Author: Kay Cleaves

What to do if you’re the victim of a rental scam in Chicago

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One of our main goals at RentConfident is to protect renters from falling victim to these costly and illegal practices. We'll consider it "mission accomplished" when every renter knows to verify the landlord before sending personal data or money. Until then, we recognize that people will get scammed and need to recover.

One such scam victim was referred to me by a a friend of mine recently. The fellow in question (who we'll keep nameless here) applied for an apartment that he'd seen in person. The application had all the hallmarks of an official document. Everything seemed to be proper, so he provided a money order for the security deposit and credit check.

The victim believes that the people who showed him the apartment had found a staged, empty apartment to use as bait and broken into it before the "showing." They took his money and his data and he never heard from them again.

He contacted me looking for a how to on recovering from such an event. Below is the advice I provided, edited for blog use. Please bear in mind that this is not legal advice. I'm not a lawyer. I'm a former apartment and real estate agent that specializes in apartment research. Continue reading What to do if you’re the victim of a rental scam in Chicago

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Kay Cleaves

Small Business Safari: Vigilante Justice in the Digital Age.

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Last month, Cecil the lion was hunted down and killed in Zimbabwe by a dentist from Minnesota. Angry nature lovers then hunted down the dentist's business and attempted to kill it with a combination of protests and vicious reviews.

The media coverage making it seem like Dr. Walter Palmer's act of violence was extreme, but the hatred demonstrated by the public towards his place of business was exciting but expected. (Example 1) (Example 2)

Based on figures estimated by the ADA (link), this two-dentist office lost about $64,644 over the approximately 17 days that it was closed. (It has since reopened.) That's just shy of a full year's income for an full time dental hygienist.

Why do we value small businesses?

Small businesses are valued because they are theoretically responsive to the influence of the customers - of course, that responsiveness is directly related to their distinct vulnerability to changes in public opinion. You don't expect Comcast to change because you are displeased with their work. You do expect Uncle Joe's House of Ribs to step up the service if your potatoes arrive at the table cold.
Continue reading Small Business Safari: Vigilante Justice in the Digital Age.

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Kay Cleaves

Lawsuits in an Italian restaurant

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You are six years old. Your parents take you to a local Italian restaurant with a kids' menu. You love their macaroni and cheese. It's basic and bland and to your little kid taste buds it's delicious. You go back every couple of months and you get the same thing every time.

One day your mom goes on a health food kick. You return to the restaurant and your mother looks over the menu with her newly opened eyes. The kids' menu is full of junk! Too high in carbs. Too high in fat. You won't be eating any of that anymore! The only dish that she sees fit to feed you is the organic fagioli primavera risotto from the adults' menu.

"I'm sorry," says the waiter, "but your son is too young for that sort of dish. Most kids can't handle the strong flavors and textures. We advise young children to order from the kids menu. That way everyone can have a good time and a good meal."

Your mother isn't going to stand for that. "That's discrimination!" she shouts. "You can't keep someone from ordering a dish just because of their age! You'll be hearing from my lawyers!" She bundles you up and takes you home.

Continue reading Lawsuits in an Italian restaurant

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Which Chicago neighborhoods have forced out the most renters?

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Last week I posted a short essay about the dangers of using census data out of context. It talked about how renters could be encouraged by the out-of-date median rent rates listed in the American Community Survey to fall for fake listing scams that list apartments at rates far below actual market value.

At the end of that article, I mentioned that I had an alternate usage of those median rent rates that provided some amount of context. Today I've done a quick mockup using the data in a better context.

A Word of Caution

I know some readers are very active in the area of fair housing and that the whole area of gentrification is a very sensitive topic. The following should be considered as thought experiment. It is not a full scientific analysis nor should it be used as anything more than a starter example of data usage. Continue reading Which Chicago neighborhoods have forced out the most renters?

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Kay Cleaves

When open data hurts more than it helps

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Census data has long been a mainstay of the open data movement, and in many ways it has been used for good. Open data advocates and civic hackers are eager to bring government data to the public in useful ways. This is a movement that I support and wholeheartedly endorse. However, as someone who has worked in the rental industry for a decade, I would caution civic hackers to be very cautious when it comes to using the rent rates provided by the US Census Bureau.

It's very easy to pull median rent rates from the Census. Head over to American Fact Finder and I can easily find the median rent rate for my immediate area using the most recent data from the 2013 American Community Survey 5 year estimates. It says that the median contract rent rate for "Renter-occupied housing units paying cash rent" is $758. A well-meaning open gov hacker might well think "hey, I can help renters out by quickly creating an app that shares these prices!" And by doing so they would be contributing to the hundreds of renters that lose huge sums of cash to rental scammers every week.

Continue reading When open data hurts more than it helps

Published by

Kay Cleaves