Shiv
Radical Graffiti"Sex work is real work, being a landlord isn't"
Seen in Porto, Portugal
Seen in Porto, Portugal
jefg@RadicalGraffiti Being a landlord requires having capital and tying it up in a property or going into debt to buy a property. It requires risking the property value decreasing and losing money. It requires finding tenants and upkeep or hiring a property management company that eats into revenue. If it's free money then why doesn't everyone do it?
Aaron@jefg @RadicalGraffiti Just because it requires debt and risk and expenses doesn't make it virtuous, nor does it make it work. And having some work occasionally mixed in doesn't make the whole thing work. Also, nobody but you said anything about free money.
frigginGlorious ✅@hosford42 @jefg @RadicalGraffiti what would make it virtuous?
I've been trying to figure out a virtuous lifestyle for a minute, ankinda fucked. fucked.
Its a serious question tho!
@frigginglorious @jefg @RadicalGraffiti Anything that isn't parasitic or harmful to your fellow human beings, is a virtuous way to live.
@hosford42 @jefg @RadicalGraffiti
I'm not mad at your definition.
I used to get behind the whole "Landlords are just rent-seekers thing". For the most part its true.
But since I bought a house with my wife, I realized that she is... not inclined to upkeeping of a property.
She is able bodied and potentially capable, but she isn't going to get onto a roof and clean gutters, or set mouse traps to keep the place pest free.
Without me, It'd be unreasonably expensive to contract for everything.
@hosford42 @jefg @RadicalGraffiti
So I'd draw the "Virtuous" line there with landlords. If a landlord personally does upkeeping on a property they own, I'll respect that.
@frigginglorious @jefg @RadicalGraffiti Makes sense. But then what you're really paying for is the ongoing service, not the use of the property. And I don't see why that would be any less expensive than paying a contractor for the service and owning the house yourself.
@hosford42 @frigginglorious @RadicalGraffiti The renter pays for the capital expense too. If the property is paid off, the money used to buy the property that someone is renting could have been put in the market or used to found a company or buy bonds or many other things. The owner expects appreciation on that capital. If the property is financed, the property owner is paying a bank interest for financing and passes that on to the renter.
If it were cheaper to buy, wouldn't the renter buy?
@jefg @frigginglorious @RadicalGraffiti It's not cheaper to buy because there are people buying up properties so they can use them to extract rent out of people.
@hosford42 @frigginglorious @RadicalGraffiti No person or company owns even a moderate % of properties for sale or to rent. There is a property shortage driving up prices. The best way to stick it to the private equity companies and foreign elite parking their money in property while making housing more affordable is to build more of it. Hard to do in many cities but possible with rezoning, landfill in the sea, and better and faster trains from surrounding areas, expanding the commutable area.
"40.7 million or 34.6% of occupied housing units are renter-occupied."
If over 1/3 of available housing is owned by landlords, that's plenty to drive up the price and keep folks from purchasing directly.
Doesn't invalidate your other point, though, that we also need more housing available in the first place.
lucas 🎺@RadicalGraffiti landlord has a better chance to screw you
Wandering Hermit@RadicalGraffiti
So when your water heater starts leaking in the middle of the night, call your sex worker.
So when your water heater starts leaking in the middle of the night, call your sex worker.
O agrella@wanderinghermit @RadicalGraffiti Based on my long experience with landlords, the sex worker would probably be a better bet to get it repaired.
ein kleines z@wanderinghermit @RadicalGraffiti
Call a craftsperson? It's not that people who don't have landlords can't have their shit fixed?
Call a craftsperson? It's not that people who don't have landlords can't have their shit fixed?
Caroline Bell 
@wanderinghermit This, unironically. You have a better chance of actually getting some help!
hapbt@RadicalGraffiti both paying to get fucked
@RadicalGraffiti catchy but landlording is renter/building admin incl. tax, maintenance, bills etc. and making the investment into a property. I’m not a landlord nor am I renting, but I recogbize the work, money and risk that goes into this. That being said there are corporate landlords, landlords abusing their renters etc.
Mael Guerra@RadicalGraffiti they aren't wrong!
grayrattus@RadicalGraffiti that's a pretty stupid statement. Being landlord is also a work. If you don't believe try to break something in the apartment you rent that is covered by agreement with your landlord.
@RadicalGraffiti actually the solution for your housing crisis that would satisfy everyone except companies is to limit asset owning of rentable houses. Let's say a person connected to entity can own two properties and no more or they have to pay tax so high it's no longer profitable.
Then you can rent your house to sex workers and still live in apartment. Everyone is happy.
@grayrattus @RadicalGraffiti
That's not the solution at all, they'll just use proxies to 'own' the properties. The real solution is for the government to provide housing for free.
That's not the solution at all, they'll just use proxies to 'own' the properties. The real solution is for the government to provide housing for free.
@Rya @RadicalGraffiti that's actually a good argument. How would you define minimum standard of "housing". Is capsule hotel housing for free a house? Who should be applicable for free housing? Only citizens of the country or also expats?
@Rya @RadicalGraffiti also should the people who got free houses pay rent to government? If so what's the difference between house rented by government and price regulated renting of normal landlord?
If people living there should not pay rent who will cover maintanance costs?
Problem is much bigger when you start asking questions about free housing.
@RadicalGraffiti UPB works either we like it or not the consequences arrive.
Franek Vetulani@RadicalGraffiti Well said!
beachbum1972
Shrig 🐌@RadicalGraffiti there's a lot of people in the replies here that would rather rent the room out than read the room 🤦
Mx LottieWas talking to an acquaintance about this and they asked, then what is work, and I think my response fits quite well.
Real work is anything that requires skill.
and no, unskilled work doesn't exist.
Just existing as a tenant, is a job,
Tending to income streams and making sure you have enough for outgoing,
While managing home maintenance.
It's not easy, not everyone can do it,
just like any other work.
the acquaintance after some back and forth and me trying to explain work and skill said:
But all of this is bedsides the point I was trying to make in the first place,
which is that saying that something is or isn’t real work turns the conversation into a moral argument about the virtue of toil
rather than the actual message trying to be conveyed.
You’re proving my point because we just dove down that philosophical rabbit hole about what is and isn’t work,
it pushes the discussion into an unnecessary discussion of irrelevant terms that distract from the real issue.
Is your issue with land lords that they don’t work hard enough or that they extract the income of people at extortionist prices in exchange for a basic human right people can’t live without?
Nah I think the real issue is that they just don’t put enough blood and sweat into that exploitation personally.
end quote.
To which I responded with:
Its not the prices,
its the fact they exist.
Why buy property to make profit when others still don't have enough to live,
it's nonsensical.
Make sure everyone has what they need then start trying to grab profit if you are so driven to it.
Otherwise they are forcing others to suffer.
end quote.
and my final response eh... I'm not sure I'm happy with landlords or anyone's role existing for pure profit.. gotta think on that some more.
ZZ Bottom