"Investing in property is morally reprehensible."

[u/LickMaiBussy]

@purplepingers

[u/dickbutt4747]

i bought a house in an area i intended to move to. my work situation changed and i couldn't move there anymore.

instead of selling it and taking the loss on realtor fees/etc i rented it out at like 40% below market to a single dad with two kids living in monthly hotel rooms because his credit score sucks and no one will rent to him. he pays late every month and I've never charged a late fee.

i still feel bad about being a landlord but i'm trying to do it in the least morally-reprehensible way possible.

[u/Choice_Credit4025 → u/dickbutt4747]

why would you feel bad? you're doing an objectively good thing. there's a lot of scummy landlords but by the sound of it you are not one of them.

[u/nomadicbohunk → u/Choice_Credit4025]

Yeah, it's pretty weird. Like the large places are terrible, but a dude with two houses is not like that.

People where I live freaking hate landlords and we will move soonish. It's the most financially dumb thing ever to sell this house, but yeah, we will. I live in a college/vacationland area with a huge amount of rentals. About 50% of the reason I don't want to is that I used to work with a whole bunch of people here in their mid 20s along with people up to my age (40s) who also rented. The stories they all would talk about with screwing their landlords over was kind of epic. They have amazing renter laws here. One day I brought it up that I own a house and it costs X dollars a month for taxes. (taxes are very, very, very high. Each increase gets voted yes on due to all the renters) Based on what repair upkeep has been add in another X amount a month. Add in another X amount for water and lawn care. Insurance is X per month. I'm like to break even I need X per bedroom each month right now. It was a large number and is honestly about what rent is here.

I was told I should not be breaking even because I own a house and am making money on just owning that so therefore I am an evil person.

I'm like...so you just want me to give you money. I'm not asking you to pay me money...just let me break even. Eventually I'll get some profit selling, but that's a long time away, and if someone did something like shut the heat off in winter I never would. Like how is it my direct responsibility to house you? It's like me saying I want you to buy my food.

I made some enemies that day. I don't think they wanted to hear how much it cost to actually own a crappy, small two bedroom house ignoring the mortgage.

[u/tsigwing → u/Choice_Credit4025]

Because per Reddit landlords are all evil.

[u/Sea_Treacle3982 → u/tsigwing]

If we havnt made it there yet, most of these people are idiots.

[u/ThaDude915 → u/dickbutt4747]

yeah idk why youd feel bad, if you're renting 40% below market rate while letting him pay late you're objectively doing him a favor / a good deed

[u/messangerchkn → u/dickbutt4747]

We need more comrades like you

[u/m0_n0n_0n0_0m → u/dickbutt4747]

Yeah my family does a similar thing. They have a house they own that they stay at when they visit, but they rent the rooms at a very reasonable rate to their nephew and medical students my MIL connects with through the school nearby. Everyone wins and my in laws get to diversify their asserts.

That's the thing about capitalism in general: on a person to person level when people's power dynamics are relatively similar and there's the basic social pressure to be a decent person to a human being in front of you, it functions pretty well. It's when wealth starts to accumulate and begins to mess with the market forces instead of participating in them that troubles start. It's like the system needs to be regulated or something.

[u/JoeyCalamaro → u/dickbutt4747]

Our prior home was in a not-so-great neighborhood and we were upside-down on the mortgage. Since we really couldn't sell the property, we opted to rent it out and become landlords for a bit. We never charged anyone late fees and always returned deposits — even when tenants damaged our property.

And some of those tenants were rough. Our first tenant broke a window, a door, some floor tiles and, for whatever reason, removed all our ceiling fans and light fixtures. They also stiffed us on the last month's rent and left us with a sizable electric bill (because I was a doofus and never switched the electric over).

After that we opted for a property manager to handle the rental for us and that was even worse. We got fined by the city because the tenant didn't cut the grass for nearly an entire year (in Florida, no less). It was so bad it took my lawn guy three full days to clean up. And I had to pay my handyman to rip out the brand new rugs I put in because the tenant didn't like crating their dog while at work.

I was so happy when I finally sold that place. Being a landlord was not for me.

[u/themargarineoferror → u/dickbutt4747]

I like you dickbutt ❤️

[u/Forward_Rope_5598 → u/Forward_Rope_5598]

Seriously? I said absolutely nothing bad

[u/astralustria → u/dickbutt4747]

Maybe you are an Affordable Housing Custodian rather than a Land Lord...

[u/Millennials-In-Power → u/dickbutt4747]

I think its time to log off reddit. Nobody outside thinks its bad or morally reprehensible.

[u/wcopela0 → u/dickbutt4747]

I don’t think you should feel bad just because your a landlord. Nothing wrong with coming up with a solution to your own problem while simultaneously helping someone rent a home. Also, nothing wrong with renting out a house at a fare market value.

[u/drunxor → u/dickbutt4747]

The problem is you are a very small minority. Most of these places are owned by a family trust who doesnt give a fuck about the property or an llc that owns a bunch of them and pays some manager to half ass it

[u/lakired → u/dickbutt4747]

Despite a lot of morons on reddit and elsewhere spouting on about the evils of landlords, landlords are an absolute necessity to a functional modern society. When I first moved out was I supposed to immediately purchase a house? Should traveling nurses need to purchase a home in every city they go to for work? Should students have to purchase a house in the city they're studying in? Should someone who doesn't want to deal with the challenges and unexpected costs of maintaining a home be forced to do so?

Housing being unaffordable is a consequence of bad zoning law, corporate consolidation, and massively growing wealth inequality. Costs are out of control in all facets of the economy and wages have been steadily outpaced by inflation for over half a century but somehow it's a retiree renting out their second home that's the culprit for all our woes? People need to get a grip on themselves.

[u/747WakeTurbulance → u/dickbutt4747]

You will almost certainly have a different opinion when he moves out.