Renters Become Their Own Landlords
The New York Times this weekend chronicled the housing woes of Mariah and Dominique Freda, two sisters who started out by playing the rental game in Park Slope. They were leasing a two-bedroom for $2,050, but the poor conditions and the inflexibility of the landlord motivated them to look into buying a place of their…
The New York Times this weekend chronicled the housing woes of Mariah and Dominique Freda, two sisters who started out by playing the rental game in Park Slope. They were leasing a two-bedroom for $2,050, but the poor conditions and the inflexibility of the landlord motivated them to look into buying a place of their own. The buying game turned out to have obstacles of its own, but the sisters eventually settled on a 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom, three-bathroom condo in Park Slope with a spiral staircase leading to a basement recreation room. The apartment had started out with a price tag of $639,000 but had recently been reduced to $599,000 and had a deal fall through; with some help from Dad, they were able to make an all-cash offer that beat out a higher, competing bid. The common charge and taxes were slightly less than $400 a month. “I didn’t realize how annoying a landlord is until I didn’t have one anymore,” Dominique told the Times. From the article, it seems that the Freda sisters could not have purchased the condo without their father’s assistance, who provided the up-front cash and is acting as the girls’ mortgage lender—a luxury that not all renters have—but their story is also one of renters who persevere to take matters into their own hands.
Theirs to Fix and Fix Up [NY Times]
Photo by Angel Franco for The New York Times
look them up on twitter. im sure they tweeted the whole harrowing experience.
*rob*
If these sisters think that dealing with a landlord is “annoying”, just wait till they experience the joys of a Park Slope condo board.
the sad thing is im sure the girls DID find the whole experience rough, so jsheff is probably spot on with this one.
*rob*
Doh!
rant = rent
Ditmas, totally agree with your 9:30 comment. The article doesn’t make any mention of “their story [being] one of renters who persevere to take matters into their own hands”, that appears to be jscheff’s editorial. While the article is kind of envy inducing, it’s not quite so ridiculous as to imply the girls viewed their situation as rough as the last line of the post implies.
Come on, don’t be so jealous. I bet almost all of us wish we’d had the ability to have the same opportunity at that age?
The dad is a smart cookie. Instead of having his girls flit away their money on rant or mortgage interest he’s keeping it in the family.
I say good for them!
Oh, and to be fair, we shouldn’t chastise these young women for Brownstoner’s poor choice of words.
“but their story is also one of renters who persevere to take matters into their own hands.”
Yeah, I’d also argue that stories of renters who take matters into their own hands probably involve housing court, or at the very least, doing a few chores and repairs around the building to save a few bucks on rent.
Getting fed up with renting and then buying at a young age is hardly an inspirational story.
What an insulting story for all of us who aren’t wealthy, spoiled 24 year olds from Jersey with rich developer fathers. Their rental was unacceptable because the shower suddenly went from hot to cold and the heat was spotty?? C’mon!! When you’re 24 and have no money, thats kinda par for the course.
Though I think this is my favorite part:
“They found a new condo listing with potential, and Mr. Freda called the listing agent, Maxine Resnick of the Corcoran Group’s Park Slope office, to say his two daughters would be attending the day’s open house, and if they liked the place, they would buy it.”
Daddy not only bought them an apartment that my girlfriend and I (at 30 with savings and good career track jobs) cant afford, he even HAD TO SET UP THE VIEWINGS for them and apparently deal with the broker!!!
I wonder if he got the condo to put up a big red ribbon on the front of the building so he could give it to his daughters as an Xmas gift, like in those silly holiday season car adds where the guy goes out to the driveway and the new car is there with a bow on it. So sill.