Note that being a waiter or a flight attendant requires activity which directly affects the client – just like other services. Not true of landlords.
Owning a property and renting it out does not intrinsically equate to providing a service. In fact, the only activity one has to do (in many cases) is collect rent, which is a service to the landlord only. Landlords can offer services – improving the property, for example (though it’s a service which does also benefit the landlord) – but this is not intrinsic to property renting in the way of any service you mentioned.
And it certainly isn’t a job, in the traditional sense of having a boss and a schedule etc. I guess in some sense it is closer somewhat to independent contracting, except that you ultimately get to kick out your “clients” if you want to, and you don’t have to do anything they ask. Even by that interpretation, it’s money for nothing. “Job” suggests effort.
I assume you’re about to try and claim that paperwork and government hoops that landlords may have to work through means that they must, by definition, be a service. And to that, I would say: things that give you income are meant to require effort. But I’d gladly take over the paperwork for my landlord if it meant I didn’t need to keep giving him half of my active income every month for doing literally nothing, and I don’t think I’m alone in that at all.
mke_geek@lemm.ee 1 week ago
You are mistaken regarding the activities that landlords do. And the lower the income of the tenant, the more work the landlord has to do.
Paperwork and dealing with government bureaucracy is part of the job.
Landlord activities directly affect the “client” which is the same in any service industry.
Being self employed still means having a job. Some people only know what it’s like to be an employee. They don’t know the ins and outs of running your own business. Perhaps that’s why you don’t understand the job of being a rental property owner.
circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 1 week ago
Again, all those things you mention directly impact your profit as a landlord. They have nothing to do with your tenants. It is not a service.
If I want to be able to drive a car, I have to get a license. But that doesn’t mean that getting a license is a service to anyone who might ride in my car. It’s overhead that I have to perform in order to drive a car.
Hearing landlords complain about paperwork while sucking up their psssive income calls for the tiniest violins ever.
mke_geek@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Being a landlord IS a real job. You’re not getting it. You seem to have some idea that all a landlord does is sit back and collect rent. This is not true.
There’s a lot of work involved in setting up and managing properties. Some months it’s less and some months it’s more. Being self employed isn’t a 40 hour a week punch a clock type of job. The more properties, the more work is involved.
circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 1 week ago
None of that work is a service.