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We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

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Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#491

Post by subpixel »

xeromal wrote: post #382
subpixel wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Low profit routes were pretty much impossible to get pre-Uber. In cities, that's absurd - car services existed for decades serving just this part of the market, and they let you schedule in advance! In the suburbs and exurbs, probably less so, but this is where everyone has a car as a prerequisite for living in a house with a multi-car garage.

Something something rose-tinted glasses. You could schedule in advance. Now having them actually show up? That was debatable. lol

Hand to heart I’ve had more Ubers not show up (more than 5) than I did car services over several decades of NYC living. Worse they claimed I didn’t show up.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#492

Post by infogulch »

justaguy88 wrote: post #14
infogulch wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's good that there's no surprise fees, but they're still being paid. It's like anything, the value is just hidden in the price of the product now, rent in this case.

The landlord can decide if it's worth paying them then

That's not how anything works. The money doesn't just come from nowhere, or from the landlord's profits. It is accounted for as an increase to rent. That's what I meant by "surprise fees", you're still paying them, they're just not a surprise anymore. Maybe the increased transparency in the market will push out brokers that aren't adding value, but that's more of a hope.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#493

Post by URSpider94 »

e1g wrote: post #219
benmanns wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is correct. Also NYC leases are pretty standard, and NYC laws are tenant friendly at least as far as subletting goes.

This is not correct for the current context. You are thinking about subleasing today. Yes, this is now friendly. The scenario for OP was handing over the entire lease in NYC in 2019. At the time, this was entirely up to the landlord's discretion, and you were legally on the hook for the full amount. Landlords were not required to find a new tenant. See explanations here -> https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tena…

That is not what this link says. The landlord is legally required to mitigate damages - it says so clearly in the text. That means that they must try to find another tenant. If you hand the landlord applications from several qualified tenants, and they don’t rent to them, then you can successfully win in court if the landlord tries to sue you for unpaid rent. New York housing court is known to be very tenant-friendly as well.

Now, in the midst of a COVID-fueled exodus and wave of unemployment, you might legit be screwed…

(Source: former NYC landlord here)

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#494

Post by AJRF »

solveit wrote: post #469
hguant wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because for certain professions income is reliable but not set to a 14 day pay cycle. Could be that OP is a freelance author and is paid depending on when stories are picked up, or is contracting for multiple employers and has an irregular payment schedule depending on their invoicing. Not everyone conforms to the same set of employment/fiscal assumptions we (here meaning "educated white collar US tech workers") may…

So OP is illiquid? Then categorising OP as a risk is perfectly correct.

Nope not illiquid (quite the jump made there on your behalf given the available information).

I get paid “on or around the 20th” every month. In some cases it’s earlier (if the 20th falls on a weekend I’ll be paid the Thursday before that weekend), and on those occasions I paid the rent before the 20th.

I like to manually pay bills where I can as I will then write them off in a ledger I keep, especially for rent as I tend to balance everything when I get paid.

Also, and very important point here, the previous landlord, my friend, did not care at all when I paid rent as long as it was before the end of the month.

Also by using Faster Payments bank to bank transfer my friend got the money same day rather than +/-3 days like direct debit. Again he didn’t care, but it was a nice benefit, right?

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#495

Post by listenallyall »

caddemon wrote: post #488
listenallyall wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you are surprised or annoyed by this. It doesn't matter what you sell, aren't you going to avoid the self-described "super picky" customer? Salespeople work on volume, a customer like you is a time suck with limited probability of resulting in a sale. You're welcome to be as selective as you like, but certainly don't expect salespeople to want to deal with you.

"Customer" is an interesting word choice for someone who receives literally 0 value from the agent. Especially now with the internet, but even before with school/work connections, the majority of students/transplants will find their own apartment. They then have to pay the broker fee to whatever agent their chosen landlord has decided to use, in exchange for being a middleman with paperwork. Many of the prospective t…

"Especially now with the internet," can you show me a service that doesn't extract its own fee when connecting buyers and sellers?

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#496

Post by chasontherobot »

6f8986c3 wrote: post #490
coding123 wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All states should operate like Oregon that stipulates the maximum lease break fee of 1.5 months. I think that's totally fair considering it's been a landlords market for the past 20 years. There's no reason in any state to keep someone on the hook for potentially 12 months when that landlord can just tell someone "hey we're still advertising it but we haven't found anyone yet". By the way, if any of you find yourself…

As with most things: it’s complicated. When you sign a lease agreement, you get a guarantee that your rent will not go up during the term of that agreement. So, if you sign a lease for $1000 a month on Monday, and on Tuesday the market rent for that area spikes to $10,000 a month, you’re locked in with a lower rate. If I were a landlord in Oregon, given the above law, I would just only rent month to month. Breaking a…

That doesn't make any sense, the Oregon law works very well for the landlord in that case. Tenant is locked in at $1000/mo. 6 months in, decides they want to move. Tenant pays $1500 to break lease, and landlord can charge $10000/mo immediately to the next tenant.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#497

Post by memonkey »

6f8986c3 wrote: post #490
coding123 wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All states should operate like Oregon that stipulates the maximum lease break fee of 1.5 months. I think that's totally fair considering it's been a landlords market for the past 20 years. There's no reason in any state to keep someone on the hook for potentially 12 months when that landlord can just tell someone "hey we're still advertising it but we haven't found anyone yet". By the way, if any of you find yourself…

As with most things: it’s complicated. When you sign a lease agreement, you get a guarantee that your rent will not go up during the term of that agreement. So, if you sign a lease for $1000 a month on Monday, and on Tuesday the market rent for that area spikes to $10,000 a month, you’re locked in with a lower rate. If I were a landlord in Oregon, given the above law, I would just only rent month to month. Breaking a…

where does rent spike to $10,000 a month?

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#498

Post by lumost »

e1g wrote: post #129
benmanns wrote: post #111

We used this pre-COVID to get out of a Brooklyn lease and had a fantastic experience (back when it was Flip Instant). Flip basically charged 1 month rent and guaranteed a fill or they'd pay the rest (6 months) of my lease. Compared to our landlord who wanted 1.75x rent, up to 2.75x rent if not filled immediately, after significant negotiation. Hiring a broker myself would have likely cost 1x rent or more anyways with…

The landlord is under no obligation to accept anyone this service finds, so this startup guarantees an outcome they cannot control. It might be a way to build awareness and goodwill, but they are burning VC capital to offer a service that is either fundamentally unsustainable or mispriced.

If the service is finding reasonable tenants as defined by a credit check/ maybe a reference check then the landlord may not be interested in turning down the new tenant and in some locales may not be able to.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#499

Post by kennywinker »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #486
kennywinker wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Op suggested regulation. I.e. making certain practices illegal. You responded: > they run a racket that would be illegal there to begin with. Perhaps making it illegal in nyc as well, as op suggested, is the solution? Rather than letting a tech company replace the scalpers with a scalping monopoly

And how realistic, exactly, do you think getting regulation pushed through in NYC is, exactly? Unless there is true citizen outrage (and there will never be, given what market we're talking about), you're going to need lobbied buy-in from currently sitting politicians and their successors . So if you're lucky, maybe you'll get something tentative in 2040. In the mean time: software can solve this problem now . Now so…

> software can solve this problem now.

Software can displace a middle man, and replace it with a monopoly. Once monopoly power is in place, Software will then become more and more expensive until it is as bad or worse than what it supplanted. Investors will get rich, there will be a brief bubble where some people will get a VC-funded good deal, and then nobody else wins.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#500

Post by solveit »

AJRF wrote: post #494
solveit wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So OP is illiquid? Then categorising OP as a risk is perfectly correct.

Nope not illiquid (quite the jump made there on your behalf given the available information). I get paid “on or around the 20th” every month. In some cases it’s earlier (if the 20th falls on a weekend I’ll be paid the Thursday before that weekend), and on those occasions I paid the rent before the 20th. I like to manually pay bills where I can as I will then write them off in a ledger I keep, especially for rent as I…

If your getting paid after the 20th makes you unable to pay on the 20th then you are illiquid. This may or may not be a big deal but it is strictly worse than the alternative.

For instance, what happens if you lose your income for whatever reason? Your paying irregularly might as well be proof that you will immediately be unable to pay rent in that case. Now, this may not in fact be true (perhaps you have lots of liquid assets but want the maximum amount of money invested at all times, and that was fine because your landlord didn't mind), but you can see why this is a red flag.

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