[arwineap]

> But the vast majority of such people's financial outcome is actually from being a landlord, that is doing literally nothing except holding a piece of paper granting them monopoly on a plot of land

This is how I know that you've never tried to run houses. If you hire out a property manager and all of your maintenance you are not making money.

I have to be an electrician, a plumber, a painter, a drywaller, an engineer, a salesman, a delivery driver, a businessman, an appliance repairman and a lawyer. And that's to make a measly 8% on my money.

> There is literally nothing to be produced! The land is there regardless!

No one rents bare land. They are renting a depreciating asset that you have to upkeep.

Yea yea yea, Henry George says that the value is provided by the citizens around your property. I call bullshit. The value is the shelter, the heat, the comfort. That's what people need.

[smallmancontrov]

Shelter, heat, and comfort? No: Location, location, location.

A crack shack with a busted roof and broken utilities in a good location sells for the same price as a pristine, functional mansion in the middle of nowhere.

[estearum]

No I do "run houses." I bought a house, rented it out, paid a bit for maintenance throughout, covered the entire mortgage the entire time, then sold it for 50% highly levered capital gain in ~4 years.

It's not because I'm an awesome landlord or property manager. I did the bare minimum. It's because the location appreciated thanks to the community surrounding the house, which is the driving force of the vast majority of gains in real estate.

Landlords complaining is honestly some of the funniest stuff on the Internet. I really appreciate the lols.

[arwineap]

You were lucky to not have to deal with vacancies, non payments, turnover, rehabs, or capex. I don't think your experience is the common, and it certainly won't scale like that.

One tenant losing their job, getting some sort of medical issue, or even a poorly trained pet can reverse 2 years of profit. These happen all the time.

Personally, the keyboard jockeys talking about how easy contractors have it is hilarious, so I guess we both get a laugh today

[estearum]

If you buy in an area with appreciating land values (i.e. most of them, given the dynamics of land and population), then you have to be a dummy to lose money owning land.

[ligne]

"And that's to make a measly 8% on my money."

Amazing how many people insist on being landlords despite it apparently being a life of sawdust and sackcloth.

[estearum]

Seriously. These posts are always like: "bro I had to text plumbers and then pay them to fix problems. I had to like... work... like 4 days a month... texting plumbers."

[arwineap]

That's just not how it works. If I was to call a plumber and a sheetwaller, and a painter, I would be paying $6-12k for a leak. This kills any idea of profit for this year.

What really happens is that I put on my big boy pants, I talk to the tenant, I visit the unit, I crawl under the house, I cut out the drywall, I remove and patch the plumbing, I replace the drywall, I mud the wall, and I paint the wall.

I could have it the way you suggest, pay 10% to some property manager and 1500-3000 for any call to any contractor but that means... I'd have to raise the rent, and not by a small amount.

At the end of the day I'm a housing provider, so I'd like to keep rents and vacancies low. This seems to be what tenants want too.

So yes, I'm doing the best I can, but no, my work is not encompassed by a phone call

[ligne]

I'm not sure how you choosing to personally save money by DIYing rather than paying a professional counts as adding value for anyone but yourself, but okay.