Does having an AirBNB setup make someone deserving of the guillotine or does that only apply to owners of multiple houses? What about apartments?

Please explain your reasoning as well.

  • even if I disagree with the fact that he’s renting at all

    Why do you disagree with this, out of curiosity? Having rental properties available is necessary. Not everyone can buy a home (not even taking the monetary reasons into account - think students, people on temporary work assignments, people who are in the country on a non-permanent visa, etc. - there’s plenty of reasons why someone might want to rent even if they had the money to buy.) If your grandpa is taking care of the property and his tenants, and is charging a reasonable price, what’s the problem?

    Charging someone enough to pay the mortgage and give you a paycheck is well… I mean it’s demanding more money than what the property is worth from someone.

    If the owner is on top of maintenance and home improvements and all that, and the difference between the mortgage and what they’re charging isn’t extreme, I’d argue that this isn’t necessarily true. If the mortgage is $1000/mo and someone is charging $3000/mo in rent, that’s excessive, but charging $1300 rent on a property with a $1000/mo mortgage isn’t unreasonable. Again, see the above reasons for why someone might choose to rent who had the means to buy.

    It’s OK to expect a return on an investment, even if that investment is property. It’s not OK to take advantage of artificial scarcity to bleed people dry who have no other option, and to cut every corner that it’s possible to cut while doing so. That’s the distinction.

    • I take issue with the entire concept of renting, from the very core. A landlord is a middle-man between the person living in a building, and ownership of said building. The landlord having to to the maintenance doesn’t make living in a rental a better experience, it just means more dealing with a middle man any time you need something fixed. It would be pretty nice if I could just call a plumber when my toilet has issues instead of hoping that the leasing office actually sends a repair-man this time. It’s not fun having to pick up mail at the post office for ten months because the leasing office and the post office are arguing back and forth over who’s responsible for fixing the apartment mailboxes after they were vandalized. Rentals will charge you money every month for a pool you don’t want or use even though it’s closed 9 months of the year. All renting has ever meant for me, has been a complete lack of control of what I’m allowed to do in my living space, and a constant fear of eviction should something go wrong, and landlords that do everything they can to never repair anything, or maintain the property at all. But onto the individuals that rent out a house or two, they still aren’t adding value to living in a rental. All they do is sit in the middle and collect that extra cash on top. It’s not that they’re not doing any work at all, but being a landlord is not a job, and it’s not doing the people living in that space any favors. People can’t afford to buy because companies like blackrock are buying up all the property to make rentals, and upcharging all of the property. I’m not saying, either, that there shouldn’t be options for temporary living, but our current rental model is so very clearly not it. Do you have any idea how much it costs to rent month buy month? My 700 square foot apartment is over $3,000 on that plan.