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* the only members of the market are you and the landlord* But that's not true. The landlord can increase the price of the rent, knowing that, as some point, y

* the only members of the market are you and the landlord* But that's not true. The landlord can increase the price of the rent, knowing that, as some point, you'll leave, because you, the buyer, consider it too high. The market around you, other possible renters, may not, and so the price the landlord sets will still be the market price. Now, the landlord knows you're a good customer: no pets, no parties, always clean. He has an incentive to keep you as such: you're predictable, no unforeseen costs, and knowing that, there may not be many possible renters willing to pay more, according to his estimations, and so it keeps the price stable (+CPI). That's still the market price. I can't understand why in HN, out of all places, people dismiss the superiority of a fully decentralized, uncoordinated, resilient information distribution system (free market prices), in favor of a centralized, brittle, obscure, arbitrary ruled one.

wpietri 7y ago
It is definitely true. The market for renewing your lease has exactly one seller. Last time I moved I spent maybe 60 hours looking and another couple hundred hours packing, cleaning, moving, and unpacking. Call it 250 hours, plus all sorts of stress and hassle. There were also a variety of expenses involved, plus having to have two deposits in play at once. I am definitely willing to pay more than $0 to avoid that hassle. Landlords can take advantage of that in lease renewal negotiations. As to having this discussion here, yes, HN has plenty of free-market fundamentalists. But it also has plenty of people who see markets as a tool for optimization. Like any tool they have necessary preconditions and failure modes. You can't design the market for housing like you do the market for candy bars and expect it to work just as well. You need the right tool for the job.

wpietri 7y ago

It is definitely true. The market for renewing your lease has exactly one seller. Last time I moved I spent maybe 60 hours looking and another couple hundred hours packing, cleaning, moving, and unpacking. Call it 250 hours, plus all sorts of stress and hassle. There were also a variety of expenses involved, plus having to have two deposits in play at once. I am definitely willing to pay more than $0 to avoid that hassle. Landlords can take advantage of that in lease renewal negotiations. As to having this discussion here, yes, HN has plenty of free-market fundamentalists. But it also has plenty of people who see markets as a tool for optimization. Like any tool they have necessary preconditions and failure modes. You can't design the market for housing like you do the market for candy bars and expect it to work just as well. You need the right tool for the job.