Dean was to attend a "Landlord Training Course" that the Department of Justice had just introduced in the past two years, aimed at "eliminating illegal and destructive behavior in rental properties."
When Dean drove his shabby Chevrolet pickup from his home garage to Tutton Avenue in the city center, it was nearing two o'clock in the afternoon.
The course was organized by the Youngstown Safety Association and held in the Government Welfare Building.
Interestingly, the same place where the poor collect a series of federal government welfare checks, including landlords cashing in their housing vouchers.
By the time Dean found the classroom where the lecture was to be held, there were already more than 60 landlords sitting inside, which was quite a surprise for him in Youngstown.
He had just sat down for two minutes when a tall woman in a dark suit walked in.
"I'm Susie Lang, in charge of today's training course. Now that the time has come, we'll start on schedule and end on schedule," she said.
Once she got into the groove, Susie, with her expression cool, clasped her hands behind her back and began speaking as if firing a machine gun.
"What's the most important thing about finding a property? Location, location, location! So, what's the most important thing about finding a tenant? Screening, screening, screening...
You have to do a lot of homework. Only then will you know who's bad and who's good, who can be rented to and who should be blacklisted."
Susie then told the attending landlords how to get hold of tenants' birth dates to check for criminal records, credit statuses, and other issues.
Dean, who was attending a session like this for the first time, had thought that most tutors would stick to the script, but he hadn't expected there to be so much to learn as a landlord.
"Be wary of those who claim to be freelancers or their own bosses because those selling leaves call themselves freelancers or their own bosses."
Unfortunately, the rental market doesn't have a reliable and effective screening service, and landlords often can't understand tenants' backgrounds and credit records right away."
Hearing Susie's complaints, Dean had a different idea. Information screening—that aligned somewhat with the classified website he was recently working on.
As everyone knows, the upcoming internet era is the information age, and information is valuable to those who need it, and they are willing to pay a fair price for it.
Dean glanced at the more than 60 landlords filling the classroom, over half of whom might be willing to pay for information as potential customers.
"Listen up," Susie signaled for everyone's attention, "you don't even need to consider someone with recent eviction or criminal records. Do you think people who have been evicted have money to pay rent?"
In America, landlords have the right to apply to the court to evict tenants, of course, there has to be a good reason. Such as unpaid rent, damage to building facilities, complaints from other tenants, and so forth—courts usually side with the landlords.
These eviction records are also regularly made public, but most people, including many of the landlords present, don't care about them.
However, Dean felt that this information had value. If he could collate this information, someone would surely be willing to pay some trivial US dollars for it.
Of course, the market wasn't big, since the audience was limited, but it was just the right size for Dean to test his idea, wasn't it?
Soon, Susie's course was nearing its end, but before finishing, she brought out a printed manual.
"I, too, am a landlord. In nearly ten years of my landlord career, I have categorized all the things you need to pay attention to during the rental process into a simple and easy-to-understand introduction manual."
"How to screen qualified tenants through small actions, how to legally evict tenants you dislike, how to avoid the hassle of housing inspectors...
For 2.99 US dollars per set, this manual will give you the answers," Susie's confident voice spread to every corner of the classroom.
Sitting below, Dean cursed silently, "Damn, it's all business." He hadn't expected the quite sisterly Susie to be a bona fide businesswoman.
What irritated him more was that someone got to this good idea before him, but they were in different lanes. He wanted to tell Susie a harsh reality—times have changed!
"Any more questions?" At the end of the course, Susie looked around the classroom.
"Should I give my tenants a long-term or short-term lease?"
"Focus on the contract, okay? No matter what the terms, make sure they're put down in black and white."
A man wearing a camouflage cap raised his hand, "When we collect rent, do we really need to give them a three-month buffer period or something else?"
"No, if they don't pay the rent, there's no grace period."
A lady asked, "Can we enter the public areas of the house, hallways, or open basements without notifying the tenants?"
Susie paused with a smile, then asked everyone in the classroom, "So, what's the answer?"
"You can," several landlords answered in unison.
Susie nodded, her gaze shifting back to the lady who had asked the question. "Come, read with me: This is my house."
"This is my house," the female student complied obediently.
"This is my house," Susie raised her volume, lifting both hands to signal the whole class to repeat after her.
"This is my house," the landlords in the classroom answered in unison.
"This is my house!" Susie pointed to the floor and growled.
The voices in the classroom resonated unanimously, like a proud and powerful choir, "This is my house! My house!"
Like a general inspecting soldiers, Susie nodded with satisfaction. "Congratulations, you have all become qualified landlords, class dismissed."
"Wait a minute!" Just as everyone was getting up to leave, Dean, who had been acting as part of the background, raised his hand.
"Does this student have any questions?" Susie stopped what she was doing, her face breaking into a professional smile.
"Miss Susie, I personally don't have any problems. But as a member of the landlords, I have a proposal that could bring convenience to everyone," Dean stood up, his voice laced with a tempting tone.
Indeed, even before Susie could react, the others seated in the classroom were already showing an interested expression.
"Oh?" Susie looked at Dean with surprise, "How may I address this student?"
"Dean Price, a freshman in Electronic Information Engineering at Cleveland State University," Dean humbly showcased his most prestigious title.
"Wow, I never expected to have such a young landlord in my class. So, Mr. Price, what is your main occupation?" Susie's teasing humor made everyone else in the classroom laugh.
Among these landlords, even the few big, burly guys whistled.
Ignoring the looks from others that suggested he was a greenhorn, Dean shrugged confidently. "That depends on the location. For instance, here, I am on the same side as everyone else. We all want to make money from tenants and the less trouble, the better."
Many nodded in agreement at his statement, the college student didn't seem to be the idealist they had imagined him to be. Money, the single goal they all shared, was a topic more effective than any other.
"Alright, Mr. Price," Susie returned to the podium, "let's hear your proposal that could bring convenience to everyone."
Susie was a landlord herself, and since Dean claimed his proposal was beneficial for everyone, she thought it was worth listening to.
"As Miss Susie just mentioned," Dean looked at Susie, who was dressed smartly in her OL business attire, and she nodded with a smile.
"The most important thing about renting is the location; the most crucial aspect of finding tenants is selection. Whether for landlords or tenants, how to find the information they need is key.
Let me ask everyone a question first, how many of you here are professional landlords?"
Contrary to Dean's expectations, more than half of the people in the classroom raised their hands, including Susie at the podium.
"So where do you all usually advertise your properties, or in other words, where do you place your ads?"
"Through an agent, of course," the man wearing a camo hat answered as if it was a given, which was the response of most people.
Most professional landlords have more than a couple of properties, but it's clearly not cost-effective for such resources to post newspaper ads or use other media for advertising.
So, specialized real estate agents are almost the only option for everyone.
"One last question," Dean raised his hand to emphasize, "how much does it cost to advertise with an agent, and how effective is it?"
"Agents usually charge us half a month's rent as compensation, and as for how effective it is, that depends on whether they are willing to introduce our properties to tenants," Susie answered Dean's question this time.
"Bingo~ That's exactly the problem!" Dean snapped his fingers, "Has anyone noticed that we landlords are always in a passive position throughout the whole process?"
"Agents take our money, but whether or not they promote our properties to tenants is entirely up to them. In the end, even if we get tenant details from them, those details have been filtered by the agents.
Often, the most valuable information remains hidden in the agents' hands, and this shouldn't be the case. We should be communicating directly with prospective tenants, which is not only more efficient but also saves us a considerable amount in agent fees."
Dean's last sentence was the point of real interest to everyone; no one wanted to pay an agent up to two or three hundred dollars for every property rental.
Eliminating middlemen and their markup meant that everyone's profits would rise to a whole new level.
"So what should we do?" The lady who had asked earlier couldn't wait to ask the question that was on everyone's mind.
Dean smiled mysteriously, "Has anyone heard of the internet?"