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
Now Benson… if you could just get on my side about streetcars, we’d be all set!
THL… being dependent on your parents deep into adulthood?! 24 and 26 years old is far from being a child. That is MUCH MUCH different than being dependent on a spouse.
You enter a marriage as a contract. If the marriage doesn’t work out, you figure it out. You build things together as a unit and you deal with the fallout if things don’t work.
A parent subsidizing your housing even though you’re an adult is a different kind of relationship.
ABSOLUTELY bxgrl.
A stranger at the bank can’t (potentially) use the $600,000 suitcase of money as leverage in your relationship (consciously or unconsciously, it’s inevitable)… and the stranger at the bank doesn’t give a crap about you except that you make your payments. This actually requires you to be an adult and care about making payments.
(And REALLY care about making payments… not, “Oh, daddy will be pissed off if I don’t pay him this month.”)
Oh right, and the stranger at the bank would NEVER have given these two overgrown teenagers a loan.
“Now helping your kids get a jump start in the world by helping them get an apartment to share is tantamount to giving them a narcotic?”
THL;
I respect your difference of opinion on the matter. However, I remain in my point.
If you think I am being “hysterical”, I would like to point out to you that this country is going through its biggest financial crisis in over 80 years PRECISELY because alot of people are living in homes they have no business being in. Poor financial thinking has ramifications, be it in the form of sub-prime mortgages, or Daddy Mortgage, Inc.
As Tybur6 just pointed out, they were not just given a “jump start”. They were given an apartment.
11217 — absolutely, I know lots of rich kids that have grown up to be strong, self-sufficient types. It is ALL about parenting it seems. This situation just doesn’t seem like a good choice. All-cash deal, i.e., NO risk for the daughters. They are dependent and BEHOLDEN to daddy. And they are put in a situation where they don’t have to be an adult or worry about real consequences.
What happens if she doesn’t want to be a teacher any more? Does she have to slog through teaching for a couple more years while she works on a new career path/training etc? Or does she just quit her job, get a part-time job at Starbucks and stop paying her daddy her monthly payments.
What happens when sister #2 figures out that being an actor is really hard? That combined with daddy looking for rent.
“Why would anyone who is an full grown adult want to put themselves into a position of dependency on someone that is not their spouse/partner?!!”
A stranger at the bank holding your mortgage is better than a parent??
For god sakes Benson!
“Sure, on one level, who wouldn’t want to be handed a $600,000 apartment? On the other hand, someone could be handing you a narcotic (in the form of a 2-bedroom apartment in PS). Not every one becomes addicted when they take a narcotic, but many people do.”
Now helping your kids get a jump start in the world by helping them get an apartment to share is tantamount to giving them a narcotic?
Yeah, there’s a direct comparison if ever I saw one ?!?!? Um, Dramatic much?
and tybur6:
“Why would anyone who is an full grown adult want to put themselves into a position of dependency on someone that is not their spouse/partner?!!”
Are you for real? How many marriages end in divorce vs. how many parent/child relationships? Somehow I don’t see their Dad taking off and leaving them.
Agree to disagree and move on but please drop the hysterical platitudes. You guys are unreal.
“Why would anyone who is an full grown adult want to put themselves into a position of dependency on someone that is not their spouse/partner?!!”
50% of marriages end in divorce.
I don’t believe the same can be said for siblings.
Honestly, I think dependency on a partner is MUCH scarier than with a family member.
Two words: Selma. Patty.