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Comment by matwood | Hacker News Reader

If managing renters is someone's thing, there are plenty of opportunities to do that right now. If you're in your 20s you can live frugally, save some money, buy a (quad|dup)lex, and live in one and rent the others. It might not be doable in SF/NYC, but the US is a big country.

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And if every millenial tries to exploit other millenials by appropriating wealth instead of creating it, what then?

This is how we got to this total mess.

If you believe owning rental units is "(mis?)appropriating" wealth, I dearly hope you are divested from the stock market and avoid keeping your money in banks. The former is exactly the same thing, and the latter is contributory to it.

This is totally wrong. Stock markets invest in productive endeavor, not in creating a shortage then "servicing the need for accommodation".

Secondly - and this shows you are living in a dream world - banks are not intermediaries of funds. When you borrow to buy a house credit is created not sourced.

This would be more persuasive if you explained how charging market rate for rent is worse than some alternative you had in mind.

Of course, moving into an area drives up demand making prices go up, but that comes from taking up space someone else could use, not from buying versus renting. The only way to avoid that is to use less space or move away.

Then demand for rental property goes up, rental unit supply goes up, and people like me get cheaper rent

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