General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: America without Landlords: A more in-depth discussion. [View all]lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Renting may be exploitive and inhumane, but it's less inhumane than wholesale homelessness.
The argument goes something like this:
q) why should only landlords get the benefit of the capital investment?
a) because they invested the capital.
q) that's not fair! Everyone should share the benefit! Outlaw rent and make tenants owners.
a) okay, but how can the tenants afford it?
q) if you can't demand rent, property values drop to the point would-be tenants could afford to buy.
a) in what way does that help all these new mandated buyers "get the benefit of capital investment"? Besides, most tenants can afford to buy at only the price they paid to rent. I would dislike being stuck in an apartment err... condominium in which every unit sold for less than $1000 and in which no one has any significant financial interest in preserving and maintaining.
But those "owners" would have you to thank for their predicament when it's time to move to the next town. The only reason a person would buy my unit is because every other condo in town is in a similar shape, and no one is building new ones.