I’m someone who believes landlording (and investing in property outside of just the one you live in) is immoral, because it makes it harder for other people to afford a home, and takes what should be a human right, and turns it into an investment.

At the same time, It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever be able to own a home without investing my money.

And just investing in stocks means I won’t have a diversified portfolio that could resist a financial crash as much as real estate can.

If I were to invest fractionally in real estate, say, through REITs, would it not be as immoral as landlording if I were to later sell all my shares of the REIT in order to buy my own home?

I personally think investing in general is usually immoral to some degree, since it relies on the exploitation of other’s labour, but at the same time, it feels more like I’m buying back my own lost labour value, rather than solely exploiting others.

I’m curious how any of you might see this as it applies to real estate, so feel free to discuss :)

    • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
      51·
      10 months ago

      But what does it matter if the value of your stocks drop in a market crash? Assumeably you’re in it for the long run so you can always just wait for them to go back up before selling. Even if a property might hold it’s value better during a crash, which is not guranteed either, that would still be irrelevant unless you intend to sell the house, which again would be difficult during a market crash. If you want something that holds it’s value that you can liquidate at any time then perhaps you should buy gold instead.

      If you’re invested into something such as S&P 500 and something happens which causes a significant number of those companies to go out of business at once, then we’re talking about an extremely rare world wide event that’ll effect your investments no matter what they’re tied into. Keep in mind that the ~7% yearly average growth of the stock market includes events such as both world wars.

        • ultranaut@lemmy.world
          3·
          10 months ago

          REITs tend to move like the rest of the market. If there’s a big crash they go down like everything else. I think hedging against a big crash the way you’re thinking is probably not going to be worthwhile, you’re not really gaining significant protection.