First, I've got a question. Does this sub hate landlords as a such? Or just greedy, inadequate ones?
In my experience, I have dealt with greedy and very nice landlords, as I will explain later.
When I moved out of my parents, I rented for a lot of years. In those years, landlords got greedy, and I had to move out to another places. But there was one really nice landlord that did not raise my rent as he pleased, and I lived there happily for five years. Then I met my girlfriend and I moved in her place that she owns. She inherited her apartment. My parents were never really wealthy, so they couldn't support me after I moved out from their house. I had to work for everything I have. It felt like almost everyone around me had some kind of inherited real estate or parents gave them money to buy property for themselves. My dream was always to have my own place, my own property. So I saved up for a number of years with various degree of success, but then I finally had enough to buy an apartment. I am not from US, so that may explain why was it possible, because I know what the situation is there for you in the states. Real estate prices in my country has only gone up, but it is not such a madness as you guys are going through. The apartment is very small but still my own, and I am very proud of fulfilling my dream. Since I live at my girlfriend's, my plan for the apartment was to rent it out to someone. I wanted to treat it as an investment and don't want it to stay empty. So I rent it to my brother. He lives there alone, and it is a perfect fit for him. He pays me rent, but it is way under market rent prices. I know how it feels to be squeezed by a landlord with rent raises, and that's why I try to be reasonable. If in future my brother will decide to move out, then I plan to rent it out to someone from the streets and keep the practice of being a good landlord. I want to treat people as I want to be treated.
Reading this sub has inspired me the right way towards my work and employer. Thank you all for that!