I'm not sure you can argue MMM is trying to hide his rental situation given that he has published numerous blog posts discussing it in depth starting in 2011:
It's "renters" BTW. [EDIT: Scratch the previous. I am, of course, wrong about the renters correction. Misread.] I'm not sure what he did to get your back up so much or when being a landlord became such a terrible evil. Also, "we" are not suffering. Yes he has a schtick and probably a pretty profitable one. His general advice is probably good for some but mostly isn't my thing because I like restaurants and traveling and that sort of thing. And I certainly don't care enough to go to his site and ask questions.
> A lot of these tenant management companies do legal grey area things and landlords pay for it (even though it's begging to be tackled).
Back when I was renting (and this I acknowledge isn't even a grey area thing, just shady), I even called out a small local PM company... their "main" website, listing properties was all about their "ethics" and "fairness" and "transparency". But when you went into the "Owners" section you got then told to visit a different site, which talked about how the company would "work with you" to get "the maximum value for your property, strategically adjusting rental pricing upwards" while "shielding the landlord".
The frugal stuff is rubbish. He can be frugal because the main outgoing for any family is rent. He's taking in two rents. The rest is just a cheap show.
The reason why we are all suffering is because of rentiers. It's not because we have slightly expensive data plans on our phone. Rentiers are using this to explain away the real problem. This guy is along for the ride for the web-clicks.
Go on his site and ask a question that gives the info that he has two rental properties and see if he lets it through moderation. Be polite as you can. He won't. MMM knows where it's at.
The link submitted to HN lands on video 2 of 4 which was created was uploaded Uploaded on Mar 15, 2008 where Sal was renting and the video is pro renting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL10H_EcB-E
Interestingly, it looks like on Dec 31, 2013 new video was added as 1 or 4 where Sal said he bought a house and now is neutral on rent. vs. buy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNL6f1xkie4
The link submitted to HN lands on video 2 of 4 which was created was uploaded Uploaded on Mar 15, 2008 where Sal was renting and the video is pro renting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL10H_EcB-E
Interestingly, it looks like on Dec 31, 2013 new video was added as 1 or 4 where Sal said he bought a house and now is neutral on rent. vs. buy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNL6f1xkie4
>I've seen the same listing posted multiple times per day for days on end
My landlord's property manager actually does this with the place I'm renting now. Every 3 hours the previous ad would be deleted and a new one with the exact same content would pop up in its place, obviously to stay on the front page. I thought it was a scam at first because surely that's not what normal landlords do? I did my due diligence that it wasn't a scam (which I would do anyways) but I was super, super suspicious. Turns out real landlords do that.
> So, I decided to hire a property manager (Lesson 1: Never be a landlord if you're not going to be present to manage the property yourself - PMs take their 10% cut of the rent and do absolutely nothing in return) to rent the place out and sell in a few years after the market had recovered - which didn't happen in Colorado Springs until recently.
So you figured you'd do nothing and wait for your profit whilst another parasite waited for theirs whilst the tenant did all the work and gave you both a cut!
This happens all the time, I'm even surprised this is a blog post. I was paid to move by landlords twice already, one of them I didn't even ask, the other was a basic conversation about it.
I mean I'm glad this guy is doing something that makes him feel good, but this read felt like reading someone describing their commute to work as if it was WW2.
Crazy: I had the same landlord. I drove by his management office on Box Street last week and saw it was turned into a hotel, and now I see the luxury lofts listed on Airbnb.
He's not a normal landlord, he's a shark. He owns several dozen buildings, prefers paying fines to getting permission, and once had our whole building manned with thugs to prevent a city agency from entering the building and confirming that he was constructing a unit on the roof without a permit.
He even connected several of his buildings' toilets and sinks directly to storm drainage pipes, dumping raw sewage straight into the creek (http://bit.ly/L3f8Ey).
I didn't claim that he was intentionally misrepresenting the situation. It's that the author seems inexperienced in renting apartments and is jumping to conclusions as to the reason that he was denied.
It doesn't seem that he has a full understanding of the situation and the process given that, as others have pointed out in this thread, he found things like having a copy of his ID made, etc a red flag while this is normal when touring and applying to rent an apartment.
Some things shouldn't be disrupted. Housing and rentals is one of them. We don't need another "we can do better" shill that ends up baiting and switching people into more expensive renting. AirBnB is now more expensive than a hotel. Ubers are more expensive than taxis. All this disruption is just "how can I carve out more for myself".
Given this guy's track record, the last thing I want him involved in is renting to anyone.
Sorry, I don't understand how someone's choice of profession reflects on their ability to be a good tenant. Definitely not a reasonable excuse for snooping on someone's supposed Internet history. This is what leads to first come first serve regulations for rental applications.
The OP is a parasite, abusing his landlord's resources for gain. Also, if he hasn't declared his 'rental' income for tax purposes then his problems are only just beginning ...
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/23/get-rich-with-owni...
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/06/29/good-times-for-lan...
reply