Words are powerful. Landlords and tenants have been around since the beginning of time. We don’t even have to do a google search to determine that the term landlord comes from the UK and signifies some scholarly gentleman who is the lord of the land that rents his property to you, the pauper.
Times have changed and so the antiquated words we still use must change with along with them. What is a landlord you ask? Someone that owns a house or apartment and charges you a fee each month to use it. That sounds like any other business relationship and there is no reason to use the highly charged term “lord” to be present. The person rents you something; they don’t own you.
An individual or business who provides you with a place to live is a business owner like anyone else which is why we prefer the neutral term Housing Provider. When we speak to real estate investors we call them just that – investors. The term landlord is a common phrase and we do not criticize anyone who chose to use it until now, we just suggest that everyone makes more socially conscious decisions with the alternative.
Everyone is unique and important. We deserves respect regardless of whether or not we own the property we reside in. This is not a political issue, it is simply about respect for others. You would be shocked to learn how many people reach out to us saying they are “just a renter” and would like to learn more about buying their first home. There is nothing wrong with renting a property and I despise people saying they are “just a renter.” There is nothing magical about owning a home. Yes, it certainly has its benefits but there are also responsibilities that for many people outweigh the benefits.
In relation to Housing Provider’s generally, they are just normal people as well. Unfortunately your interactions with them are only at times of frustration on either side which creates a continuous bad impression. Here at Kabinet many of our Investor Plan users are small scale investors with less than five total properties in their portfolio. They especially are just using their real estate to make a living and/or build wealth for their retirement. They are not “slumlords” or “rich jerks” as the media so often depicts.
