Lee Lin

Quoting Price Cuts and Discounts in Taiwan

First off, it turns out the Taiwanese have caught on to the Japanese Fortune Bag concept. Even Family Mart sells fukubukuro bags. My guess is the entire exercise is quite profitable... for the merchant. You would think for publicity...

Fukubukuro – Japanese Fortune Bags and Rental Apartments

Hello and Happy New Year from Tokyo, Japan. The culture here certainly has some interesting concepts not found elsewhere in the world. We previously discussed the ancient "Repaired With Gold" technique, hat tip to Jason Friedman. New Year Fortune Bags Around...

How Will Global Warming Impact Real Estate Prices?

Today, a VC named Fred Wilson discussed 10 bold predictions for the next decade on his well-named blog, avc.com. He is the same guy who Paul Graham once begged to invest in Brian Chesky's Airbnb, but famously declined, pre-Series...

What Does A Guarantor Actually Guarantee?

A guarantor is similar to a lease co-signer because they are jointly liable for fulfilling the required lease payments, but a guarantor is not expected or eligible to actually reside in the apartment along with the primary lessee. So...

Make Renting Great Again

None of us on Team RentHop are particularly political. We follow politics when things are interesting. Plus, the real estate industry will always be impacted by political agendas from all sides. But when it comes to red versus blue,...

Accuracy Deposit to Reactivate Suspended Agents

After an agent violates our advertising policies, we suspend the account and remove all of their listings and Pro Credits. Agents who are reinstated may be asked to provide an accuracy deposit towards their advertising fees to guarantee accurate...

Holiday Mailers and Tipping Reminders

Yesterday we discussed the mechanics of how to tip your doormen, and answered: Is it better to tip in cash, checks, or gift cards? Our rental guide also mentions how much you should tip your doormen. Today we move...

How To Tip Your New York City Building Doormen

What is the customary tip for your luxury high-rise doormen? or for that matter, your super, your porters, and housekeeper? Every other guide simply defers to the non-advice of "it depends." So we will try to be more concrete....

Ghost Banning To Stop Real Estate Broker Spam

Back in 2009, Lawrence and I were speaking with one of our early investors about spam messages. Specifically, Craigslist postings at the time were full of low-quality ads, and for anyone with a legitimate apartment, they would find their...

RentHop Completes The Ultimate Heist

Today, we had our annual RentHop Secret Santa gift exchange. We upgraded from the old "names in a hat" method to the much higher-tech Elfster (because one employee was tired of getting the same recipient three years in a...

About Me

Lee is a data geek from MIT who spent years at quantitative hedge funds cranking out models to explain and predict financial markets. Real estate has always been a big part of Lee's life. He grew up helping out at his parents' Jersey Shore motels, became a landlord his first year out of college, analyzed mortgages on a fixed-income trading desk, and acquired a New York real estate license. At RentHop, he combines his nerd talents and real estate knowledge to constantly tweak the secret HopScore. He currently lives near Bryant Park and his favorite restaurant was Cafe Zaiya (now known as Tomiz).

Latest News

Manhattan Listings Under $2,600 in November 2024

Renters know that Manhattan is expensive. The median price for an apartment in the borough decreased to $4,500 this...