this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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me_irl
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And the profit the landlord takes on top of that. Landlords don't generally rent out to break exactly even on cost.
Landlords also do cheaper repairs.
When it's your house you're likely to go for the higher quality options when the major repairs hit and do more timely repairs on things landlords will ignore.
If you're the landlord, it is your house.
The difference is that you're not living in the house if you're a landlord. A smart landlord will still do high quality repairs on certain things: roof repairs, pipe leaks, electrical issues, etc. Not fixing those things quickly and fixing them well could result in long-term damage to the property. But, there's another class of problems that are annoying to the tenant but not a priority for the landlord. For example, a toilet that doesn't flush well. That's an annoyance, but probably won't damage the property in any way, so the landlord might not care much.
Even in the best of cases, landowners may not be generating a direct profit but are generating equity in the home.
I had to explain this to one of my landlords (he was a first time landlord and it was his old place) once a long time ago. He was quite shocked that he wasn't making nearly as much money as expected when the homestead exemption was lifted from the home. He tried to increase our rent well above the average for the area because of it and we had to threaten to walk.
LOL. If you want to dump 300,000 into a house... Years and years of your own work....just to have to pay $300 bucks every month for 30 years to double your money? To then repair the house with that money and end up owning a house in 30 years when you're too old to work....that's not a good deal.
You'd be stupid to do that, even if you were genuinely trying to be charitable about renting. You'd want some profit for repairs and sudden issues.
Revenue for repairs and sudden issue is still breaking even, the point of profit for landlords is to well generate profit on the bottom line.
A landlord is almost always making money even if they are just "breaking even" on the mortgage.
If the landlord is still paying for a mortgage, the profit goes into their equity gain.
Once the mortgage is paid off, the profit goes into the landlords pocket.
This is how many people get started being parasites on society. They have other people pay the bank while they gain the assets of their labor.
You'll have to have some profit if you want money to pay for the repairs and sudden issues without it being from your pocket.
Did... You read their comment?
I did. Where would the money for the sudden issues come from if you didn't make a profit from the outset?
Landlords, when they're organized, put some of the rent money aside for repairs, and don't touch it until those repairs are needed. Profit, is the money they make on top of that.
Their rent prices are large enough, to both cover the entirety of the repairs, and make sure that there is even more money left over in the end, for profit.
"Sudden" repairs are neither unpredictable, nor chaotic. Houses, appliances, everything, can only last so long, and it's easy to know how long the AC unit and the roof insulation is going to last, the estimates are right there when you buy the things.
And what happens if there aren't repairs?
Why the fuck should the price to rent something give profit over the monthly pay of a loan to own it?
Landowners want renters to pay for their stuff. They're lazy leeches.
See, your foolish mistake is applying morals and logic to the profit drive. There are none to be found, there. Just people who want more money, because they can, and have the law behind their back, threatening you with homelessness and the destruction of your continued existence.
Jokes on my landlord, if I ever lose everything, so does he. 🔥
Damage to Capital is based.
They're insured against your pyrotechnic solutions. Are you? Typically insurance doesn't pay out to the policy holder if they intentionally cause the damage.
Well in this scenario, presumably I have "lost everything" and therefore do not care whether the landlord is insured against fire.
He'll burn just the same with or without insurance.
If you're taking in rent for only the predictable running costs then how are you paying for some sudden issues?