If you pay rent, you should own a little bit of that property
Summary
A rider pitches an audacious housing reform: tenants should earn equity in the properties they rent. After paying $80,000 over two years, he argues he deserves 10% of that back as a stake in the home. The logic? If he's helping pay the landlord's mortgage, he should own a piece of the asset. Kareem's intrigued. The idea evolves into a quasi-co-op arrangement where renters could profit from property appreciation and theoretically take a dump in their old apartment years later (Kareem draws the line there). The pitch gets sillier as it goes: yes to equity, no to repair responsibilities, and maybe renters would stop pouring bacon grease down the sink if they had skin in the game. It's part genuine frustration with housing costs, part fantasy scenario. But the core complaint lands hard.
Full Transcript
So what's your take? I think if you pay rent, you should own a little bit of that property. 100% agree, cuz if I'm helping you pay your mortgage, then what? At the end of the lease, I got to go, I got to leave, and then you get your mortgage paid?
Well, here's what I will say: when you pay rent, you pay for a roof over your head. But why does someone get to exploit my need for housing and get rich just because I don't—I don't—I don't? I'm not pro-landlord, and people are going to say like, "Oh, this guy's a loser, why doesn't he buy his own house?" Cuz I made bad decisions, but I was still working the whole time. I was still working myself to pay your mortgage, and you don't own—I do not own a house. You rent. I'll be renting probably for the rest of my life.
How much equity do you think you should get? My wife and I rented this place from a couple, uh, and I think after two years we paid like 80 grand, you know, in rent. So give me like 10% of that. 10%? Give me 10% of the gross rent. So like, you know, $8,000. And then at the end of the lease, when you kick me out—okay, which you inevitably will—yeah, you get 10% of the gross rent. Is an investment, so you own $8,000 worth of, let's say, a million dollar place. Yeah. If the place increases in value, then your share increases. Or you can buy out my share.
This is not a bad idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a co-op. It's like a co-op. I do like this idea. If you rent a place, you should own equity in the place. And then when they go, "Hey, we're selling the building, get the leave," we go, "No, no, no, we're selling the building." And also, since you own a piece of the property, um, you can come buy and—like, and like—take a dump in the house if you need to, even after you're gone.
I'm not letting my investors take dumps in my house. But if I have some equity in the property, then I'll care about it more and I'll stop pouring bacon grease down the sink.
If you own part of the house, are you responsible for fixing some of it? Um, no.