alt Hacker NewsThat sucks. Maybe it's a cultural thing or due to different regulations (I'm not in North America)?
Anyhow, all else being equal, so long as I am living in a transactional society, I prefer those transactions to be with people I actually know. I like real relationships. So much of the way we are changing as a society seems to be alienating us from each other - I make a point of trying to counter that in my daily life.
Oh, yeah, for sure, I'm making confident assertions exclusively about American rental norms. I have no idea if corporate property management in Europe is better or worse than independent building owners. All I know is that renting is much more normalized there than it is here, where renters are considered a second-class state of residency that one expects to graduate from into full ownership as soon as possible.