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?
Making money from merely owning things that others need and have to pay you to use as they can’t get them otherwise (because you and people like you took them first) - something know in Economics as rent seeking, though it doesn’t apply only to housing - is pure parasitism because that person is producing no value whatsoever, merely extorting money from others because they removed free access to a resource from them.
I’m not disagreeing with you but I’m curious on how the housing would be freely accessible if the landlord hadn’t bought it… are you saying the renter would have otherwise purchased their home?
Market rates would be a lot lower if people weren’t allowed to speculate on housing.
They would but do you believe they’ll be low enough that a bank would be prepared to take the on the risk of loaning the money to basically everyone?
I mean what was the 90’s?
In the UK? I don’t recall everyone suddenly having affordable mortgages
Yes that’s exactly what was happening
I’m not convinced, at least in the UK it’s been a very very long time since mortgages were accessible to the average salary.
I’m not saying there isn’t a problem but I’m not sure this would solve the problem right now. In the UK something like 70% of housing is mortgaged or owned (by the occupier)… most renters say the biggest barrier to getting a home is not the mortgage affordability it’s saving for the deposit. Indeed when I bought my first home 20+ years ago I needed my parents help on that front. Where do people live between leaving education and saving up for that deposit, whatever size it is?