LogFAQs > #960725665

Conner4REAL posted...

If you dont like the idea of renting then buy your own home. If you cant afford it then remember you would be out on the street if not for a landlord willing to rent.

On my current inflation-adjusted salary (which is pretty comfortably middle class), I could have bought a home in my city 9-10 years ago. I know this for a fact because one of my current managers did exactly that. I can't afford to now because greedy real estate investors - landlords included - have driven up housing prices to the point where home ownership is no longer attainable for even the middle class, leaving no alternative except to rent from those same investors that are charging so much that amassing the necessary capital to get out of renting is made even more difficult.

I don't know why you think I owe some debt of gratitude to landlords for selling me the only available solution to a problem they created for the sole purpose of selling me the solution, but it really doesn't reflect how anyone buying those solutions thinks. Pretty much all of them would very strongly prefer to have accessible alternatives. Long-term renting should not be the norm. It should remain an option, for those that are comfortable with the idea of paying a premium to insure themselves against the potential unpredictable costs of owning their own place, but the fact that so many middle class people don't have a viable path to home ownership is a very significant problem.

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