm, but yeah, you’re still a parasite.
There are other, less-parasitical methods of investing involving real estate. Your aunt could offer the propert(y|ies) for sale with a private mortgage, or under a “land contract” (a sort of rent-to-own arrangement). Because equity is transferring to the occupant, and the terms are fixed for the life of the agreement, this arrangement is mutually beneficial, rather than parasitical.
As bad as lenders are, lenders are far less parasitical than landlords.
It’s literally propaganda straight out of the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook, and useful idiots repeat it for them.
Be careful of joining in on overly-broad generalizations.
you are aware that the KMT who opposed the CCPs land grab also chose an anti-profit driven land distrubition model through the Equalization of Land Rights as well right. As mentioned before, KMT were Georgism focused, and all profit should go back to the community, and any profit the owner gets is meant to go back to the building or land for improvements, none for profit. There is an effective 100% tax on any profit of land trade.
Perhaps, but doesn’t the US history of hobos, homeless, company towns, and housing crisis mean…regardless of how you feel about the various flavors of socialism/communism, that the criticism is correct even if you don’t like the solution?
They mean everyone. It’s inconceivable that anyone would keep any wealth for themselves or their children. To .ml leftists your aunt is the same as T swift and there is no tasteful away to ever possibly have a better situation than they have.
But.
Fuckem :)
Bring me your downvotes.
Nobody needs to be a billionaire, but that’s a tax and government problem. Nobody needs to starve, see above. ALSO, stupid people and smart people exist, and sometimes it’s YOUR FAULT for being on the dumb end of the stick.
We mean all of them. Being a landlord is racketeering other people’s hard earned money for the human right of being housed, they’re all parasites that grabbed the housing market to a point nobody else can buy anything to actually live in.
if you have one for any longer than a year or two after moving from your rental property to your current home, yeah that’s parasitic. if you don’t need it sell it and give someone a chance to buy instead of rent.
Unless your aunt is transferring equity in those homes to the tenants based on the amount they pay in rent, then yes, she’s a leech. “Providing shelter” isn’t the service your aunt is providing; she’s just preventing someone else from owning a home.
And before anyone says “but renting is all some people can afford, they can’t save up enough to make a down payment” - yes, sure, that’s true. But that’s a symptom of the shitty housing market (really the shitty state of the middle class in general*), and landlords aren’t making it any better by hoarding property, even if it’s “just” 3 to 5 townhomes.
We arent a homogenous group, but ill tell you my personal opinion.
I trust you when you say your aunt is not bad, but what she is doing is bad (and i am sure she is unaware of it). Those 3 to 5 houses she bought are 3 to 5 houses that families cant buy. A few bad side effects:
- It lowers the housing stock in the area, so artifucial scarcity brings the prices up artificially.
- It seperates families from their communities. When your children grow up and have famailies ofbtheir own, they cant afford to stay in the community and are forced to leave
- The families that do stay and are forced to rent arent building any equity for their children. In effect, it stunts upward mobility.
There are people who do want to rent, and people whoneed to rent, but that should happen in priperly dense apartment building designed specifically for that. When houses meant for families are snatched up to profit off of, it is parasitic.
I get it, they are just trying to survive. They are playing the game that exists. Thats why i personally dont belive that most landlords like you are describing are bad people. I think the ultinate issue is that out elected officials do nothing about it. It should be illegal, or have tax implications that discourage the practice.
The only landlords I see that add any positive value to the world are those who run and maintain apartment complexes. If you own multiple single family homes to rent them out or hoard parcels of land just to try and sell for a higher price: you’re a parasite.
What about condos? Is there something that prevents converting all apartment buildings and having owner-occupants instead of tenants?
Alternatively, those apartment complexes could be cooperatively owned, cutting out the landlord without any loss.
big facts, also if you live in a densely populated area there may be one of these cooperative communities near you! you could in fact be the change you want to see in the world 💃
There are parasites and there are big parasites. Being a land lord is inherently parasitic to a certain extent. And we were ourselves landlords for a while. When a job took us out of state, we didn’t want to leave where we were so we rented out our house for under market rate until we returned. In my opinion, we were still being parasites to a limited extent.
My dad was a ‘landlord’ renting out the other three rooms of the house to people. He kept the rent a few hundred bwlow the market because all the rent money was icing on his cake, and he knew housing was hard to come by. Most renters liked him, but he was a poor judge of character and would often give the room to the first person that showed up, leading to drama, but mostly a good experience.
