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
I agree with you, snowbunny. It doesn’t.
I do take exception to the blithe statement that all a renter needs to do is “persevere” and take matters into their own hands. A parable its not. The girls are lucky and more power to them that their father could help them out. But jscheff’s implying this is an example of how to take charge of your life and buy an apartment is way off base. The most perseverance they had was in convincing their father to help them and it seems as if that didn’t take much “perseverance” at all.
Would everyone here be happier if we had the same fact pattern but changed the neighborhood to say, Sunset Park? Bay Ridge? Or Canarsie? Are everyone’s panties in a bunch because it’s Park Slope?
Goodness gracious, where does this all come from? Incestuous? Are you nuts? These posts are just offensive.
1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom, three-bathroom condo in Park Slope…. I would live there with (almost)any of my relatives!
It is a typical NYTimes story, illustrating what wealthier folks can do. Oh well. Call the NY times and ask them to talk about what really matters.
“Being the beneficiary of your family’s good fortune does not necessarily mean that you are infantile, spoiled, lazy, etc.”
Snowbunny;
True enough. However, I assume that these two women have been receiving the benefits of their family’s good fortune for some time (schooling, childhood home,etc.). Despite what Mr. Jerk – er Mr. Joist – states above, no one is begrudging them that good fortune. The question is when will they decide to make something of themselves, with whatever God-given talents they are endowed.
Also, I think there is a happy medium between living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Brooklyn with Daddy’s money and slogging it to ENY. There are many happy mediums out there. Windsor Terrace is just one neighborhood over.
Even if they are spoiled….SO EFFING WHAT??? Most if not all of us would LOVE to be in a position to have a financially abled family member be the lender for us in the apartment/home of our dreams. How many of you would really turn down such an offer? Or at least not like to have the opportunity to turn down such an offer from a family member? The only real problem I seen in this story is Jscheff’s use of “persevere” because this doesn’t quite meet my definition of perseverance. But, these girls, I’m sure, don’t give a rat’s patootie about what I think. They’ve got a home to live in and a lender they can work with (so to speak). They are clearly happy with their situation and dad was happy to help them out. Next.
You know, I was getting all let-them-eat-caked over this yesterday, wallowing in bitter envy recalling our penniless struggles for a lousy ruin to call our own, all made worse after reading the inane item above (yeah, perseverance, right!)…but now I feel sort of cathasis’d-by-proxy and then some. Even poor little rich girls whose Jersey dad buys them a “cute” $600K apartment in cash don’t deserve to fall under the mudslinging locker-room banter of some of youse guys.
My dad lived by his own mother’s words of wisdom: “You treat a woman like a lady, not because she is a lady, but because YOU are a gentleman.” He didn’t leave a suitcase full of cash, but what he did bequeath me was (as they say) priceless.
The article and its subjects come off just fine. Dad’s got some cash and wants to use it to help his daughters live a little better. Don’t know why anyone would have a problem.
The whole “persevere” the rental market makes me a bit sick though. I really hope it was somewhat tongue in cheek, but I fear that it wasn’t. I don’t care who it is or how much they are spending, renting is a perfectly acceptable way to live. The more we perpetuate this stupidity that renting is to be “perservered” and owning the ultimate goal of all Americans the more we distort real estate prices which gives rise to the bubble econmics that hurt so many.
quote:
Being the beneficiary of your family’s good fortune does not necessarily mean that you are infantile, spoiled, lazy, etc. Good grief.
wake up and smell the ten dollar clovered organic mocha latte! YES it does (in like 99.9 percent of cases)
*rob*
Also, I used to work in East New York, and really can’t seriously recommend it as a place to live.