[oh_sigh]

What was her methodology?

> To pass as a convincing buyer, Schmied enlisted an antiquarian friend in Budapest to serve as her “husband,” and invented a 21-month-old baby, a personal chef, and a personal assistant named "Coco." She also blew the entire allowance from her residency at Dumbo’s Triangle Arts Association on manicures, makeup and clothes.

Oh, but right...literally none of that was necessary:

>...Surprisingly, none of the brokers asked for a credit check or proof of net worth. “I think at that level, they don’t bother with financial information,” she explains.

[nicolas_t]

It is necessary, brokers are not going to do a credit check or proof of net worth because their clients would not like that but they will judge how you dress and how expensive you look so makeup and clothes are necessary for the impression needed.

Source: I've been dismissed before based on how I presented myself in such situation and learned to play the game when needed.

[lanternfish]

They didn't formally initiate a credit check or validate net worth, but I guarantee none of those brokers would give me the time of day if I called in right now. The theater is there to avoid the credit checks; the fact that they didn't check just means her plan worked.

[Ichthypresbyter]

Slightly reminded of the story about the guy who went into his local VW dealer and asked to test-drive a Golf GTI (which he could afford to buy). They did whatever (formal or informal) checks they normally do, and gave him the keys.

He drove it across town to the BMW dealer, and told them that his new GTI wasn't fast enough for him and he was interested in trading it in for an M3.

Repeat at higher- and higher-end car dealers until he's in a Lamborghini by lunchtime, which he then had a few hours to drive around in before he went back returning all of the cars...

[Of course, this only works in countries which don't have special easily-recognizable license plates for cars owned by a dealer.]

[keefe8]

The full story is an entertaining read: https://www.reddit.com/r/ActLikeYouBelong/comments/6zd39b/we...

[Ichthypresbyter]

Thanks, I'd forgotten some of the details (like the guy getting into the GTI by being an employee of the VW dealership).

[oh_sigh]

Why do you guarantee that? Have you ever tried? If she mortgaged her house and rented a $1M pearl necklace as part of her scheme, wouldn't you also be saying that that part of her plan worked? How do you determine what was necessary and what was just a waste of effort?

[rusticpenn]

Probably because of the prep. with the Chef and personal assistant.

[HWR_14]

Why do I care about her methodology? The article is about the apartments she viewed. It includes details about how she viewed them, but you quoted the entirety of the article about that bit of backstory.