Posted on 11/11/2022 2:57:49 PM PST by FryingPan101
Proptech company RealPage won’t be able to turn the page on its software controversy anytime soon.
A class-action lawsuit filed by a University of Washington student accused RealPage of colluding with student housing providers to inflate rent, Multifamily Dive reported. The lawsuit, filed last month, names a number of prominent multifamily landlords, including Greystar and Cushman & Wakefield.
The plaintiff alleges collusion in popular college towns, such as Ann Arbor and Gainesville. The lawsuit claimed operators had the ability to collaborate and track competitors’ rents through the RealPage platform.
(Excerpt) Read more at therealdeal.com ...
This will be epic. Complicated but epic. People who know those who have had their rent greatly increased should pull up a chair. It’s likely there are multi rental properties near you who fall into this company’s software hell.
In their defense they will say airlines do this airfare all the time. For example , repeat your searches and watch airfares go up.
Perhaps. But you can choose not to fly. Recent rental rates rising affected the fixed income segment of society. They woke one morning to find their new lease required them to pay $65 to $85 a month more for their modest small apartment home. No improvements to the property and some services eliminated like free internet. In searching for new homes, they would learn that the same asset management company owned most of the properties and the rents were the same. Everywhere. Now it’s targeting college students. I don’t understand all the particulars. All I do know is, as each acquisition occurs, (as in the case of RealPage) a whole lot of celebration goes on. But, what can you say? Everyone does it, I suppose.
This is bizarro world. In most of the rest of the economy, pricing transparency leads to lower prices. For example, when Exxon is right across the street from Chevron, does Exxon see Chevron’s price of $3.999/gallon and say: “great, I’ll price mine at $4.059!!”? Or do they see it and price the same or lower, ensuring they get half or more of the potential business?
Maybe the key variable here is scarcity? Or proximity to campus? Owners are certainly going to try to maximize the return on their investment, so charge as much as they can and still get rentals. But few colleges have been seeing declining attendance, so maybe more demand for property than supply.
As good an explanation as any.
Nowhere do I ever see greed.
This would be akin to people suing Realtors for using Multiple Listing Services that show prices for homes on the market.
In a sane society this suit would get nowhere. Supply and demand dictates prices.
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