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Comment by donmcronald | Hacker News Reader

> and they are more efficient managers than individual homeowners, so this might be a more efficient way of providing housing.

Call me skeptical, but I don't think the average person would share in the benefit of that efficiency.

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I’ve moved every 12-18 months for the past 10 years and rented everywhere. I’m one datapoint but apartments/property managers have been way better than private owners. The private owners always seem to be figuring out for the first time how to repair anything, always trying to save money, and have always tried to hold my deposit illegally. I’m pretty sure when these landlords talk to each other about “having someone else pay your mortgage” they also swap strategies and excuses to keep the security deposits. Corporate landlords otoh have their own repair people, processes to get repairs done, and have always been reasonable about returning my deposit. Lately I’ve been avoiding renting directly from owners.

From someone who grew up with parents that owned a hand full of rental houses and did all repair work themselves (quite competently, father is a tradesman anyway) : I am not at all surprised that individual owners tend to keep deposits at a higher rate. I don't think there's anything illegal about it : without fail, every single renter we have ever had has incurred damage to the house well beyond the security deposit. When a company owns a ton of properties, they have economies of scale- all the properties have interchangeable hardware, cabinets, etc they likely have suppliers for materials that give them more competitive rates for bulk purchases, they have workers who will do the repair work for minimum wage (whereas a single owner probably values their time in the range of 50/hr)

It makes a lot of sense, but I understand your frustration. Still not nearly as frustrating as hauling trailers full of other peoples trash and dog shit out of your own house and then having to repair thousands of dollars worth of damage to cabinets, drywall, carpet, and paint.

I think their main advantage is in lease enforcement. Big REITs spend way more on repairs and they charge more, simply because they can. A small landlord has no recourse and will get wiped out by damage and eviction costs. Bad tenants know this, and they know how to use fair housing law to get what they want. Owning rental property is a great way to spend your life on other people’s problems.

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