• Comment105@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      38
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s an option that is actively being removed by massive firms. Empty houses are common, but available houses are few and affordable available houses are very rare.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      30
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Can’t. Rich assholes and massive firms are buying them at insane prices so they can rent them out at double what a mortgage would cost. And that drives more people to apartments which drives their prices up.

      There’s a housing shortage in my area, and 30 percent of houses are empty. But if you jack up the rent enough, you make more money off those that can pay the ransom than you would by lowering the rent to get all units rented. It’s an artificial scarcity created by landlords.

      I work in municipal development and literally every single-family project that’s approached the city in the last 18 months is for rental only, because they figured out that mortgages don’t go up and eventually end, so why sell the houses at all?

    • Jeanschyso@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      If he does his job well, he can get the money. Deal?

      This means being responsive and responsible when issues happen with water, heating, electricity, mold and vermin. It means making sure that if they repaint an appartment, they don’t just set a bomb in there to splatter the place. Actually remove the cupboard doors before painting. It means not painting over electric outlets.

      It also means not cutting the water for three days a month, replacing the toilet when it breaks, not a week later. It means maintenance on the building’s laundry room. Clean shared spaces. Secure entrance that actually locks, and actually unlocks.

      Those are only some of the issues I had when renting. It is demeaning to be treated like that, and then be asked for money.

      • Skelectrician@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        I realized very early on that renting is incredibly expensive and that getting my own place was the most important step to having any sort of financial security. Even if it was a shithole, it was my shithole for storing my equity. I hear these stories of people who rent the same place for 20-30 years and end up paying fivefold what it would have cost them to live in a much nicer place with no cunt landlord to pay fealty to.

        Obviously, if you’re paying for a service and not getting it, you have a right to complain. If your landlord provides reliable shelter for an agreed upon price, I don’t think it’s fair to consider them the scum of the earth. People have a right to own property and do what they see fit with it.

        • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          This is all true, and anybody who disagrees with this basic stuff needs to grow up.

      • sheogorath@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yep, I basically got a very cheap rate from my landlord because he’s currently living thousands of miles away so he doesn’t really know the market rate for my area and he basically just told me just send him the invoice for any upkeep that I need to reduce my rent based on that.

        If more landlords are like him, people’s sentiment on landlords would be better.

    • gmtom@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      You’re a troll right? Because I refuse to belive anyone could genuinely be this clueless.

      • Skelectrician@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        You make use of someone’s services, you pay for it. If you hate landlords, don’t indebt yourself to landlords. I started off with nothing, now I’m a homeowner.

        If I’m so fucking clueless, how come I have a mortgage and you don’t?

        • elephantium@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Where did you live before you bought your house?

          Is that approach available to 40-something single parents working at McDonald’s?

          • Skelectrician@lemmynsfw.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I lived in a basement suite, followed by a dump of an old house, before I found a slightly less dumpy old house to purchase in a rural area that most city folk would absolutely hate. This was all before the age of 20. Sold my old house about 7 or 8 years later to a younger man who had a very similar starting plan.

            Now I have a 5 bedroom house on two acres. It’s not in some heavily populated area, it’s out in the country and it’s affordable.

            Anyway, if you’re a single parent over 40 working at McDonald’s, you’ve made far too many bad decisions in life for me to be of any help.

            • elephantium@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              How did you buy the basement suite? Or did you rent it? Almost nobody graduates high school with enough cash to buy a house, so…

              far too many bad decisions

              Hard disagree. I work as a programmer which pays well enough to be comfortable. The work doesn’t suit everyone, and even if it did, we need people doing other things than programming for the world to work! That includes fast food, retail, etc. The cliche is teenagers and college kids, but in fact over half of people making minimum wage are older.

              That includes a lot of single parents – spouse left, now they have to scramble for income even before child support kicks in. They’re not all just jackasses you can dismiss with “bah, they made their bed”.

              My problem with your advice to “just buy a house” is that it’s not actionable for at least half the population.