All Forum Posts by: Pat L.

We often get referrals for vacancies in our MF & other properties by existing or vacating tenants. We would NEVER allow anyone else to pick our tenants & we have the screening by a company of our choice.

it appears that employers have conceded to what could be a 'new normal'...

"..Manhattan's largest employers are starting to plan for the post-COVID future of work, and it seems most of them are giving up on the traditional way of doing things.

Some 66 percent said they would adopt a hybrid model of days in the office and days at home, another 9 percent said they would not require workers to return to the office at all, and 4 percent said it would ultimately be role-dependent..."

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/roughly-4-in-5-manhattan-office-workers-will-not-return-full-time-survey-says/2943582/

We had a bat die inside our Lakehouse...no idea how it got in.

But the neighboring STR Cottage had a couple of dead groundhogs in his crawl space & they were tough/nasty to get out. I have a feeling he laid poison down in the crawl space & it worked.

an interesting die-hard perspective...

"..Of course, if you ignore the death, the looting, the job losses, the loss in real-estate valuations and the highly uncertain prospects for central-city recovery, it hasn’t been that bad. There’s no place like home...."

https://nypost.com/2021/03/14/...

I do know for a fact he smokes & inhales his meds & is now VERY upset because, based on his health issues (very high BMI), he SHOULD be allowed the covid vaccination. 

But he's a good tenant of several years & pays on-time.

Didn't know where else to put this one...it should be under "You can't make this up" !!!

My MBSc tenant calls to complain about an overwhelming problem with Drosophila melanogaster. I figured we had a serious issue since they complained that they could not even eat in peace?? 

Once there & having googled the issue I told him an exterminator was NOT necessary, they just had to get rid of ALL the o/ripe bananas & slightly green moldy strawberries on the countertop as the attraction is the sugars etc. 

Then he says 'hold on' & retrieves from the open concept dining room a small plastic reptile cage FULL of stink bugs & rotting fruit for them to dine on ??? He tells me he collects them from the garage & cages them because he doesn't want to kill them & it's still too cold to evict them into the winter weather. I explain that maybe the Drosophila melanogaster are also dining & breeding in the same cage entering/exiting from the more than adequate ventilation screening. 

This guy actually has a $90K+ a yr job & votes !!!

@Patrick M. EXCELLENT exposé !!!

My nephew & wife were both (high 6 figure W-2) die-hard NYC residents of 15 years & definitely struggled with the thought of leaving when Covid hit. On family advice they bailed & took up residence in Longboat Key FL (family vacation residence). 

Due to Covid his wife was immediately 'furloughed' by the Real Estate Leasing/PM company in NYC. But they continued paying rent for their vacant apt until their lease expired ($30k). When they gave notice the LL offered them a 35% decrease if they renewed Oct 2020 for another year, but they had decided to stay in FL. 

He now works from 'home' (mergers & acquisitions) barefoot, on the stern of his very nice boat & his 'bride' is again very active in real estate FL style. She just had to get used to driving herself instead of calling for a 'car'. 

The few times they went back to visit her family in NJ they were further convinced that NYC was no longer conducive to a healthy, crime free lifestyle. The tolerance they endured for the abysmal conditions on the streets & subways had gone completely.

They have since befriended a large group of ex-NYC in FL, that they commiserate with, but no-one is planning on ever going back. One of them put it very succinctly, "NYC will be inundated with rats & desperate taxpayer funded slaves to poverty".

A friend who knew what we did in REI wanted us to partner 50:50. My wife said NO WAY, but I did it anyway. The partners wife was there a couple of days a week, but he barely showed up.

I assume he was overwhelmed with the work & bailed 3 months into the complete gut & rehab. Then he wanted all his money back plus $8k for the work he did?? As per the written agreement he got back what he invested minus legal & expenses. He was not pleased but he took it & we have not heard from him since. It delayed the project about 3 months but we still made a nice profit.

Never again !!!

We had a couple of tenants go AWOL on us so we just stored the items left behind for a couple of months. But we have a barn on the property so it's no problem. They NEVER returned & one left a nice set of tools & a new kayak.