Totally get this response, but even in the large ramble I gave above it’s hard to share all the details. I do have a job and that pays for all my living expenses including my portion of the mortgage. I have a seperate bank account for any money that I’ve ever gotten in rent, and that money only is ever used for property maintenance, improvements, and paying the mortgage. That account is still at the same amount I put in there when I opened it when I bought the house - not a dollar in rent has been spent on myself. I have not paid myself a dime for the hundreds if not thousands of hours of property maintenance work I’ve done over the years.
I’ve discussed with all my renters if they’d be interested in buying the home, but none are. None are at a stage in life where they are committed to living long term in the area.
Only recently have I moved out - I needed a larger place now that I’m married and have a kid. Since none of the renters are interested in buying, if I wanted to sell, the buyers would almost certainly be larger landlords or corporations and I’m not looking to sell to them. So I’m caught in a catch-22 of not loving the system, but playing the game is a net positive specifically for my renters who I have a great relationship with.
The property maintenance the landlord did is actual labor. This doesn’t imply 2K/mo or any more than what it would cost to pay someone to maintain the property is justified.
I’m just trying to illustrate there’s a difference between the income the landlord steals as a landlord and the income they may earn from labor. Same exists with many petite bourgeoisie small business owners who do some amount of labor, but also exploit the labor of others.
One month ago my landlord offered me a deal, and it is a good deal, to buy this place for $67k. If I’d got a loan when I moved in here I would easily own it and have plenty money to spare if that was the price back then.
This house has 17 steps to go from the front door to the one car driveway. Underneath is a fucking cave. I tried to make a workshop out of it but it’s sad and has no ventilation. Hell the main house has no ventilation. The fucking structure is held up by concrete blocks, unglued, unsealed, at places shimmed with pieces of wood and bricks. The foundation is about to slip off the hill.
That’s just a story. You may not be very different from me but I’ve had some incredibly shitty landlords. I’ve lived in a cockroach and bedbug infested shithole. I’ve lived in terrible places but that one takes the cake. They were taking half my income to live in that place.
I know you mean well but please don’t defend landlords. If anyone owns more than one home they need to be taxed to the extreme.
Get a job!
Totally get this response, but even in the large ramble I gave above it’s hard to share all the details. I do have a job and that pays for all my living expenses including my portion of the mortgage. I have a seperate bank account for any money that I’ve ever gotten in rent, and that money only is ever used for property maintenance, improvements, and paying the mortgage. That account is still at the same amount I put in there when I opened it when I bought the house - not a dollar in rent has been spent on myself. I have not paid myself a dime for the hundreds if not thousands of hours of property maintenance work I’ve done over the years.
I’ve discussed with all my renters if they’d be interested in buying the home, but none are. None are at a stage in life where they are committed to living long term in the area.
Only recently have I moved out - I needed a larger place now that I’m married and have a kid. Since none of the renters are interested in buying, if I wanted to sell, the buyers would almost certainly be larger landlords or corporations and I’m not looking to sell to them. So I’m caught in a catch-22 of not loving the system, but playing the game is a net positive specifically for my renters who I have a great relationship with.
You explained everything well, some people just hate landlords no matter what and you can’t reason with them
Property maintenance is a job. Landlord is not.
Some landlords do property maintenance in addition to being a landlord.
So they repair their own dwellings, of which they own more than one, just like a regular homeowner? We don’t call that a job.
Do you ever pay someone to repair your dwelling?
Nah, I got a landlord that sucks so much money from me that he’s nice enough to do it for free!
The property maintenance the landlord did is actual labor. This doesn’t imply 2K/mo or any more than what it would cost to pay someone to maintain the property is justified.
I’m just trying to illustrate there’s a difference between the income the landlord steals as a landlord and the income they may earn from labor. Same exists with many petite bourgeoisie small business owners who do some amount of labor, but also exploit the labor of others.
One month ago my landlord offered me a deal, and it is a good deal, to buy this place for $67k. If I’d got a loan when I moved in here I would easily own it and have plenty money to spare if that was the price back then.
This house has 17 steps to go from the front door to the one car driveway. Underneath is a fucking cave. I tried to make a workshop out of it but it’s sad and has no ventilation. Hell the main house has no ventilation. The fucking structure is held up by concrete blocks, unglued, unsealed, at places shimmed with pieces of wood and bricks. The foundation is about to slip off the hill.
That’s just a story. You may not be very different from me but I’ve had some incredibly shitty landlords. I’ve lived in a cockroach and bedbug infested shithole. I’ve lived in terrible places but that one takes the cake. They were taking half my income to live in that place.
I know you mean well but please don’t defend landlords. If anyone owns more than one home they need to be taxed to the extreme.
Nothing I said is a defense of landlords.