Yeah they’re all parasites unless I’m demanding they fix something then I need them and life sucks unless they do a bunch of work.
People love to trash landlords for not working 24/7 the same way they trash teachers for having summers off, but when it rains it pours for landlords and problems always come at the worst time.
There are good landlords and there are bad landlords. Just like tenants.
The difference here is teachers provide a valuable service, and landlords do not. I don’t care how good the good ones are, their entire job is “had enough money some years ago to buy a building, and now lives off other people’s income”.
In all my years renting from individuals to big property management companies, good and bad alike, never was it easy to get things fixed which is apparently the only advantage to renting. Days/weeks/months go by, all the while I’m dumping money into their pockets for the privilege.
At least when owning, the money I have to spend on my mortgage and repairs is going toward the value of my house, and not the ethereal void that is a landlord.
Landlords do provide a service. You said it yourself, they handle building maintenance. Are they generally lazy and overcharging, also yes
Even if a particular landlord is a decent person otherwise, landlording is wrong. It is the hoarding of essential resources to for the purposes of being released for profit. If landlording was restricted to renting vacation houses (in appropriate areas) or something it might be OK.
The advantages of a rental (not worrying directly about maintenance, just paying someone to take care of it) can be had with a property management company.
Being a nonprofit landlord is also ok, imo. If you’re just charging enough to pay the mortgage, taxes, insurance, upkeep, etc. then you’re using your equity or credit score to help another person have a place to live when they wouldn’t otherwise be able to qualify for a loan. If I’m ever in a position to be a landlord, I’ll probably do it that way; and by the time you pay the equivalent of the cost of the home in rent if you want to own the place, I’ll sign it over to you. Kind of a rent-to-own thing.
