• mke_geek@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    There are people who can’t save up for a down payment and therefore wouldn’t be able to responsibly take care of a house even if they were given one.

    There’s people who don’t want to own a house. A house comes with a bunch of costs and responsibility.

    • Your furnace goes out in winter, bam, that can be an expensive service call or several thousands of dollars to replace.
    • Your sewer line backs up because of tree roots on a Sunday or holiday and now it’s several hundred dollars to get a drain company out there.
    • Need a new roof? That’s a $5,000+ expense all at once.

    These are just a few examples. There’s quite a number more. Some people like knowing that expenses like that are covered by someone else.

    In the grocery store example, there’s people who like growing their own food. For others, they’d rather someone else do that even if they’re paying a markup to buy it from a grocery store, because they can get everything in one place.

    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      60-65% of households in the USA are homeowners, either outright or through a mortgage. 80-90% of households in Eastern Europe are homeowners. It’s pretty clear that people who are perennial renters are mostly people who cannot clear the financial hurdle of a down payment. I don’t think the “some people don’t want to” line is a solid argument. It’s the exception thata proves the rule.

      The repairs and property taxes and mortgage all add up to a total that is less than the rent, on average. Otherwise, landlords would have a disincentive, and every landlord would be operating at a loss.

      The points you made are points that landlords use as justification for their occupation/position. Are you a landlord?