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
hmm glad im not the only bitter betty this morning
*rob*
Rob, their father is a contractor from Jersey, and one of the daughters is a school teacher in Sunset Park. Guess this is what it takes to house our teachers.
Oh my god… This story is a real inspiration to me. How these two women found the *strength* to make it through this harrowing experience. First, they had that annoying, inflexible landlord. Then they had to deal with writing a check with all of those zeros — they probably even had to persevere through a 10 min visit at the bank.
I wish them the very best and hope their life struggle isn’t too much of a burden. They do have THREE bathrooms to clean now… hopefully they have a good cleaning lady.
oh im sure their internships at Vogue will help them pay for the inevitable sanity napkin clogged toilet. (a super in my old building said that was the # 1 thing he was always called for lol)
*rob*
I am going to have to agree with eh and Ditmas, persevere entails prevailing against unbeatable odds. these girls are just lucky to have a father that can enable them this opportunity.
not that I need to begrudge them, but come on.
although there renting situation wasnt great, I am sure all of us know people that have lived in much worse rental/ landlord situations.
and the minus side to owning, is that when things break, you have to take money and effort to fix things yourself. how can they be sure they will be able to afford to pay for things, or will they have to run to daddy?
Ditmas,
I was just coming in to say the exact same thing.
Good for them. It sounds like they were able to work out a pretty sweet deal for themselves but did they persevere? Hmm, maybe not so much.
yeah really. more like daddy’s hand. and why are two adult sisters sharing an apartment? creepy much? these new york times articles always seem to push at my buttons. grrr
*rob*
I wouldn’t begrudge these young women for having the luck of being born into a somewhat wealthy family, but “persevere”? How do you define persevere? As the ability to call daddy to get a suitcase full of cash?
If you’re under the age of 30 and you own a $600K apartment, you don’t know perseverance. You’re lucky.
“but their story is also one of renters who persevere to take matters into their own hands.”
you’re kidding right?