Hot Tipper Erika let us know that Robin Beaty is renting out this Ballard, Seattle house for a mere $900 a month. Seriously, he’ll send you the keys if you’ll just send $900 for the first month’s rent. Erika says:

“I SERIOUSLY HOPE THAT PEOPLE HAVE THE COMMON SENSE NOT TO FALL FOR THIS BUT JUST WANTED MAKE SURE YOU WERE AWARE OF WHATS GOING ON.”

Perhaps the reverend is aware that a 30 year loan with 20% down and a 5% interest rate, his rental pricing comes out to nearly exactly half of the $1,868 a month our brand spanking new mortgage calculator predicts you’d pay for your payments if you bought it.

Apparently the missionary Mr. Beaty owns real estate up and down the West Coast - Ballard real estate is just part of his master plan. He has also been spotted in Sacramento. If you do decide to rent from Mr. Beaty (or his alter-ego, Rev. Robin Bruce), please get in touch with me; I have a very cheap bridge that you might be interested in buying.

(recreated from memory)

Dude: “We don’t have a lot of furrboes in New York.”
Me: “Furrboes?”
Dude: “Yeah, For Rent By Owners - F-R-B-Os. Brokers control all the rentals. If you want to rent an apartment, you have to pay a broker a fee.”
Me: “Right. FRBOs. I’ve heard about the setup here. I guess it’s no skin off the landlord’s back if you’re paying the fees.”
Dude: “Well, the FRBOs that you can find on Craigslist are all way overpriced because the landlord knows that people will pay more to avoid the broker fee.”
Me: “Bizarre.”

It does seem strange that the landlords in New York make consumers pay their marketing costs, but with rents continuing their upward march, perhaps the landlords don’t notice the money they could be capturing in higher rents.