The Diary of a Slumlord

Plot

Sean Edmonds is the protagonist and principle villain of the story. He is a college graduate but frustrated that he is saddled with student loan debt, and unable to find a high-paying job. Ever resourceful, he sees an opportunity to free himself from debt and achieve the American dream in an unorthodox way. When the house that he is living in goes into foreclosure, he meets with his friend, Ray Knight, a local drug dealer.

The two strike up a bargain: Edmonds wants to get out of debt and Knight wants to "go legit." Knight gives Edmonds the money to buy the house from the bank. Edmonds then rents rooms at the property out at high prices, using the proceeds not only to pay back Knight, but purchase a number of other properties as well. He buys a number of buildings and rents them out to immigrants, drug dealers and prostitutes, allowing them to operate there not only in exchange for rent, but for a cut of the proceeds from their illegal activities. Knight uses Edmonds' real estate interests as a means of laundering drug money and hired thugs are used to ensure that the tenants pay up; Edmonds becomes very rich off of his ill-gotten investments.

During this time, he rekindles his romance with a former high-school sweet-heart, Donna Mitchell. Gradually, he lets her into his criminal empire. Things begin going sour for Edmonds when several members of Knight's crew are arrested in major federal drug sweeps. Knight panics and begins impulsively murdering subordinates that he believes are informing on him. It turns out that Edmonds' girlfriend, Donna, was a federal informant the whole time. She had been planted by the government in order to destroy the criminal organization from the inside. Knowing that he is caught and after being tipped off that Knight plans to kill him, Edmonds agrees to cooperate with authorities and testify against his former partner in exchange for a reduced sentence. The film ends citing Economic Policy Institute statistics about college graduate underemployment.

Cast