Letter From the Executive Director for September 2026: Should We Invest in the Service Provider Directory?

It feels like the last year has been a bumpy detour across unpaved roads in a sedan without shocks, as if our treasury chest has been sitting under a flapping trunk lid with dollar bills streaming out of it. That could be said of MassLandlords and, I suspect, our rental businesses.

After defeating rent control, the attorney fees for which we are still paying, and managing the upgrade to our membership dues billing system, which has drained a lot of administration and development time, we at MassLandlords now find ourselves surrounded by unsupportable price increases from our vendors. Chief among these, Harvest (recently acquired by Bending Spoons) has notified us that our critical time tracking system for employees, contractors and lobbying compliance will increase in price from $137.06 per month to $2,260.47 per month. Not even the most top-hattiest, mustachioed slumlord would be so brazen. So, we’ll move.

But what are we to do as landlords when our insurance likewise goes up so fast? How about when there are no qualified renters for our vacancy? How did we arrive at this point?

It’s a very challenging time for rental housing. On the one hand, recent policy changes have recognized the need to add more housing (even if few of us have successfully reinvested in MBTA communities or ADUs). And on the other hand, we’ve been ignoring key issues.

A 2019 study by Morris Kleiner and Evan Soltas was recently brought to my attention. It looks at licensing in the US. One state licenses aestheticians; another doesn’t. New York doesn’t license plumbers (did you know this? it’s up to the town); Massachusetts does. The differences between states give us a clue about what impact licensing may have. I’m sad to say it seems to be on average a net loss of social welfare. Even plumbers and electricians are worse off on average, because their increased pay does not make up for the cost of licensing.

It takes more time to become a Massachusetts master plumber (9,160 hours over ten years) than it took me to get a master’s degree in aerospace engineering (3,612 hours over six years). Is it any wonder we’ve got a rocket scientist running MassLandlords but we can’t find a plumber?

And that’s to say nothing of interest rates, real estate taxes or insurance. We need to be finding cost savings for one another.

We’ve been spitballing ideas. We’ve had signals from the handyman article and internal analysis of message board traffic. It seems helping our members find better, more affordable help is probably the best thing we could be working on. Do you agree or disagree? Email hello@masslandlords.net.

Our mission is to create better rental housing. We’re doing it in spite of the climate. Learn to use your benefits. Make sure dues are paying for themselves. Remember we’re here to help you. Tell us what you need most.

Sincerely,

Doug

Executive Director

MassLandlords, Inc.