As a tenant in one property in Boston who receives no help from his parents, I deeply resent the ease with which you attained wealth by just renting out ever-rising Bostonian housing.
Curious how you know it was easy? A colleague of mine is a landlord and it seems externally to be a huge pain. Definitely put me off of trying to do the same.
In my condo building a lot of people who have moved out (out of town, out of state) they keep renting their places out with the help of a local realtor/manager that takes a cut and is supposed to deal with stuff. They don't really, and the volunteer condo board ends up dealing with a lot of the loose ends.
Based on the how much rent is in Boston are, there is a strong , strong, strong incentive to rent out. I could make about 3x my mortgage/fees by renting my place in cambridge which I bought early part of this century (of course where would I live...).
Since we have about 50% owner occupied, and the tenants are paying a lot, so they expect a lot.
Its becoming a city for rich people and students. I can understand the resentment. I think it hurts the region.
As acomjean noted, if you can make 3x your mortgage/fees as a rentier, and the rents rise every single year, you're being easily buoyed upward by the market.
Renting out properties is a huge hassle. My family spent a lot of time in real estate and I got to hear the headaches (which is why I didn't follow in their footsteps). Frankly, I'm pretty sure you're just being bitter and aren't helping the conversation.
Property maintenance doesn't seem to add much value, nor take much time. This is why many real estate owners just pay property managers (who manage several locations) to address the occasional maintenance and repairs to be done.
Most of the value is directly related to the limited supply. San Francisco and the Bay Area is a perfect example, where ancient dilapidated rooms are rented out for prices more than quadruple that of other cities.
Translation: "It's not fair that you own property and I don't, and that I have to pay market rates. I want the government to force you to make me pay less, or seize more of what you earn."
My rebuttal: Buy your own property if you don't like it, or move some place else.
You just made up a strawman and argued against it. It doesn't do anyone any good to imagine the dumbest reason someone might hold a particular opinion. If you must extrapolate someone's motivations, then try to come up with the most rational reason they might feel that way. It's still extrapolating, but will likely be much closer to the truth.
Sage advice in general, but I haven't generally found many solid arguments from people who hate on property owners who choose to rent their property out in order that others may have a place to live without the financial and time commitments associated with property ownership.
Simply increasing the supply and reducing zoning restrictions and red tape would be sufficient to appease prospective home owners and reluctant renters.