• Falmarri@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Wouldn’t it also be a conflict of interest if they were renters? How can someone not have any interest in housing?

    • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Sure, but in that case their interests would be a human right. It’s a conflict of interests because they are for profit owners; not just owners.

      • Rocket@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        are for profit owners

        Which homeowner isn’t? There is good reason why nobody is moving to high unemployment Newfoundland to buy up the houses they can’t give away even amid the “housing crisis”. A home, even your primary residence, is a capital asset. Basically everyone is living where they do because that house provides them profit – most likely by it being a tool to provide access to a highly profitable labour market.

        It may be a conflict of interest, but when there is no interest not in conflict, what are you going to do?

        • ExiledElf@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 year ago

          That’s an obfuscation of the point. The conflict of interest is that they directly make money from their property - landlords rigging prices and buying all the property are the problem, and they’re also the ones making laws to regulate themselves.

          • Rocket@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            8
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            The conflict of interest is that they directly make money from their property

            Just like everyone else.

            If people weren’t concerned about the money they directly make from their property, why aren’t they moving to said places in Newfoundland where profit cannot be made? Housing crisis averted!

            Trouble is, the profit a house generates is a strong motivator – maybe even a necessity. That’s why they are not moving to Newfoundland.

            • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              The Newfoundland market has exploded since 2020. Sale and rental prices have increased. Rental demand is outpacing supply.

              So yes, profit can be made in Newfoundland where, according to a CBC anecdote, a landlord in Paradise, NL recieved and impassioned please from a family of 8 to rent a 2 bedroom appartement and was offered over rent in cash sight unseen to secure a rental. (22 June 2022).

              • Rocket@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                Glad to hear that Newfoundland has become profitable. That means we can all move there now. Housing crisis averted!

                • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  All snark aside. Do you really believe that every human is motivated by capital profit?

                  • Rocket@lemmy.ca
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    1 year ago

                    Well, profit is just one side of a trade made by two parties that that hasn’t been fulfilled yet. An IOU, if you will.

                    It does seem pretty clear that all social behaviour is motivated by equitable exchange. We don’t do things for rocks – they offer nothing in return. We do things for other people because they do give something back in return. What comes back in return need not be complex. Perhaps it’s just a hug, smile, or the press of an arrow button. But there is always something.

                    I’m not sure profit itself is a motivator. If we agree that you will give me a smile when I crack a silly joke for you, it doesn’t matter much when the smile occurs. If you give it to me right away there will be no profit, but I still got what I wanted. If you wait, I profit, but that just means I get the smile later. What’s the difference?

                    Sometimes waiting is significant. If our deal is for you to feed me, I don’t want the food when I’m not hungry. It is sensible to want to hold that profit until I am hungry, at which time then our transaction can be settled. Maybe you can say profit is a motivator in that circumstance, I guess. It’s really just a tool, though. The actual motivation comes from the trade – being able to get what someone else has.

                    Perhaps even more significant, it turns out that we get old and start to lose capacity to offer a lot of things to other people in our elderly state. As such, it is sensible to collect those promises of fulfillment (i.e. profit) in our younger days in order to get back things we need later in life when we need them. I think it is fair to say that this is a necessity. Trading something for food in your 20s to eat in your 90s doesn’t work so well. It will have turned to dirt long before you get there. Trading something in your 20s for a promise to deliver food in your 90s works much, much better.

                    But, again, being able to delay fulfillment of a trade until later is a tool. I am not sure it is the motivation itself.