What Is RealPage? DOJ Sues Software Firm Using Algorithm Enabling Landlords to Fix High Rents
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
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As sky-high rents and a housing shortage become major issues in the 2024 presidential election, the U.S. Justice Department has sued software company RealPage, alleging its algorithm enabled landlords nationwide to collude in raising rents on tenants. The DOJ says the price-fixing scheme has impacted millions of renters across the United States. ProPublica reporter Heather Vogell, whose investigation first exposed RealPage, says as much as 70% of big apartment buildings in some neighborhoods are owned by property managers using RealPage, with landlords seeing the software "as a way to have a rising tide that lifts all boats." We also speak with tenant rights organizer Tara Raghuveer, who says RealPage is guilty of "some of the grossest, most extractive business practices" documented in recent years, but the firm is hardly alone. "For so much of the market which is a catastrophic failure, landlords' business model is predicated on tenants' instability," says Raghuveer.
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Lifelong renter here. Appreciate this important story, thank you
They are in the car insurance industry to
Yes! I was gentrified out of my apt. By a management company who was a friend of a SMI Realtor who bought the house and booted me at 72 years old. I had been there 8 years and never missed rent. Well it was cosmetically improved and all three units sit empty. I now care for my grandkids and live with them. Too much empathy indeed. Now they are heartless. Thank you so much for this report!!We not only need caps but cuts back to reasonable levels.
I am so sorry! What they're trying to do is kick every old person out to fix or upgrade or to Tear down and build Luxury apartments.
Just awful.
@@longshank59 - I somewhat agree. However. It's not only old people that the powers-that-be are trying to evict. Where I live is also/still getting gentrified. The people, moving here from "boston", are also allowing this to happen.
@@janthorpe9577 I'm sorry that happened to you! I had a similar experience happen to me in college. Landlord's son doubled the building rent to pay for his addiction, and ultimately he couldn't rent it out.
And Big Brother gets to decide what's "reasonable"?
I saw a report about this Yesterday and basically this Algorithm is a "Legal" way for landlords to illegally price gouge renters. But make the price hike look legitimate.
It’s collusion. Government looked the other way.
@@mrmines2000 those houses are more likely be bought by some rich people trying to hid money. Whatever drugs you are taking, please quite it because their is mostly pain on the road of capitalism and landlords.
But it's not legal at all though. It's just a straight-up cartel.
@@mrmines2000 Try watching videos first before you comment on them. YieldStar is the reason rents are increasing, not just lack of supply. "High rents" are not encouraging developers to build more... what on earth are you talking about? That is not the case at all. There are high rents almost everywhere and they are still not building enough.
Are you insinuating that it's immigrants that are driving up the cost of rent? First of all you're blaming the victim. Secondly immigrants shouldn't have to be forced to be killed & tortured by drug cartels & "free trade" policies that ruin their economy simply so our rents can stay low! You are insane if you believe that. Thirdly rent control works very well when done correctly, for instance in Germany & Austria they make new developments exempt while rent controlling older units; it keeps rents low while incentivizing development.
@@mrmines2000 Supply and demand cycle. That's economics 1. In economics 2 you learn that these mechanisms are based on certain assumptions, such as a truly competitive market. The lack of a truly competitive market is the justification for antitrust law. When Rockefeller controlled the railroad lines bringing produce to market, he could get the biggest share of revenue on all produce shipped. The market described in the video, where at least 70% of the units are controlled by ten property managers, all using the same software, is enough concentration to maintain prices. Will competitors come in to build more units? Only if their projections show they will be able to charge high enough rents to earn them margins at the same level as existing players. If they don't promise those earnings, they won't get the capital needed to build. In other words, they won't be charging lower rents.
There is no housing shortage. The problem is that the housing that exists is priced so high, no one can afford it
@@Kittymancer78 The fascinating thing is that you'd think it would tank the landlords to have units sitting empty - renters typically pay the landlord's mortgage, after all - but yet it never seems to happen.
@@La_Hoja_Verdebecause corporate entities keep buying and holding housing to keep the market artificially constricted. It's just capitalism functioning as intended.
@@kylezo I do wonder what the end goal is though. I understand the twisted logic behind keeping the market artificially constricted to drive up prices, but when it leads to units sitting empty for long stretches of time, you'd think the landlords would eventually risk losing their investments and adjust their prices so that somebody could actually live there. But it never seems to happen and they never seem to face any consequences.
@@La_Hoja_Verde The problem is that the financialization of the housing market turns property into an investment much the same way stocks and bonds are used and in the case of these corporate landlords it even is directly going to shareholders even. The important thing here is that among all possible investments property is unique in that as there is only so much land to go around its value doesn't depreciate as worst comes to worst you can just replace whatever is there with something new tied to market interests at any given time. The inclusion of an opportunity cost means that land even when "idle" is still accruing value so they don't need tenants.
This system only cares about market value so there is no financial incentive for them to actually fill housing it is all about property monopolization and control without the real risk of deprecation on market value.
The crux of this is so long as these land management practices are allowed there will never be any consequences from the market side of things, the only way people had any influence on things is via squatting but the government always sides with and enables landlords because going back to the founding of the nation every single one of the founding fathers were all landlords and developed a constitution for landlords by landlords with the ability for non landlords to participate in the democratic process not coming about until Andrew Jackson pushed to open up voting rights to all white men. Even then landlord status has more or less continued to be a prerequisite for holding elected office since the kind of funds needed for running for office mean only someone who owns property and doesn't have to worry about rent draining their coffers can afford to campaign in the first place
So if we look at a historical perspective it is no surprise that landlords have always had prioritization in this country after all in a country founded and ran by landlords alone for its entire history why would politicians ever take action against themselves?
The price fixing and financialization of housing especially in response to the 2008 financial crisis does change the equation a bit because the pool of landowners has begun to drop precipitously to the degree where it threatens the stability of the country but I'm not holding my breath on extensive action because beyond needing to get elected what do wealthy politicians really care about rents? Thus I expect the cartels will be dealt with as they are a low hanging fruit and maybe there will be action related to major corporate landlord consolidation again because there are very few players who stand to lose and these actions are broadly consistent with the things antitrust laws exist to prevent but I worry how far preventative actions will go to stop a recurrence or address the financialization of property as an investment rather than a place for people to live.
@@La_Hoja_VerdeThey just file it as a loss for a tax reduction. Tax code needs to change to prevent that practice.
“A rising tide that lifts all boats.”, all landlord boats, that is; while sinking the boats of tenants.
Now, tell us all you know about the rising costs of owning rental properties.
@@useyourbrain1539~ If you can’t afford it, sell. If you can’t find a buyer, perhaps it’s not worth owning.
@@useyourbrain1539 found the lord of the land.
@@useyourbrain1539commercial real estate accountant here and I know about these costs, which are still insignificant compared to their profits.
Stop defending the indefensible using BS fiction.
Please tell us more about how difficult it is for people who own rental properties. We all know how hard it is for renters but forget how hard it is to be significantly richer! /s
This is how cartels operate. Price fixing is illegal.
Have you been to Canada? It’s all they’ve got in every sector
10 years in prison :O and 3x damages can be awarded
This corporate greed is the inflation you have been experiencing in housing across 8 states in the Billions of dollars 💰 great job DOJ Biden Harris administration! FOR THE PEOPLE!!!
@@KimberlyWestbrooklet's hope the corporate cartel actually gets changed usually they get off
@@MyLoganTreks they’ve already made their money and gotten what they want: above market rates (supported by fundamentals) for the foreseeable future - the rate they created is now the market rate.
Rents need to be capped at a certain percentage above the cost to maintain the properties. The real problem is greed.
I live in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham area), and the cost of rent here out of control. It's a great example of how "supply and demand" can be bunk if the people controlling the supply want it to. There's almost endless supply and new apartment buildings going up all the time, but the prices only keep rising.
Exactly. I can't even count how many expensive apartments have been built, and still getting build, where Iive (as well). I live in so-called worcester, ma, and trying to make like "boston". The majority of Caucasian ("christian/political") people, from "boston", are still moving out here and people are allowing housing prices to go up, and homelessness is also/still an issue. Heck. Certain/most homeless ("christian") people still choose to stay homeless yet, treat certain people (like myself) as less than. The brainwashed, christian/political, irony and hypocrisy. Smh.
@@tanyalake9152 you're insane. no one chooses to be homeless.
@@ImdaVP - You don't 🤬 know me, you wilfully lying, assuming, illiterate, contradicting, childish......WTF?!!!!!
@@ImdaVP - Heck! I've even gotten disrespected by certain/most homeless "men", even after I gave them some change or food! I used to be homeless, as well, which I've already mentioned many times (before) on "dn" videos!!! Get the ____ out of here!
It should be illegal to charge an arm and a leg for a dump as well! If youre gonna ask for rent, it better be invested back into the property! Not into your lavish lifestyle!
They know they can get away with it because home ownership is out of reach of most Americans. Saving up 5%, let alone 20% of a down payment is mathematically impossible for most of us.
It's worse than that. Even if you have 260k cash in the bank you can't qualify for a mortgage if your income isn't 3x 2600/mo, it's a complete racket.
I pay $1425 for a run down 425sq ft apartment IN THE HOOD! Across from the projects. It’s disgusting!!
This announcement will bring housing affordably to more Americans struggling
What city are you in?
For that price you could get a spacious two bedroom in a nice quiet neighborhood, clean, safe. But I don't suppose you live in Wisconsin
As a Renter in TX. This is what os devastating to us. My landlord during the Pandemic bought 4 Apartment complexes, 75 SFH, and 10 business properties with 250 spaces. Who TF has that kind of money Blackrock or Blackstone
"Because there was too much empathy going on " SMDH 😢
I feel ya, bro. Sorry.
It is not growth; It is ripoff.
8:10 "take pricing off site (out of the hands of human beings) because there was too much empathy going on"
This is a sick world
This is bog standard capitalism
This needed to be talked about
What? I can't even count how many times I've mentioned this to my so-called, Caribbean/Guyanese, christian/political, landlord!
@tanyalake9152 I've threatened the office to really all the tenants against the property we live in. Rates for a 1bdr went from $600 to $1,300 in one year. We'd leave, but there's no where to go because all the complexes did the same thing across the board. Every lease going up by $50 to $90 which the highest used to only be $20 wtf! 😡. I've become disabled and don't have an income so my husband is taking care of us and these rent rates are scaring the hell out of both of us. We might end up homeless.
@tanyalake9152 nope I reached out to that organizer woman as I live in Kansas city too.
@tanyalake9152 Sometimes it seems Christian is just a fancy word for hypocrite doesn't it?
@tanyalake9152 I'm really sorry they're doing this to you, no system should be allowed to treat people like that.
My landlord violates everyone and the NYC gov colludes with them...don't get fooled, the same landlords are the same businesses that pay our gov dividends...it's a complete BS show!!!
What happened to Universal Rent Stablization?!!!
The last two properties I rented at used that software and each year we'd see bigger and bigger increases in the rent. Meanwhile neither the quality of our units or the property as a whole had changed. In the last case, each year the quality and safety of the surrounding neighborhood had decreased to the point where I no longer felt safe living there. I've since been lucky enough to have purchased a home of my own, but after talking to some of my new neighbors who rent from private owners, I'm surprised to find out their rates have remained steady over the past years. So yeah, I'm on board with the whole corporate price gouging thing.
My boyfriend laughed so loud that the neighbors came over to see what happened. Now they are watching this video too💖
SEX TRAFFICKING IS ILLEGAL! Get lost and stop behaving like a deplorable.👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼🐡
Share this on social media and make it go viral, every American needs to know
Why would a landlord reject a higher price? Especially when a lifeless computer program says it's ok to charge that ridiculous price.
an answer to your question - ethics and appreciation of good quality tenants that ultimately cause les$ trouble.
@@AlisonDorian - I'm one of those tenants, and my so-called, Caribbean/Guyanese, christian/political, landlord is still going to raise my rent (next month) to $900. Even if I'm able to move, for next month, he's still going to charge $900. That's what he told me, a few minutes ago (over the phone), as well as "claimed" he's going to "fix up the apartment" after/if I end up moving out! I already sensed he was going to say that. But, he didn't/doesn't like to fix up the apartment while/when I've been living here since September 2012. Smh.
Real Estate Property Management discusses the Fiduciary Relationship between Broker and Owner.
Thus, if you are a Property Manager, you SHOULD increase the rent to the max and take every rent increase you can -- for your client -- mostly absentee landlords. And for that, you might receive as much as 30% of the Net -- which the owner calls direct expense for tax purposes. Perhaps we should re-think the favorable tax treatment for things like depreciation and interest.
Realpage would also punish those who don't go with real-pages recommendations.
@@AlisonDorianAre these 'good tenants' going to pay the owners rising costs of management, insurance, mortgage interest...?
Why not just cap rates based on the wages in the area? Dissolve the predatory landlords as well.
good idea!
Yet, the government Has no problem dictating what women should do with their bodies and a variety of other things that have nothing to do with living a decent reasonable life in this country
What arrogance! The landlords and software company should be charged with RICO.
Good idea
Landlordism - the polite word for Feudalism.
It's not polite lmao. It's egregious. It boggles my mind that nobody bats an eye at the fact that we still have "lords" owning houses. Why aren't you people helping build tenant unions?
@@kylezo whats a tenant union? Please explain. Ive never heard of this.
Excuse me this is a Public Broadcasting Service real News not some random Utube video. May I ask how you stumbled on to this channel ? This is one of the true investigative news not opinionated like corporate news based on profits over. People. Please keep listening it’s a prime news station.❤
UA-cam algorithm will suggest to you videos whose content are similar to what you watch. 🤷♀️🤷♂️
Democracy now has been running since like the 70s I think
every renter could be an owner. its the banks and real estate industry that is keeping the cycle of down payments and hig property values going. they even affect local politics and homelessness. blaming an app is a distraction that doesnt change the systemic issues. greedy individuals.
Exactly right, this is an example of the system functioning as designed
The amount of pain this single company has caused families in the US is astonishing. The owners need to go to prison for this.
Even without the algorithm price gouging would still be a thing. So long as necessities are monetized, so long as we view ourselves as consumers and not citizens, there will be no change. It's honestly a surprise they haven't tried selling us the air we breathe; they already force us to buy the water we drink and the food we eat. Despite the fact that tonnes of food is wasted.
when there is no collusion price gouging cannot work. the landlord who raises too high too soon will just go out of business compared to those who don't raise their prices. So supply and demand act in a natural way.
I want to pay for the water i drink because i want it safe, clean, instantly available, etc.
They started charging for air 10 years ago, it just hasn't come to our block yet.
Yes! I was gentrified out of my apt. By a management company who was a friend of a SMI Realtor who bought the house and booted me at 72 years old. I had been there 8 years and never missed rent. Well it was cosmetically improved and all three units sit empty. I now care for my grandkids and live with them. Too much empathy indeed. Now they are heartless. Thank you so much for this report!!
DOJ actually doing something for the people? Nice.
Thank you Biden Harris administration!!!❤❤❤
@@MyLoganTrekshousing costs have risen under Biden more than any other president in decades. Shut up.
I'm sure the lawsuit will just be thrown out by a federal judge in Texas or something. Meaningless
We are seeing some of these larger landlord organizations, there is a move to pull off and bill other services associated with the apartment building itself, i.e., parking lot light, security, landscaping, water for landscapes, etc. Now I receive a separate bill for these cost of monthly housing rentals.
its grant theft
Of course,take the human factor off and let the machine do the abuse with no emotions attached, astonishing that some humans think like that...what is that you try to contribute to in the grand scheme of things
What? Do you NOT SEE how many "christian/political adults" have the mentality of bots?
An executive order could enforce HUD standards for Section 8 (and affordable housing projects) to have equitable rent for their markets, and grant federal funding for PRIVATE landlords to make repairs, instead of just state/federal housing projects. It would get millions out of slums, and encourage landlords to accept guaranteed rent, for whatever war/inflation/recession may be coming. Trump made HUD a mess, bc his family made their wealth from being slumlords.
This would never be done because the capitalist system requires economic oppression in order to function properly. An oppressed and immobile labor force is a permanent critical requirement for the system to function. You cannot legislate your way out of that simple truth, it would cause economic collapse which would result in further wealth consolidation. The housing crisis is the result of the '08 housing bubble market crash which resulted in massive transfer of home ownership from private citizens to corporate enterprise.
Price fixing!!
Corporate Greed and Big Investors, this will make housing more affordable because when you come to the bank for an investment property showing revenues they will be lower, so the valuations of the property's value also will be lower. As a former banker for 20 yrs this is wonderful news
I felt that...too much empathy. Ain't that a bytch...My building fired all staff after I'd lived in my building for 3 years. New management put out half the building, raised rents on all those units and placed so many rules it made even the older ppl with government assistance leave....smh
be a shame if someone organized a protest, and bombarded their customer service emails and phone lines with complaints, so much so its impossible for them to do business.
Realpage executives should be in jail right now. Some Americans have literally been made homeless by this software/price-fixing scheme.
This so great but what are they going to do about the fact that rent is too high regardless….these apps did not create this problem!
There used to be rent control, in the so-called Caribbeans and in so-called america, before/after I was born. In the Caribbean, my mother, me, and her ex "husband", lived in a housing project. It was a two floor, 3 bedrooms, 1 and 1/2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, and kitchen. The rent was $80 to $180. In a separate building, there were coined operated washers and dryers. Those were also affordable/cheep. There were hardly any maintenance isses in/with those apartments, washers, and dryers.
About time all this is finally getting exposed. Not enough attention is put on to greedy property corporations
At the end of the day their needs to be regulations against rental hikes. If I own and rent to someone and I see everyone raising the rent I can take their business by keeping my rent low. On that note the gov. Should just put regulations that don't allow them to raise rent.
Smh. Ty for talking about this..... That gross real Page interview....
Literally have RealPage emails in my inbox. Thinking about having to move back in with my folks and I have been crying all day in bed
Every industry uses this software. From airlines to hotels.
Where's all our settlements
$ from being stolen from and lied to?!
This problem exists in many areas. Job search ,handy helpers for home repairs and on and on. Its bad
I think it's naive to say that stopping landlords from using AI would keep rents affordable. I think we need much stricter regulations. Even in California-- with rent control, it only applies to apartments; not to single family homes that many people rent, including families.
Is this algorithm a way to artificially create fair market value? Whenever my rent goes up that's what the property management company says. Isn't fair market value just what everyone else is charging?
Why did Amy cut off Tara Aghuveer, when she was talking about how congress gave tax credits to corporate landlords to lower the rent?
I live in a low income housing, where the landlord gets a tax credit. So they don't lower the rent. The govt gave thieves who violated anti trust laws, tax credits, in order to lower the rent. Shame on you Amy for not letting the young lady point out how weak the Dem Congress is against corporate greed.
Late Stage Capitalism on full display.
Capitalism*
'Optimized rent'
truly ghoulish
Rich Democrats should provide affordable housing for the poor folks who live in this country.
@RancidBacon-s2q They park their money offshore, just ask rich Democrats.
Hm, I've both tenant and landlord. They fail to mention here rising property taxes, renters with excessive leeway who destroy property, do not abide by lease and get away with it, and the need for more balanced and just interactions between landlords and tenants both. It's far easier for a tenant to become a squatter than for a landlord to kick out a delinquent tenant. Those excessive rents need to be capped, yes. But pay attention to what landlords have to deal with in terms of maintenance cost and property taxes, too.
This is outta control 😡😡
So relevant.... thanks
This software is akin to consultants - a middleman that makes managers feel better about something they were going to do anyway, and do it more ruthlessly.
They create another layer of *distance* between the owners and the people who depend on them, so that nothing pesky like empathy or humanity would get in the way.
Please please look into the ridiculous rents in Denver. Even the old out dated 1980s Apts charge crazy amounts.
Let the "Free Market Decide" isn't that what they said?
This will still takes years. RealPage is still very active in Texas.
If my landlord is guilty of this how will this help me? 🤔
...and to align the market rate that corp. landlords use to get maximum grant $ for subsidized units that may not be as habitable as claimed
God Bless America!
Vampires exist.
They have the same thing with car insurance 😡😡😡😡punishment to Americans. It need to stop
Unreal
Airbnb VRBO TripAdvisor all do the same
These guys may not seem so chipper when realpage has to pay back millions and millions this should be fun😊
It'll never happen and even if it did it represents a single digit percentage of housing price gouging and would make no difference.
There are millions of housing units sitting empty due to high pricing and greedy landlords
Correction here Tara..."They" both do not have plans for affordable housing. And yes we do need more affordable housing while we make sure these rent gougers are stopped.
So KAMALA Said that Trump doesn't care about Border Control 😅 Is She Still Trying to Sell COBALT MINING SHERES IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 😅😅😅
Did she just desribe what the government is doing to the citizens with social media ?
2:40 - _"challenging operators to new heights"_ 😂 = enabling landlords to rob tenants
REMAX is the worst. Legal pirates. It's gotta stop.
Listen to Ragahveer. A case against a software company is hardly going to solve this.
this only slows it down. does not fix anything
Thank goodness congress lets lobbyists write laws so that things like this can happen
And, take them to task (or court) for services for which you are paying.
WHY IS DEMOCRACY NOW NOT COVERING THE GREEN PARTY AT ALL? WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?
@@jenkhoshbin They're a party that refuses to organize locally and has a negligible national impact. That's why.
They have.
Its about time DN start talking about corporate landlord greed instead of Trump.
ΚΑΛΗΣΠΕΡΑ ΣΑΣ ΑΠΟ ΧΑΝΙΑ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ,,ΣΑΣ ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΥΜΕ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΓΚΥΡΗ ΣΑΣ ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΣΗ!!!!!!!
The software is the real problem or the fact that very few own the most properties in an area? Those will continue to work in same style even without software...
Landlord Cartels 😡
As a communist I can tell you that as long as home ownership is the goal we will always have renters who lose. All property should be state owned and not a commodity to be bought by rich people.
But then the vanguard runs and effectively owns the state, resulting in state capitalism. No thanks.
4:59 - that's a CARTEL.
She's describing a cartel.
Price-fixing is extortion.
Kamala is not gonna do Sh!t about corporate landlord greed.
People need to stop voting and do the right thing.
Finally!!
Also the shortage of housing???? If there was more housing no matter what owners could not raise rent due to competition
Incorrect. Housing is owned by investment firms as part of a speculative portfolio. The more housing exists the more it'll be owned by capitalists.
00:52 you can tell she is lying. She knows she won't do anything about this issue and is lying through her teeth.
Wait until the slum lords show up in the comment section...it's hilarious.
Doesn't McDonald's do this, by the minute
Blame it on the AI...I call Bull$hit!!!!
Landlords in America need the Chairman Mao treatment.....
I'm on board with this take.
Watching them speak about their rent-fixing scheme and I cannot say F*ck these guys loud enough.
Another kindergarten kindergarten verse not one of those people with the department of Justice after them will go to jail and it will not change the price
Sounds like a scam.
Would a 4-year moratorium on rental property permits Force developers to build condos and starter homes?
No.