RealPage rent-pricing case wraps with nearly $360M to renters

Re:RealPage rent-pricing case wraps with nearly $360M to ren... by Aboutplants on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:45AM (#50404083)

I had a plumber over to quote a HVAC replacement, while he was working up the quote I saw his iPad where his was inputting the equipment for costs etc, then it flipped over to an area that showed my home estimated value, my estimated household income and a ton of other economic measures that gave them sweet spots for their quote. While I obviously know people do this, to see it so blatantly laid out (it wasn’t meant for my eyes) was very gross.

By the way, the home value and income estimates were higher than reality, and his quote was also fairly high - though not the highest

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Re:RealPage rent-pricing case wraps with nearly $360M to ren... by turtleyacht on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:59AM (#50404192)

That sort of counters the advice to get three quotes. If every bidder has that info, it may be harder to get the "best" price.

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Re:RealPage rent-pricing case wraps with nearly $360M to ren... by lotsofpulp on Saturday November 07, 2026 @09:21AM (#50404773)

Not really, because a slightly smarter (or more motivated) seller will realize they can make the sale by being slightly lower than the other sellers.

A buyer should also ask the sellers for a lower price after the initial prices are given.

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Re:RealPage rent-pricing case wraps with nearly $360M to ren... by FireBeyond on Saturday November 07, 2026 @12:32PM (#50406327)

Except in RealPage's situation, RealPage would be conducting their own verification, and you'd have to request an override to deviate from the recommended pricing. Do that too often and they'd kick you out of the scheme that got you the data in the first place.

What blows my mind is there are multiple people in this thread saying that that is perfectly moral, ethical and legal, and the people in the class action got lucky because this would have all fallen apart in the courtroom.

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Re:RealPage rent-pricing case wraps with nearly $360M to ren... by hedora on Sunday November 08, 2026 @11:15AM (#50414507)

I know a mechanic through a friend that only works on cars of make A. I took my car of make B to someone down the street.

My mechanic friend heard about it, and gave me the following warning.

The mechanic I was working with had an application where you entered in symptoms (e.g. belt noise), and it would stack rank plausible-sounding repairs by profitability. (e.g., should you just replace the belt, should you replace the alternator, or replace the A/C compressor) It used the markup of the parts needed for each job, hours you can charge, actual hours worked, turnaround time (part lead time), etc.

I switched mechanics, and the maintenance cost of my car dropped 75%. It also was at least twice as reliable after that.

Apps like that (and the plumber one) should be illegal. Their only purpose is to defraud customers, so the developers + the customers should be facing jail time.

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