07-13-2017, 08:30 PM
You haven't been a landlord.
My city was mostly built around 1930. The buildings are all still standing, and still used as residences, either by owners or tenants.
I have a gas light boss in the ceiling of the room I'm in, but somewhere along the line, someone put in electricity - and then, later, replaced the the original electrical system with shielded cable. The kitchens are 1970s era, and the bathrooms are modern; that wasn't cheap. I'm sure there was a lot more work I wasn't aware of.
Aside from normal maintenance, I've done a lot of things that would qualify as improvements that would have to be depreciated under IRS rules. I've put on a new, modern, roof; it looks the same but it has water impervious extra layers and a foam based ridge vent that is of recent technology. I've replaced all the windows with superefficient triple paned argon krypton windows. I've added fiberglass roof insulation, blown in wall insulation, and then another type of reflective mylar roof insulation. I've replaced the siding with energy efficient siding, and it wasn't the first time that was done. I've put in central air conditioning, switched the heating from oil to natural gas, put in high efficiency water heaters and then replaced them with even more efficient versions when they reached end of life. I've put more money into the house than I paid to buy it.
Landlords in the area put even more money in. There are a lot of college rentals here; walk into an empty rental place in the middle of the summer and you're likely to find a kitchen or bathroom being entirely replaced, floors being sanded and refinished, walls repainted. And I'm sure the landlords are making all the energy efficiency improvements too, especially if they pay utilities.
You can argue that some of these things only restore value lost to wear and tear, but a lot - the new kitchens and bathrooms, the energy efficiency improvements - genuinely increase the value of the property.
Yes, there are cycles. But there are cycles in other industries too. You should be old enough to remember the junky cars Detroit turned out in the 1970s; that was as bad as landlords who let their properties turn into slums. Landlords are as innovative and productive as other industry owners; they just get a bad rap because tenants like to blame everything on the landlord, and the landlords don't bother to argue.
My city was mostly built around 1930. The buildings are all still standing, and still used as residences, either by owners or tenants.
I have a gas light boss in the ceiling of the room I'm in, but somewhere along the line, someone put in electricity - and then, later, replaced the the original electrical system with shielded cable. The kitchens are 1970s era, and the bathrooms are modern; that wasn't cheap. I'm sure there was a lot more work I wasn't aware of.
Aside from normal maintenance, I've done a lot of things that would qualify as improvements that would have to be depreciated under IRS rules. I've put on a new, modern, roof; it looks the same but it has water impervious extra layers and a foam based ridge vent that is of recent technology. I've replaced all the windows with superefficient triple paned argon krypton windows. I've added fiberglass roof insulation, blown in wall insulation, and then another type of reflective mylar roof insulation. I've replaced the siding with energy efficient siding, and it wasn't the first time that was done. I've put in central air conditioning, switched the heating from oil to natural gas, put in high efficiency water heaters and then replaced them with even more efficient versions when they reached end of life. I've put more money into the house than I paid to buy it.
Landlords in the area put even more money in. There are a lot of college rentals here; walk into an empty rental place in the middle of the summer and you're likely to find a kitchen or bathroom being entirely replaced, floors being sanded and refinished, walls repainted. And I'm sure the landlords are making all the energy efficiency improvements too, especially if they pay utilities.
You can argue that some of these things only restore value lost to wear and tear, but a lot - the new kitchens and bathrooms, the energy efficiency improvements - genuinely increase the value of the property.
Yes, there are cycles. But there are cycles in other industries too. You should be old enough to remember the junky cars Detroit turned out in the 1970s; that was as bad as landlords who let their properties turn into slums. Landlords are as innovative and productive as other industry owners; they just get a bad rap because tenants like to blame everything on the landlord, and the landlords don't bother to argue.