Jacqueline †

ツ As having nothing, and yet possessing all things 2Cor6:10 You Want A Warrior Temple? Move It Princess

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

@0DonaldTrumpJrQ Skin

[Lindsay Owens @owenslindsay1]

🧵Want to know why rents have been skyrocketing? This jaw dropping @propublica investigation has one answer--collusion. @RealPage's YieldStar proprietary software is helping the nation's biggest landlords and property managers jack up prices together. 1/10 https://t.co/nfGKT5Dxyt

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

@AZAGMayes Philadelphia already joined San Francisco in banning Revenue Management Software (like REALPAGE) back in October 2024. Violators of the order could be sued by the city or by current or prospective tenants, and face a fee of up to $2,000 per violation, according to the bill.

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

@AZAGMayes RealPage is partners with #Zillow and #Trulia and there’s so many people that have no idea about these lawsuits yet.

[AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes @AZAGMayes]

The DOJ must continue its lawsuit against RealPage and corporate landlords. But no matter what, the case I brought on behalf of AZ will move forward. We will keep fighting to hold corporate landlords accountable for unfair and deceptive practices.
https://t.co/h39BTYPKym

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

Philadelphia joins San Francisco in banning Revenue Management Software (REALPAGE) Violators of the order could be sued by the city or by current or prospective tenants, and face a fee of up to $2,000 per violation, according to the bill. Violations… https://t.co/lGYiFsM8DO

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

@OwenGregorian RealPage & Property Mgmt Grps being sued for Price Fixing/Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected] #Zillow

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

RealPage & Property Mgmt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[Owen Gregorian @OwenGregorian]

US sues six of the biggest landlords over “algorithmic pricing schemes” | Jon Brodkin, arsTechnica

Six landlords added to RealPage lawsuit; Cortland settles and will cooperate.

The US Justice Department today announced it filed an antitrust lawsuit against "six of the nation's largest landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters."

One of the landlords, Cortland Management, agreed to a settlement "that requires it to cooperate with the government, stop using its competitors' sensitive data to set rents and stop using the same algorithm as its competitors without a corporate monitor," the DOJ said. The pending settlement requires Cortland to "cooperate fully and truthfully... in any civil investigation or civil litigation the United States brings or has brought" on this subject matter.

The US previously sued RealPage, a software maker accused of helping landlords collectively set prices by giving them access to competitors' nonpublic pricing and occupancy information. The original version of the lawsuit described actions by landlords but did not name any as defendants.

The Justice Department filed an amended complaint today in order to add the landlords as defendants. The landlord defendants are Greystar, LivCor, Camden, Cushman, Willow Bridge, and Cortland, which collectively "operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states and the District of Columbia," the DOJ said.

"The amended complaint alleges that the six landlords actively participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other's competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms," the DOJ said.

The phrase "price fixing" came up in discussions between landlords, the amended complaint said:

For example, in Minnesota, property managers from Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar, and other landlords regularly discussed competitively sensitive topics, including their future pricing. When a property manager from Greystar remarked that another property manager had declined to fully participate due to "price fixing laws," the Cushman & Wakefield property manager replied to Greystar, "Hmm... Price fixing laws huh? That's a new one! Well, I'm happy to keep sharing so ask away. Hoping we can kick these concessions soon or at least only have you guys be the only ones with big concessions! It's so frustrating to have to offer so much."

FBI raided Cortland office

Cortland manages over 80,000 rental units in 13 states. The FBI raided its Atlanta office in May 2024 as part of a criminal investigation.

"Cortland is pleased to announce the US Department of Justice filed a proposed settlement that would resolve the Antitrust Division's civil investigation into Cortland related to antitrust violations in the multifamily housing industry," Cortland said in a statement provided to Ars today.

Cortland's statement said that last month, "the Antitrust Division informed Cortland that it had closed its criminal investigation into pricing practices in the multifamily industry. As a result, Cortland and its employees are no longer subject to the criminal investigation that motivated the Department of Justice's May 2024 search at Cortland's headquarters in Atlanta."

The settlement, if approved in federal court, would prohibit Cortland from accessing or using external nonpublic data from RealPage or other sources. Cortland said in its statement that it has developed its own software for managing revenue.

"We believe we were only able to achieve this result because Cortland has invested years and significant internal resources into developing a proprietary revenue management software tool that does not rely on data from external, non-public sources," Cortland said.

RealPage fights lawsuit

Rental companies have previously denied using software to collectively set prices in response to class action lawsuits. In December 2022, the National Multifamily Housing Council trade group said that "the highly fragmented nature of the rental apartment industry fosters competitive pricing, not anticompetitive behavior. No single owner or operator can 'set' rents for an entire market because other owners can always price over or under based on numerous circumstances. We believe rents in every market are dictated by the dynamics of that local market—the supply of housing, the demand for housing, economic conditions and more."

RealPage filed a motion to dismiss the US lawsuit in early December. The company has said its software "benefits both housing providers and residents," and "makes price recommendations in all directions—up, down, or no change—to align with property-specific objectives of the housing providers using the software." Landlords don't have to follow the recommendations, the company says.

The Justice Department says that landlords did more than use RealPage in the alleged pricing scheme. "Along with using RealPage's anticompetitive pricing algorithms, these landlords coordinated through a variety of means," such as "directly communicating with competitors' senior managers about rents, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics," the DOJ said.

There were "call arounds" in which "property managers called or emailed competitors to share, and sometimes discuss, competitively sensitive information about rents, occupancy, pricing strategies and discounts," the DOJ said.

Landlords discussed their use of RealPage software with each other, the DOJ said. "For instance, landlords discussed via user groups how to modify the software's pricing methodology, as well as their own pricing strategies," the DOJ said. "In one example, LivCor and Willow Bridge executives participated in a user group discussion of plans for renewal increases, concessions and acceptance rates of RealPage rent recommendations."

DOJ: Firms discussed “auto-accept” settings

The DOJ lawsuit says RealPage pushes clients to use "auto-accept settings" that automatically approve pricing recommendations. The DOJ said today that property rental firms discussed how they use those settings.

"As an example, at the request of Willow Bridge's director of revenue management, Greystar's director of revenue management supplied its standard auto-accept parameters for RealPage's software, including the daily and weekly limits and the days of the week for which Greystar used 'auto-accept,'" the DOJ said.

Read more:

https://t.co/RfBHcUCHlA

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

RealPage & Property Mgmt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[TN Attorney General @AGTennessee]

UPDATE on @AGTennessee & the USDOJ's suit against RealPage:

Today, in the suit against anticompetitive coordination in the housing market, TN and @JusticeATR added several additional corporations as defendants in the lawsuit.

Black box algorithms don't give companies a free pass to break the law.

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

@AGTennessee @JusticeATR RealPage & Property Mgmt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

@AZAGMayes RealPage & Property Mgmt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

Federal Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit #Realestate #News #TrendingNow #USA #Housing #Economy
https://t.co/7Kw8JARB9V

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

RealPage & Property Mgmt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

https://t.co/7Kw8JARB9V

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

RealPage & Property Mngt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

https://t.co/7Kw8JARB9V

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

RealPage & Property Mngt Grps are being sued for Price Fixing & Colluding using RealPage (who is partnered w/Zillow-Trulia) to artificially inflate & unlawfully manipulate housing $. If you reside in Apt/home that utilized RealPage to set prices contact [email protected]

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

Hoyt Griffith is dead & certainly not 56? How do you forge a state vital record? Who forged @stateoftenn with @VitalRecordCtrl ? #NEWS dead man walks & breathes & on a public record living after two decades! It’s a miracle! Is he registered to #vote too? #UnitedStates #miracles

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

Hoyt Griffith is dead & certainly not 56? How do you forge a state vital record? Who forged @stateoftenn with @VitalRecordCtrl ? #NEWS dead man walks & breathes & on a public record living after two decades! It’s a miracle! Is he registered to #vote too? #UnitedStates #miracles

[Jacqueline † @bmwgrl5]

In honor of #January being National Stalking Awareness Month and coincidentally also my birthday month, my #birthday #wish is for everyone to be aware that I’m being Stalked & Harassed and it’s been going on for almost 20 years. https://t.co/PmesmbOjkj