If it is such an easy way to make money, why doesn't everybody simply buy some land. You can pool resources if as an individual you can't afford it.
- Not sell
- Ask for ridiculous amounts
As the old real-estate saying goes: "Location, location, location".
Furthermore, land as has a pretty long-term maturing period. It can easily take 10-20 years for land to go from cheap to really expensive. Oftentimes that process involves rezoning of land, and eventually gentrification.
Lots of cities are plagued with the same levels of bureaucracy and regulations as SF, where it can take 10 years from planning to first shovel in ground.
You could have a perfectly fine spot of land in a major city, but because it's not zoned for your use, it's essentially worthless now - but everyone knows that it could be very valuable 10-15-20 years from now.
And lastly; There are tons of real-estate investors that focus 100% on these kinds of things.
The original claim was that landowners are basically just freeloaders, making easy money.
Land presumably can't cost ridiculous amounts, only what people think it will be worth - how much money they can make with it.
That it takes years to maybe appreciate, maybe not - wouldn't that indicate that perhaps it is not so easy to make money with it after all?
Everybody is free to buy land, no?
Also I don't think people can just ask for arbitrarily high rents wherever they want. It is a gamble to buy in a location where rents will rise.
People then only see the winners and not the losers and get envious.
Take some risks of your own, then complain.
The only reason not everyone does it is because they don't have the prerequisite capital (and pooling wealth usually doesn't work because people suck at sharing, although I do know people who have done it, even without being in a romantic relationship).
If your grandfather bought the same lot for $600 in 1922, the returns today are quite something.
It’s very hard to become a large-scale land owner today, unless you happen to own a time machine.
And why not buy something today that can be worth millions for your grandchildren?
Because it is not so easy, after all.
So you think it is unfair that somebodies grandfather bought land, and it appreciated? Do you think ownership in general is unfair, or what exactly is the unfair part?
For example if you ponder buying a plot of land, presumably the rules there would factor into your decision. If there was already a rule of "no skyscrapers", then everybody could have factored that into their decision.
It would likewise be unfair to change rules after the fact, because it would devalue people's investments.
As for tax rules, I can't comment. But that is a fault of the government, not of the landlords.
Alas, mostly the rules have changed quite a bit to favour the incumbetents and the grandfathered-ins
The returns are consistently well north of 10%, and that includes deals pre-2008. Naturally that may be harder to do at scale.
But the point is you don’t need a time machine, you need skills, effort, discipline and focus.
But if you can afford it there is no better investment. Practically no home in LA county lost money over an arbitrary 10 year period. The problem is the source of these profits is from squeezing middle and working class renters absolutely dry.
Personally I don't believe it is really so easy. But that is the narrative of the leeching landlords.
In the same vein, would you all say people who earn money in the stock market by investing in the right things are just leeches and parasites?
When do people deserve anything?
Just wondering how deep the socialist attitude runs.
So investing in something is stupid, because if you are successful you don't deserve it?
When is anything deserved?