Landlords are only making a profit because of the exceptional last couple of years in California.
I will bet you that if you take a mortgage today, you will most probably not make a profit vs renting.
That's a particularly pointless bit of misinformation. Holding property isn't free, in general. Land is quite the liability in California unless you make enough to justify holding it. Landlords make plenty of money. Currently 750/mo (or more) for single rooms out of a house in southern california for anything decent. With AirBnB you do much better. The math is straightforward.