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Old 10-26-2014, 03:26 AM
 
11 posts, read 10,526 times
Reputation: 14

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This was typed on my phone so I apologize in advance if there are any errors. Sometimes spell check has a mind of it's own and changes words that shouldn't be changed, I think I caught most of them but it's 4am and I don't have my glasses on so I'm guessing I missed some.

Hey everybody. My name is Mike. I'm 24 years old and born and raised and still live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I own my house outright - no mortgage, I live in the house that my paternal grandparents who were immigrants bought in the 50's after their business was successful and they could a afford to move out of the Lower East Side and buy a house. When they passed away they left the house to my father and mother (my dad's only sibling lives with her husband in Massachusetts and she didn't want the house because back in the late eighties this wasn't the most desirable place to live in NYC.) And after I graduated from college my parents moved to Florida and sold me the house where I grew up for basically nothing.

My fiancé (soon to be husband), is a native of San Francisco, CA and would like to move back for the time being (a couple of years - this isn't a permanent move) because his dad just died and his elderly mother is all alone and refuses to leave CA. She is beginning to have health and memory problems and she has no family in the immediate area and he doesn't want to put her in a nursing home. So we are moving to SF. However, since me and his mom aren't exactly bosom buddies, we will be getting our own place close to hers. He is a bartender and has many connections out there so I don't think finding work will be a problem for him and he usually works during the evenings and is only planning to work a few shifts per week so he can spend the day with her while I'm working, and some of the evenings off can be spent with me. I work remotely so it wouldn't matter if I'm in Turkmenistan, Detroit, or Brooklyn because as long as I have an internet connection and a working phone line I can work, but I usually always go to Starbucks or the Library or something to work because if I try to work at home it's hard for me to stay in "business mode" and I wind up procrastinating and spending too much time on Facebook..so I spend the time I would be in the office if I had a "normal" job doing work outside of where I live, it's so much better that way because I know a lot of people who work from home who never get out of "business mode" because they literally live in the office whereas at 4 o'clock I turn off my laptop, get on the bus and go home and relax, but I have natural propensity for rambling and I realize that I'm really getting off topic.


Alright, so if you're familiar with my neighborhood at all you'll know that it is basically the center of "Hipster Brooklyn" and a picture of Bedford Avenue should be I'm the dictionary under "Gentrification. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing and I am pissed mostly about the fact that my neighbors and friends who were renters and not owners have been basically forced out because this area's prices have skyrocketed.
I wouldn't sell my house for a billion dollars (that's an exaggeration but whatever) because it has priceless sentimental value to me and my family. But the idea of it sitting vacant for years scares me because a nice 3 bedroom rowhouse on the Northside sitting empty for all that time would probably attract vandals and squatters etc. I already rent out the basement apartment to an old man from the neighborhood that I have known all my life and I charge him $500 all inclusive not for the money, but because he's an old guy who has lived in Brooklyn his whole life and is living on a fixed income so if he didn't have this he would be forced to either rent a room or move to the Poconos or something

Since I own the place outright, the only bills (besides utilities and stuff) that I pay are homeowner's insurance and property tax which compared to most housing costs in this neighborhood, doesn't come out to that much at all. So basically any amount I charge for the house will be profit. I have an idea to rent the house out for a reasonable price that a normal middle class family (like the one I grew up in) could afford so that they don't have to choose between living in a 1 bedroom with their kids or leaving the city. I would prefer to rent it to a family of native New Yorkers or Williamsburg/Greenpoint natives. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about my home sitting vacant, I could make enough to cover taxes and insurance, and I could do a little bit to help out my neighborhood/community. I also want to make this perfectly clear, this house is the house that I plan on raising my family in, and growing old and dying in. This move is only temporary. I don't particularly want to move but I understand that my fiancé wants to care for his mother. I did let him know that after 3 years, he will either have to convince her to move to NYC or put her in an assisted living facility. Because by the time I am 28 and he is 30 we have agreed that we will start looking into being parents and that we are raising our kids in NYC. That being said, a big concern of mine is finding tenants that are really grateful for the house and will take good care of it. Not some hipsters having fun for a few years in Brooklyn before they return to Indianapolis to be an Accountant lol.

My fiancé and parents think this is an awesome idea and I was talking to my friend this and she told me that I cannot choose a tenant based on where they're from, they're age, or how much I "like" them and I have to rent to the first person who makes an offer if they would be an acceptable tenant. I was told by this person that if I only offered my home to middle class (I don't have a specific income number in my mind..my idea of middle class would be a family that makes their money from owning a small business or working in the blue collar trades etc. I also don't have a monthly price in mind and I was thinking originally that it would be 1/3 of the tenant's income) families that are from the area. I could get sued for housing discrimination. I am gonna ask a lawyer regardless, but I wanted to ask you guys first: is my proposed idea considered illegal? If I do this can I get sued for discrimination?

I have experience being a landlord with my tenant downstairs (but I guess that's different because I know this man and never advertised the apartment, I just offered it to him and he has been a great, quiet tenant who always pays on time and has never given me an issue. But there is a lease in place and I do let him come up to my place to do his laundry in my machine but that is obviously going to end when I move out.) but this is going to be different because I won't be anywhere close to the property, I'll be 3500 miles across the country and I will actually have to search for a tenant.

Honestly, if this is the case and I can't go through with my plan. I am just not going to rent out my home and I will have my cousin who lives on Long Island and works in Downtown Brooklyn come to the house once a week and make sure all is well, in addition to installing a very advanced and expensive security system.

Of course, I would rather make enough to cover the bills of that house and help some people out than burden my family to take care of it, spend money on security, and worry the whole time I'm away if someone has turned my house into a heroin shooting gallery or something. But there is no way in hell that I am renting my childhood home to a bunch of 22 year old "artists" from the Midwest because to be quite honest...having to deal with them on line to buy cigarettes and coffee is infuriating and I find them pretentious and smug and the thought of being bound to a business relationship with them and trusting them to take care of my beloved house where I've lived my entire sounds like something out of a nightmare...lol.
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Old 10-26-2014, 09:17 AM
 
Location: New York, NY
624 posts, read 977,532 times
Reputation: 468
If you really want to go this route, the best way would be by word of mouth. Don't advertise formally but instead find someone through personal connections.

As soon as you officially put the house on the market and advertise it to the public for rents below market rate you will get flooded with requests. Many people who claim to be natives or families may or may not be. They may or may not trash your place just like any other tenant. If you really want to make sure your property is taken care of be a good land lord and require strong finances compared to the rent being charged, do a credit and background check, get a security deposit, etc..
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Old 10-26-2014, 11:38 AM
 
Location: Financial District
298 posts, read 704,039 times
Reputation: 301
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkmikey View Post

Of course, I would rather make enough to cover the bills of that house and help some people out than burden my family to take care of it, spend money on security, and worry the whole time I'm away if someone has turned my house into a heroin shooting gallery or something. But there is no way in hell that I am renting my childhood home to a bunch of 22 year old "artists" from the Midwest because to be quite honest...having to deal with them on line to buy cigarettes and coffee is infuriating and I find them pretentious and smug and the thought of being bound to a business relationship with them and trusting them to take care of my beloved house where I've lived my entire sounds like something out of a nightmare...lol.
Oh, so you're better than them because you grew up in Brooklyn? Think about it this way, if the artists weren't there, your house wouldn't be worth be worth anything. Nobody moves to Brooklyn to be around people like you.

I hope whomever you rent to refuses to leave when you come back -- nobody is going to want to give up below market rent.
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Old 10-26-2014, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Gods country
8,080 posts, read 6,685,583 times
Reputation: 10386
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkmikey View Post
This was typed on my phone so I apologize in advance if there are any errors. Sometimes spell check has a mind of it's own and changes words that shouldn't be changed, I think I caught most of them but it's 4am and I don't have my glasses on so I'm guessing I missed some.

Hey everybody. My name is Mike. I'm 24 years old and born and raised and still live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I own my house outright - no mortgage, I live in the house that my paternal grandparents who were immigrants bought in the 50's after their business was successful and they could a afford to move out of the Lower East Side and buy a house. When they passed away they left the house to my father and mother (my dad's only sibling lives with her husband in Massachusetts and she didn't want the house because back in the late eighties this wasn't the most desirable place to live in NYC.) And after I graduated from college my parents moved to Florida and sold me the house where I grew up for basically nothing.

My fiancé (soon to be husband), is a native of San Francisco, CA and would like to move back for the time being (a couple of years - this isn't a permanent move) because his dad just died and his elderly mother is all alone and refuses to leave CA. She is beginning to have health and memory problems and she has no family in the immediate area and he doesn't want to put her in a nursing home. So we are moving to SF. However, since me and his mom aren't exactly bosom buddies, we will be getting our own place close to hers. He is a bartender and has many connections out there so I don't think finding work will be a problem for him and he usually works during the evenings and is only planning to work a few shifts per week so he can spend the day with her while I'm working, and some of the evenings off can be spent with me. I work remotely so it wouldn't matter if I'm in Turkmenistan, Detroit, or Brooklyn because as long as I have an internet connection and a working phone line I can work, but I usually always go to Starbucks or the Library or something to work because if I try to work at home it's hard for me to stay in "business mode" and I wind up procrastinating and spending too much time on Facebook..so I spend the time I would be in the office if I had a "normal" job doing work outside of where I live, it's so much better that way because I know a lot of people who work from home who never get out of "business mode" because they literally live in the office whereas at 4 o'clock I turn off my laptop, get on the bus and go home and relax, but I have natural propensity for rambling and I realize that I'm really getting off topic.


Alright, so if you're familiar with my neighborhood at all you'll know that it is basically the center of "Hipster Brooklyn" and a picture of Bedford Avenue should be I'm the dictionary under "Gentrification. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing and I am pissed mostly about the fact that my neighbors and friends who were renters and not owners have been basically forced out because this area's prices have skyrocketed.
I wouldn't sell my house for a billion dollars (that's an exaggeration but whatever) because it has priceless sentimental value to me and my family. But the idea of it sitting vacant for years scares me because a nice 3 bedroom rowhouse on the Northside sitting empty for all that time would probably attract vandals and squatters etc. I already rent out the basement apartment to an old man from the neighborhood that I have known all my life and I charge him $500 all inclusive not for the money, but because he's an old guy who has lived in Brooklyn his whole life and is living on a fixed income so if he didn't have this he would be forced to either rent a room or move to the Poconos or something

Since I own the place outright, the only bills (besides utilities and stuff) that I pay are homeowner's insurance and property tax which compared to most housing costs in this neighborhood, doesn't come out to that much at all. So basically any amount I charge for the house will be profit. I have an idea to rent the house out for a reasonable price that a normal middle class family (like the one I grew up in) could afford so that they don't have to choose between living in a 1 bedroom with their kids or leaving the city. I would prefer to rent it to a family of native New Yorkers or Williamsburg/Greenpoint natives. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about my home sitting vacant, I could make enough to cover taxes and insurance, and I could do a little bit to help out my neighborhood/community. I also want to make this perfectly clear, this house is the house that I plan on raising my family in, and growing old and dying in. This move is only temporary. I don't particularly want to move but I understand that my fiancé wants to care for his mother. I did let him know that after 3 years, he will either have to convince her to move to NYC or put her in an assisted living facility. Because by the time I am 28 and he is 30 we have agreed that we will start looking into being parents and that we are raising our kids in NYC. That being said, a big concern of mine is finding tenants that are really grateful for the house and will take good care of it. Not some hipsters having fun for a few years in Brooklyn before they return to Indianapolis to be an Accountant lol.

My fiancé and parents think this is an awesome idea and I was talking to my friend this and she told me that I cannot choose a tenant based on where they're from, they're age, or how much I "like" them and I have to rent to the first person who makes an offer if they would be an acceptable tenant. I was told by this person that if I only offered my home to middle class (I don't have a specific income number in my mind..my idea of middle class would be a family that makes their money from owning a small business or working in the blue collar trades etc. I also don't have a monthly price in mind and I was thinking originally that it would be 1/3 of the tenant's income) families that are from the area. I could get sued for housing discrimination. I am gonna ask a lawyer regardless, but I wanted to ask you guys first: is my proposed idea considered illegal? If I do this can I get sued for discrimination?

I have experience being a landlord with my tenant downstairs (but I guess that's different because I know this man and never advertised the apartment, I just offered it to him and he has been a great, quiet tenant who always pays on time and has never given me an issue. But there is a lease in place and I do let him come up to my place to do his laundry in my machine but that is obviously going to end when I move out.) but this is going to be different because I won't be anywhere close to the property, I'll be 3500 miles across the country and I will actually have to search for a tenant.

Honestly, if this is the case and I can't go through with my plan. I am just not going to rent out my home and I will have my cousin who lives on Long Island and works in Downtown Brooklyn come to the house once a week and make sure all is well, in addition to installing a very advanced and expensive security system.

Of course, I would rather make enough to cover the bills of that house and help some people out than burden my family to take care of it, spend money on security, and worry the whole time I'm away if someone has turned my house into a heroin shooting gallery or something. But there is no way in hell that I am renting my childhood home to a bunch of 22 year old "artists" from the Midwest because to be quite honest...having to deal with them on line to buy cigarettes and coffee is infuriating and I find them pretentious and smug and the thought of being bound to a business relationship with them and trusting them to take care of my beloved house where I've lived my entire sounds like something out of a nightmare...lol.
Hire a management company to look after the house if you are worried about it while you are gone. PM me I know someone in Bushwick who can help you.
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Old 10-26-2014, 01:04 PM
 
Location: Between the Bays
10,786 posts, read 11,250,100 times
Reputation: 5272
I definitely wouldn't assume that a local native would take any better care of the house than an accountant from Indianapolis. It is on a person by person basis, it doesn't matter where they originally from. There are respectful people from everywhere. You are marrying a guy from out of state, so I would think you know this already.
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Old 10-26-2014, 01:19 PM
 
11 posts, read 10,526 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Dale View Post
I definitely wouldn't assume that a local native would take any better care of the house than an accountant from Indianapolis. It is on a person by person basis, it doesn't matter where they originally from. There are respectful people from everywhere. You are marrying a guy from out of state, so I would think you know this already.
Bottom line I don't want to further contribute to gentrification and help out my community which is native New Yorkers. Which btw I don't think are better than me but IMO are more entitled to live in Brooklyn.

I'm not interested in the value of my house, I'm not trying to make money off of it as I stated because to me it is priceless. And if the landlord doesn't renew the lease, you can't just "stay there". Of course I won't be a scumbag and I will give them ample notice that I'm coming back and if I do have to come back early, I will buy them out and they won't be complaining. I treat my community good and I don't ever screw people over if I can help it.

Opinions are like a**holes, we all have one. And tbh there is only one of those that I'm interested and I'm marrying it, lol.

I was just interested in the legal implications of what I was suggesting, like if I could get sued. Not if it offends people on a forum.
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Old 10-26-2014, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Financial District
298 posts, read 704,039 times
Reputation: 301
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkmikey View Post
I'm not interested in the value of my house, I'm not trying to make money off of it as I stated because to me it is priceless. And if the landlord doesn't renew the lease, you can't just "stay there". Of course I won't be a scumbag and I will give them ample notice that I'm coming back and if I do have to come back early, I will buy them out and they won't be complaining. I treat my community good and I don't ever screw people over if I can help it.
Yeah good luck evicting a single mom and her 5 kids when she can't find a suitable place to move at the price she is paying you.

Maybe you could live in the basement.
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Old 10-26-2014, 01:57 PM
 
11 posts, read 10,526 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by fmatthew5876 View Post
If you really want to go this route, the best way would be by word of mouth. Don't advertise formally but instead find someone through personal connections.

As soon as you officially put the house on the market and advertise it to the public for rents below market rate you will get flooded with requests. Many people who claim to be natives or families may or may not be. They may or may not trash your place just like any other tenant. If you really want to make sure your property is taken care of be a good land lord and require strong finances compared to the rent being charged, do a credit and background check, get a security deposit, etc..
That's probably the best idea. I'm going to get my friend who speaks Yiddish to make a flier and post it all over the Jewish part of W'burg, i figure a family of religious Jews would be a good candidate because they are good religious/moral people. They have a lot of kids and they are usually are community minded. I also assume that they would have a problem finding affordable housing cause areas that they traditionally live in are getting gentrified.
Btw, you all can call me insular or xenophobic if you'd like...but in my personal life I would rather deal with a d-bag brooklyn native than a kind awesome person from flyover country. New Yorkers are my people and I find them easier to deal with always...people have been coming to this city from other places since forever and I recognize that. But before the early 2000s outsiders moved to certain areas in manhattan that don't really have "natives" in the same sense as Brooklyn or Queens. My fiancé moved here from San Francisco and lived on W74th and Columbus. I have no problem with someone doing that, I have a problem with them moving to s2nd and driggs though. In addition, he isn't a pretentious artist waspy type, not is he the queeny gay type that both tend to move to NYC. He is a good guy who is the child of Italian Immigrants who decided to move west instead of to NYC like my family. Besides his accent, his culture is indistinguishable from natives.
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Old 10-26-2014, 02:10 PM
 
12,340 posts, read 26,022,073 times
Reputation: 10350
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkmikey View Post
That's probably the best idea. I'm going to get my friend who speaks Yiddish to make a flier and post it all over the Jewish part of W'burg, i figure a family of religious Jews would be a good candidate because they are good religious/moral people. They have a lot of kids and they are usually are community minded. I also assume that they would have a problem finding affordable housing cause areas that they traditionally live in are getting gentrified.
Btw, you all can call me insular or xenophobic if you'd like...but in my personal life I would rather deal with a d-bag brooklyn native than a kind awesome person from flyover country. New Yorkers are my people and I find them easier to deal with always...people have been coming to this city from other places since forever and I recognize that. But before the early 2000s outsiders moved to certain areas in manhattan that don't really have "natives" in the same sense as Brooklyn or Queens. My fiancé moved here from San Francisco and lived on W74th and Columbus. I have no problem with someone doing that, I have a problem with them moving to s2nd and driggs though. In addition, he isn't a pretentious artist waspy type, not is he the queeny gay type that both tend to move to NYC. He is a good guy who is the child of Italian Immigrants who decided to move west instead of to NYC like my family. Besides his accent, his culture is indistinguishable from natives.
The more you post, the more you are digging yourself a bigger hole. But I actually hope you get what you are looking for... mostly because I think with this mindset, you are actually going to end up with a d-bag Brooklyn native, and all the heaps of trouble that comes with when they are living in your home.
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Old 10-26-2014, 02:18 PM
 
11 posts, read 10,526 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ballervision View Post
Yeah good luck evicting a single mom and her 5 kids when she can't find a suitable place to move at the price she is paying you.

Maybe you could live in the basement.
Is that how the law works? Does it really give preferential treatment to situations like that? Or are you just opining because you're bored?
Because I would give this single mom with 5 kids (I wouldn't be renting to her anyway, my home isn't big enough for 5 kids.) about 3 months notice that I wasnt renewing the lease. I would return her deposit, and depending on how much I liked her/if me and her had a personal connection I might even assist her with moving expenses and help her find something new. It's not about money for me. It's about helping New Yorkers and keeping my house from sitting empty.


I think you don't like New Yorkers (real New Yorkers, the kind that were born in the 5 boroughs, have am accent etc.) or poor people. Sorry we can't all be born in Shaker Heighys Ohio, have a degree in History of Haberdashery from smith, work at an unpaid intership at a company that produces artisanal feminist woodcarvings and live temporarily in an overpriced apartment with enough roommates to be considered a tribe
in an area that can either be described as a debauched characterless shell of what used to be a nice place to for kids to grow up in, or a cockroach infested open air heroin market that has renovated all 7 privately owned dwellings that somehow command more that $10 (ten - not a typo!) per months even though theyre in the shadow of what seems like endless tower blocks of public housing that isn't suitable to raise a dog in . Depending on how far down the L train line you live


THIS POST WAS TYPED ON MY PHONE AND HAS A LOT OF TYPO'S, sorry bout that

Last edited by bkmikey; 10-26-2014 at 02:27 PM..
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