It may still be September but the Halloween candy aisle is in full force, so I can give you a spooky Halloween song, right? “Afar” from the Brooklyn duo Xeno & Oaklander is a pretty primo haunted house soundtrack, dark and electronic and a little smoky if a song can be that? When you look up the translation of the French lyrics, you’ll find that it’s a bit of a poem on “luxury and misery,” which I think is a good place to leave you as we launch into some news on the idiocy of the real estate market right now. Turn on & tune in.

You know how all the mortals are being pushed out of the real estate market by everyone who can afford a cash deal? Well, here’s a cute headline: as the hospitality industry drowns, struggling bed & breakfast owners are selling off their properties to wealthy single-family buyers at such a clip that it’s now considered a trend. At least someone will enjoy those eighteen bedrooms off the coast of Maine— but it won’t be you.

For the above reasons, Zillow stalking isn’t even fun any more. Which is why I really want to believe in rent-to-own real estate companies. The premise is exciting— put your rent toward an eventual mortgage— but the reality is usually a drag: the properties are either limited, super expensive, or located in random places. Hopefully that’s changing as the market expands: Will Smith & Jay Z just invested in Landis, a company that explicitly focuses on clients who are underserved by the real estate market. The way it works is, the company acquires a bunch of properties in the $100-$400k range and rents them out to prospective first-time buyers until they qualify for a mortgage (Landis offers financial and credit coaching in that intervening period). The company aims to convert 80% of their renters into buyers within two years, which is way more than the industry standard. Maybe if it works, one of their clients’ great-great-great grandchildren can invest in a B&B.