> Everyone under the age of 40 has their landlord horror story.
I don't.
Maybe low-quality landlording is just one of the forms that high housing prices takes, and so isn't as much of an issue in places that don't obstruct or disincentivise new home construction as badly?
Neither do I. I have officially rented houses/flats/rooms on four separate occasions in major metropolitan areas in two different countries, and I have no landlord horror stories.
That's not to say I deny there is a problem though. I just think I have been somewhat lucky to enjoy landlords who were decent people who didn't need the currently lacking regulations and incentives to do a good job.
I've lived in booming cities that experience 10% annual growth in the real-estate market for 15 years straight - those places went from livable to way too expensive in that short period of time.
The RE investors, or rather - landlords - all know that it's not the rent that made them money, it was the annual growth. The rent was just there to cover any expenses tied up to the properties. Lots of shitty "landlords" emerged as the market got hotter. Everyone and their mother wanted to get in on the action.
These people had/have zero intentions in providing a good service to their tenants. I went to school with some guys that had built up $10M-$15M RE portfolios in as little as 5-10 years. It's all about cutting costs to the extreme, so that you can pump the saved money into buying more properties.
4 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 19.1 ms ] threadI don't.
Maybe low-quality landlording is just one of the forms that high housing prices takes, and so isn't as much of an issue in places that don't obstruct or disincentivise new home construction as badly?
That's not to say I deny there is a problem though. I just think I have been somewhat lucky to enjoy landlords who were decent people who didn't need the currently lacking regulations and incentives to do a good job.
The RE investors, or rather - landlords - all know that it's not the rent that made them money, it was the annual growth. The rent was just there to cover any expenses tied up to the properties. Lots of shitty "landlords" emerged as the market got hotter. Everyone and their mother wanted to get in on the action.
These people had/have zero intentions in providing a good service to their tenants. I went to school with some guys that had built up $10M-$15M RE portfolios in as little as 5-10 years. It's all about cutting costs to the extreme, so that you can pump the saved money into buying more properties.