The Proper Way to Rebrand

Political pundit Adam Johnson takes issue with a trend among landlords to “rebrand” themselves as “housing providers” because “landlord” is a feudal term. He writes,

But landlords do not comprise a vulnerable or protected class; they are not dispossessed, historically marginalized, or a minority group in urgent need of reclaiming their humanity.

Conveniently, Johnson ignores the actual facts. First, in terms of housing, tenants far outnumber landlords—landlords are a minority. Second, governments are regularly imposing restrictions and controls on landlords—landlords are dispossessed and marginalized. Third, one does not need to be a member of a “vulnerable or protected class” to improve one’s image.

Johnson goes on to conclude,

If our media is going to call landlords “housing providers” then, at the very least, it must also refer to these workers [builders, maintenance people, electricians, domestic workers, and plumbers] as “housing providers” since they—by building, maintaining, crafting, wiring, fixing, and cleaning our rental homes—do far more to provide housing than landlords ever could. 

This is the kind of nonsense that is written when one drops context.

My plumber doesn’t do roofing repairs, and my roofer doesn’t troubleshoot electrical problems. My painter doesn’t replace flooring, and my flooring guy doesn’t do carpentry. To maintain a property, I utilize at least a dozen different companies and tradesmen. I must also pay the mortgage, insurance, and property taxes. And all of this is on top of the original investment and the time to purchase and rehab the property. According to Johnson, the maid who spends three hours cleaning the house is more of a housing provider than I am.

The truth is, landlords are housing providers. But the term we call ourselves isn’t important, let alone rising to the level of “rebranding.” The real problem is that landlords, like most businessmen, are widely viewed as greedy manipulators who will do anything to make a buck. The fact that landlords provide a value—housing—is regarded as irrelevant.

If real estate investors want to rebrand themselves, the place to start is by attacking and refuting the idea that we are evil. The place to start is by proudly defending what we do.