@okc: Been following this conversation, and I really appreciate the honest exchange of ideas and viewpoints...
Regarding your ideas:
Rental cap indexed to minimum wage: Unfortunately, in the US, this would mean no rental properties in most of the developed cities in the country. We can't control what people earn, and price of building housing is not directly connected to what individuals make.
First time buyers get preference: As explained above, this is manged in various ways (again, in the States) by first-time homeowner loans that have reduced down payments and by tax credits for first-time owners, among other ways. (Good news, in other words!)
Easier buying/selling process: This is essentially a complaint about contract law/language, which has merit, but is a much broader problem/challenge. Still, parts of the States are getting better systems. Try using Redfin.com to look for housing in one of the states it is available for (try Seattle, Washington for example).
Tenant Rights: These are stronger or weaker in different parts of the States, but check out the Tenants' Union of Washington State for an example. Don't forget, however, to protect the rights of a landlord against deadbeat tenants who can occasionally refuse to pay rent, damage the property, or disrupt neighbors.
Landlord references: Love the idea - would need the support of communities, and a rental climate where landlords need to compete (e.g. probably not San Francisco, Seattle, or other boom towns).
Re Landlord (and house) refs: references have lots of pitfuls. Ideally even in a boom town, being able to ref you landlord could warn you off the repeatedly terrible ones. The real problem is authenticity, it may get abused heavily by everyone.(imagine a hydrid anarchical version of all the rating problems inherent in eBay and TripAdvisor).
It seems a fair idea but difficult to implement. Would a simple message board based system be enough for a discerning reader? Any solutions for a system like this?
Regarding your ideas:
Rental cap indexed to minimum wage: Unfortunately, in the US, this would mean no rental properties in most of the developed cities in the country. We can't control what people earn, and price of building housing is not directly connected to what individuals make.
First time buyers get preference: As explained above, this is manged in various ways (again, in the States) by first-time homeowner loans that have reduced down payments and by tax credits for first-time owners, among other ways. (Good news, in other words!)
Easier buying/selling process: This is essentially a complaint about contract law/language, which has merit, but is a much broader problem/challenge. Still, parts of the States are getting better systems. Try using Redfin.com to look for housing in one of the states it is available for (try Seattle, Washington for example).
Tenant Rights: These are stronger or weaker in different parts of the States, but check out the Tenants' Union of Washington State for an example. Don't forget, however, to protect the rights of a landlord against deadbeat tenants who can occasionally refuse to pay rent, damage the property, or disrupt neighbors.
Landlord references: Love the idea - would need the support of communities, and a rental climate where landlords need to compete (e.g. probably not San Francisco, Seattle, or other boom towns).