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?
The only exceptions I can think of are people renting out the other side of their two family house, people living outside their country for a few years, or farmers renting out houses that were already in their property.
None of these started as investments, but rather unique circumstances. I have some queer friends who are moving out of the country for a few years because of Trump, but don’t want to commit to immigration quite yet.
Encourage your friends to commit to leaving if they have the means to do so. Within your friends’ lifetimes, the USA will never get better than it is right now (and overall it’s unprecedentedly bad right now).
To OP’s question: I don’t really consider their aunt’s ownership of a few houses to be a practical problem, and she is generally not who I am referring to when I say that landlords are terrible parasites, unless she overcharges (and no, I don’t mean above market rate) or treat the tenants with disrespect. She was told her whole life that investing in real estate is a smart thing to do and provides financial security.
The problem is with lack of regulations, such as how many buildings someone is allowed to own, corporate ownership, rent prices…things like that.
My friends don’t need encouragement and are grown adults. I don’t tell other people how to live.
Even if they don’t end up coming back, having a bit of passive income from renting out their house will help the with the move.
Edit: when I said they don’t need encouragement, I meant that they’re already fully committed to leaving. Not that I’m disagreeing with their actions.