Comment by nerdponx
2 days ago
The actual value of landlording is offloading financial risk. The tenant pays a stable rent including a premium in exchange for maintenance, repairs, and not having to sell a home in order to move to a new one.
I just can't bring myself to agree with the hard-line socialists who think landlording is fundamentally a bad thing. There are a lot of problems with it, but it does have a legitimate place in the world.
I don’t think it’s fundamentally a bad thing. It has its place. But it’s an industry that’s easily exploited - I rented over a dozen places and like 80% would try to do things that the tenant handbook would not allow. I sued one of them, and settled out of court for another. And surprise surprise a lot of them don’t want to rent in areas that are pro-tenant rights.
Right, it's entirely possible that landlording in practice has so many opportunities for abuse that it's irredeemable despite its potential for benefit in certain cases. I don't know if I agree with that, but at least it's more intelligent than "Marx says landlords bad therefore landlords bad."