A Boring Dystopia

Lmfao, thanks for bringing all of the parasites and their icky little defenders out of their holes so they can get blocked.. 😂

I just got charged a $50 fee on a 7$ bill. The apartment had been empty and I wanted to move in on the 1st. Told me they couldn't because they already had two people moving in that day and they can't do more than that as per policy. Ugg fine I was driving all the way across country and was on limited time. Setup all my bills but couldn't start them on the 29th because the bills were still in someone else's name...fine the 1st then. Two months later the apartment sends me a 57$ bill because....:( rent is twice my house mortgage I just sold :( there is a 150$ mandatory fee for amenaties....how this isn't considered part of rent is beyond me...it's not good out here...

How has no comment in this thread yet mentioned Georgism or Land Value Tax? That is the solution to Landlordism

I rented for many years before I felt ready to buy. When I was younger I didn't want to be tied to a mortgage, even if the bank would have given me one.

I was lucky enough to have a very reasonable landlord who always got things fixed and painted when needed and charged a very reasonable rent (and in turn I tried to be a good tenant and take good care of the property) One day he told me he would like to sell the house and I decided to buy it. Even gave me a very good deal compared to the maximum market value he could have gotten (which of course also saved us both money in agents etc.)

All that to say (and yes it is very anecdotal), good landlords exist and I was very happy with mine.

I’m seeing a lot of these memes lately.. is this a particular type of landlord or all landlords? Just want to make sure as reasonable people that we should at least do our part to logically assume that some money is required to the maintenance of upholding the structure you’re renting. I’m sure we can agree that there is labour on working on maintenance and those workers also deserve a living wage.

This post is insane. Sometimes I feel like Lemmy is an echo chamber for the maniacal. I rented for nearly 10 years of my life because I didn't want to own a place and be tied down. Not everyone wants to be a homeowner. Once I got to the point that I wanted a home I bought one... And guess what, I save money every month on my mortgage versus renting. Renting is a convenience, home ownership is not dead... People buy up the houses near me faster than they can build them.

My only argument here is that rentals should exist. There should be some places that you can rent. I'm thinking the kind of rentals that are high-rise, high density type situations.

There will always be people who need short term housing, which will be longer term than what a hotel/motel will allow for without robbing you blind. Students are a prime example, being able to have students, who don't live near the educational institution, having affordable, temporary housing near the institution, is helpful. They're not staying, so rentals should be available for them.

And yes, dorms are a thing. But often dorms do not have the capacity for the number of students that need temporary housing.

There's also people who are transitioning from one living situation to another, people who maybe lost their home in a fire. Those people need a place they can stay for the year or so that they can work out the details of rebuilding their home.

People moving into an area for contract work are another example. Your contact says one year, so rather than put down a large sum of money to buy a home in the area for the duration of the contract, just rent for a year and you can decide what to do next depending on how your employment situation evolves.

Rentals have a purpose in society.

The issue isn't having rentals, the issue is that landlords and society at large has normalized being a lifelong tenant, and rentals being "investment properties". Turning the whole thing from being a convenience for transient workers and students, into a way of life for many.

The popularization of not owning the property you live in, long term, has fueled the greed of companies to turn it into a profit making enterprise. And now shit landlord wannabe people with more money than sense keep buying up properties as investments and renting them out at significant markup. This is robbing opportunity from would-be legitimate home buyers to actually own a home. It artificially inflates the value of those homes and now we're seeing the results of that trend. Home prices are sky high, basically only obtainable by people with significant funding already (those who "won" the birth lotto), and those who are seeking to profit from the property.

The only way I was able to buy a home was by pooling money with my brother, his wife and my SO, and putting a large percentage of inheritance towards the down payment when my father died. Pretty much all of our savings and all of the inheritance money went towards buying and doing some basic repairs to the home. Not everyone is so lucky. My father had quite the nestegg at the end of his life and all of that value was dumped into this building.

Even with a good amount put as a down payment, the mortgage is still the more than the cost of four single bedroom rentals.... At least it was when we moved in. I'm sure rentals have increased in cost and the numbers have changed.

We don't rent any part of this home to anyone else. We have no interest in becoming landlords.

With all that said, rentals are still important for transient living situations, but the extent that they've started to dominate the market as basically the only option for lower income people (and even then, it's still quite expensive for them) is, in and of itself, a problem. The housing market is set to collapse yet again, as process rise to the point where nobody can afford a roof over their head without help. It's only getting worse. I'm glad I bought a house when I did, I'm sad that I didn't do it sooner, and I'm angry that it's only getting worse. I don't want anyone to be in a situation where they have to choose between eating, or having a place to live. It's getting to that point and I'm hopping mad about it. I've made my bed by paying what I did for this house, it doesn't mean that anyone else should have to pay the same amount. If someone bought an identical house for themselves tomorrow at half the cost, I wouldn't be angry. I would be happy that the market has cooled off. It won't happen, but I would appreciate hearing that.

Things have been allowed to progress towards consolidation of assets to a small group of individuals in all aspects of our lives for too long. Something must be done.