Hi everyone. I've been thinking about the absurd rent prices and how it feels like renting is no longer a stepping stone to home ownership but more a trap that landlords are trying to keep people in for a perpetual “cash cow.” Everything I'm going to say/ask is hypothetical, since I have very little money to my name and have no way of doing any of this at the moment.
Are there any laws/regulations on how LOW someone can rent out property in the US? I can't help but feel like it wouldn't be hard to rent out a decent property at an actually affordable price that would pay off all the expenses and have a little left over for a repair/improvement. I am renting a one bedroom apartment with no in unit laundry or dishwasher in a small town that is 30 min away from the nearest Walmart for over 800 a month. There is no way it actually costs that much for my landlord and they do NOTHING in the terms of improvement for the property. It's just a passive income for them, but it is my lively hood.
If I came into BIG money, I would want to build/buy an apartment complex and rent it out for BARELY more than my operating costs in order to help my tenants and lower the average rent in the area. Are there any legal issues with this? Would I be putting a target on my head from other landlords in the area? Am I overlooking big costs that would justify the price for a unit like mine? (I would include utilities, trash, parking, etc)
Thank you in advance for any discussion on a poor man's pipe dream.