RE Greed Reaches New Level in Cobble Hill
Most New Yorkers are pretty used to tales of landlords evicting tenants in the pursuit of profit maximization. But even the most hardened free-marketeer must have raised his eyebrows at yesterday’s report of two elederly sisters being kicked out of the Cobble Hill townhouse where they grew up by their nephew, Joseph DeLeonibus. Adding another…
Most New Yorkers are pretty used to tales of landlords evicting tenants in the pursuit of profit maximization. But even the most hardened free-marketeer must have raised his eyebrows at yesterday’s report of two elederly sisters being kicked out of the Cobble Hill townhouse where they grew up by their nephew, Joseph DeLeonibus. Adding another layer of intrigue was the listing for the Cheever Place property on Corcoran: “House is being offered for $999,999, without seeing it, without inspecting it, must close in 30 days, must be all cash and must take tenants in place.” Sounds a little desperate to us. There must be more to the story.
Hit the Bricks, Granny! [NY Daily News]
As an example, I saw a 6 room (I’m adding the kitchen, which doesn’t legally count as a room in France, so the ad says 5), 3 BR, 2 1/2 bath apartment in one of Paris’s finest bourgeois buildings in the 17th arrondisement, near the Place Wagram, fourth floor, elevator building, plus cave and enclosed parking space next door for 2.6 million euros plus 6 thousand euros a year paid to the sellers, who would continue to live there until their death — an 82-year old man and his 81-year old wife. It may be rather ghoulish, but on the other hand these people will get to live out their days in their home free from financial worries…
Unoccupied you’d probably pay at least 3.5 million euros for the same apartment. Still way cheaper than NY, London, Tokyo, LA, etc. Paris real estate is still a relative bargain.
BTW bkfederalist the housing in the HLMs or cites surrounding Paris is not free, just cheap (that’s what HLM stands for — habitiation a loyer modere — Sorry my computer can’t do accents.), just like the projects here. And I did live there, so I know their economy very (all too) well, which is a good part of why I came back here (that and the light). But this particular item — viager — has nothing to do with HLMs or ghettoes or anything like that and everything to do with real estate.
I didn’t write my earlier post about the viager system in France to say anything about the French economy or socialism or anything — in fact I think this practice is one of several paradoxes in the French economy that is totally anti-socialist (that and the fact that income taxes are not withheld from your pay and you’re expected to save on your own to pay your tax bill the following year). And what happened in France over the past two weeks is completely tragic, but was utterly foreseeable, and isn’t anything we haven’t already been through in this country — look at the Watts riots, the NYC blackout of 1977, etc. But this is not the place for this sort of discussion; I just wanted to make it clear that this one comment was by no means an apology for the French economic system.
It seems those who are on the elderly side find it morraly wrong, not legally. The courts have ruled and he has every right, but hes morally suspect. I won’t codemn the man without more info, but if the rent ($850 /month) covers his expenses, I will. JoshK, I would agree with you that this is bussiness, but if he’s breaking even then the house costs him nothing. He got this house for FREE, its not like hes a normal LL who purchased an investment property and is subsidizing someone. If you want to argue money from the LL persepctive you need to frame it as an arguement about lost profits (if the house market goes down), not lost rent money.
Even if the thing costs him a few bucks, its family. I can’t support every needy person out there, but I damn well will help my own family. So the argument we should be giving is missing the point. I feel for someone who has family that chooses not to help them in some way, if they can.
I have a great idea! Why don’t we all chip in to pay the rent for these women.
They can rent Brownstoner’s rental apartment. If we each chip in just a dollar a month, I’m sure we could come up with the $1800 or so he’s probably charging.
I’m sure Brownstoner’s friend/tenant would be happy to move out in order to help these two newly homeless old spinsters. With the recent flooding problems he’s endured, he’s probably wants out anyway.
Just one buck each is all it would take! A social experiment like this could change the world! Brownstoner could set up a live webcam and we could watch our “charges” cooking dinner and tending the garden.
amen, brother!
(I’m kidding, of course)
Yeah, and glad you’re not related to the old ladies — or you’d actually have to do something besides talk.
I hope that everyone here who believes the LL is solely responsible for his aunts voted for Bush, because that’s whose worldview you’re espousing. Forget about the social safety net or the obligation of all of us to people we’re not related to — let everyone be responsible for taking care of their own, and to hell with everyone else.
Your missing it. These old women are his mother’s sisters and he’s doing this to his own family.
Of course he is legally able too but what many of us find so repugnant is evicting frail family members. Glad I’m not related to him or his defenders.
All this guy is doing is selling the building. It’s the yuppie who buys it that will kick the ladies out. So why no hating on new yuppie landlords here? Oh, right — because this blog is for yuppie landlords.
Or do you all charge rents way below market for the apartments in your charmingly renovated brownstones, so the poor old ladies of the old neighborhood can continue living there?
Oh, wait, I forgot — it’s all right to take away housing from poor senior citizens if you have a big mortgage on your overpriced house and need all the extra money you can to pay for private schools. But if you’re doing it for something declasse like paying gambling debts, then you’re a greedy bastard.