> People need to remember that the default for real estate is to fall into disrepair and turn back into the dust of the earth; as someone who owns real estate, you are responsible for fighting that entropy,
And that costs money. However, it still costs money as a renter, because whatever the house costs to keep, the landlord is going to pass that cost on to the renter.
Actually not true. Landlords are just as susceptible to speculation as everyone else and just as capable of not doing the math as everyone else. There are plenty of landlords who are taking a loss on the monthly rent compared to their mortgage bill because they can't find anyone to rent at a price where they would break even on the mortgage, and refuse to sell because they're speculating that housing prices will rise faster than their losses, and/or that the losses are simply part of the cost of building equity.
Exactly. Real estate is highly emotional and irrational.
I personally know a ton of people that are keeping a house and renting it out at a loss (because of the market rate), because they cannot seem to emotionally agree to sell that house. This happens way more with real estate than with anything else. Half of the time they don't even realize they are losing money, the other half of the time they don't want to know they are losing money.
And that costs money. However, it still costs money as a renter, because whatever the house costs to keep, the landlord is going to pass that cost on to the renter.
There is no landlord renting at a loss.