I’m a landlord. I’m losing money because the Seattle market went to shit and nobody will buy this place.

I bought for $850k in 2017. Selling now asking $899k and no-one’s buying. Think of my ARR with inflation and opportunity cost here. I sold Facebook shares to get this. I have made zero return from rents overall. I’d likely have earned $1M if I hadn’t sold those shares.

A landlord is unlikely to have the same cost basis as someone buying on a new mortgage. I know many landlords that own their rentals outright. The ability to make a profit renting for less than you'd pay in interest charges alone changes the financial calculation.

That said, landlords don't always have a choice to not lose money. These are investments, there is inherent risk.

A lot of small mom-and-pop landlords are certainly losing money. Especially when they buy properties as their own residence but later converted to a rental. The majority of the Bay Area housing market has basically zero properties that would make a landlord profitable; you only need to compare the market value of a house against the market rent.

And this is really no different from the majority of stock pickers or day traders. They just lose money.