[lewdev]

> It will make very little difference in the end.

I feel like there will be a difference between a handful of large corporations owning a majority of properties vs thousands of dentists and software engineers. Are you saying that all of these property owners are also soulless profit-optimizers?

I remember watching some video of tenants being priced out of their rental apartments so when they tried to contact the property owner, they found layers upon layers of managers and companies. It just seems better when there are more thousands of owners than just a handful of corporations.

[rgmerk]

You would feel that, but you would be wrong.

Small businesses are often just as ruthless as large ones, just less competent. In any case, most rental properties are managed through agencies, who are soulless profit-optimisers.

[DoesntMatter22]

So what’s your solution exactly? No businesses at all?

[SecondHandTofu]

It's the opposite in the UK. Most landlords are individuals, own one or maybe a couple of properties.

It's awful, rogue landlords who do everything they can to not do repairs or improvements and when they do it often comes after a long time. Often as they have underestimated all the expenses they're liable for and find that the profit is not very much.

Give me a company that owns a whole block every day, they've modelled the risk better, have economies of scale, and you have more recourse against them.

[mmooss]

IME companies are worse: professional investors highly focused on maximizing profits - driving up rent and minimizing costs - rather than a long-term investment by someone with another job, a sidelight and retirement plan.

I don't see how you have more recourse against a company with lawyers that can ignore you, and mom-and-pop. The latter are much more likely to respond to reason.

Of course, any landlord can be bad.

[seanmcdirmid]

> I feel like there will be a difference between a handful of large corporations owning a majority of properties vs thousands of dentists and software engineers. Are you saying that all of these property owners are also soulless profit-optimizers?

Do we want to trade crazy high prices in the American real estate market for absolutely crazier high prices in the Australian real estate market?

That is a bit simplistic though, there could be other things going on in Australia, and all the other rich countries (e.g. Switzerland, England, China) where American prices look like a good value. I'm sure at the end of the day supply is the main factor, and not having a hot economy also helps, so I'm sure the USA will get there fairly quickly.

[ghaff]

And, everywhere, it's about people wanting to live in some specific cities. Even a bit outside of those specific locations isn't necessarily particularly expensive. (Leaving aside ski resorts, especially nice college towns, and the like).