#I applied to 11 fucking schools this year and i put those fees on my CREDIT CARD

[wrathfulrook]

Srsly whose dick do i have to suck to get into a phd program cuz at this point I’ll do anything

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

I notice you post quite a bit about your family being extremely poor but also are an adult and seem to write a lot. Do you work to help out your family, or are you unable to? There are jobs out there that involve writing if that’s the extent you're capable of, like if disabilities get in the way of normal jobs. The level of poverty you describe your family dealing with is really depressing.

So...

I spent 11/14 years in one Christian School. There was a hiatus of 3 years of me trying out public school but I got shoved back into RBCS in 8th grade and stayed. I did not not want to go but Sperm Donor said it was a punishment for my behavior, so I’d be forced to be around Bible Thumpers every damn day.

Private Schools in America cost money. Tuition for this place was $1500 a year for kids over 10. I found out my mom’s brother John paid all my former years of education there to try and keep me close to the family(since my Nana was my school teacher) and make sure my mom didn’t go full broke.

Sperm Donor was in a pickle himself at the time. He was in the processes of being arrested for stealing nearly a million dollars from his clients(he was a financial adviser). He only took from the very desperate, disabled clients too. One died because her parents couldn’t afford her medication, because he was stealing their money. We were in a tight spot as a result, though I didn’t know enough until later. He didn’t pay my tuition or book fees($100+).

So he’s carted off to prison a month before 8th grade ends and I’m sent back to my mom’s custody. And my principal(also pastor) calls my mom to inform her that she has a $1600+ bill to pay for my schooling. She definitely does not have that and I certainly don’t either.

Next day at school I get cornered about how stealing is a sin and dishonesty is a sin(instead of blaming Sperm Donor because God forbid the man in prison for STEALING be in the wrong here). I’m offered a chance to lower the bill if I go candy-selling with the rest of the students every Friday. I will get half the profits made and it’ll be taken off my debt. So I told my mom I’d help her out and I went and did it. I ended up having to stay in the school another year where the money added on and I went candy-selling on Tuesdays too to try and make up for it. I’d earn about $50 each time so $100 a week was put toward the debt, meaning $400 a month. 

The chick who was the school/church secretary however, was a bitch who had it out for us. Monthly we’d get notices about how much debt we were in with the school, and one month a student would have $457 and the next month on the first day they apparently had $890. If tuition monthly is about $150 for teen, how did the number shoot up so much? Mine kept getting abnormally higher and reaching into the $3,000s. And I told my mom who then bitched at the school. 

The secretary barely finished high school and the only reason she was in that position that she was not capable of handling alone or at all, was because she was kissing the church’s ass. She had sex outside of marriage on school property and got pregnant and was forced to marry him to save her dignity the moment she turned 18. They kept her very close with guilt ever since. Instead of just leaving, she chose to stay and be a bitch to everyone.

My tuition issue plagued me the entire time no matter how much I did. I was so stressed constantly and letters from Sperm Donor who got to write to me in prison, said the school wouldn’t accept his tuition payments when he re-enrolled me. He said he even got his new fiance to monitor a fund he set up before leaving, and sent the money in monthly for the year he signed on. IDK who to believe because he’s a pathological liar, but the church has also been trying for 4 years to get me back into their fold, popping up at my mom’s house uninvited, trying to guilt trip me with Godly reasons, accusing me of being a ‘whore’ who needs to get right with God all because I wore pants, and using my terminally ill Nana as an excuse. They very much would and have actually taken payments without recording them in the logbooks.

I spent my HS years in debt, working hard to get out of it. My HS teacher actually helped me by letting me clean her house once a month and I’d earn $150 in two days because the house was pretty big. I ended up candy-selling more and more days a week and bringing candy boxes home to sell in the neighborhood.

And it seemed to never let up. The numbers did not match. Somehow my debt was always in the $2000s+ but I was making at least $300 a month? My mom finally snapped and said she’d call the cops on the school if something didn’t change. A month later we get the updates to our accounts and the numbers dropped drastically. My Senior Year and I only had a couple hundred dollars left. And the Secretary was suspiciously quiet from then on and kept to herself and left us alone.

Still, I spent the whole time doing candy-selling for them so much, and having to attend church activities for them, that I never got a job. Candy-selling actually brought in more money than what a teen would be allowed to earn anyway. At the time I was so up the church’s ass and scared to make my own decisions that they said I wasn’t capable of making because I was so young, I had already agreed to continue being the church pianist past graduation and they’d agreed to help me fund college so long as I went to the one of their choice with my friends. They had set up my future vocation(teacher in the their school, pianist in their church) and my future husband(Sam most likely) and I wouldn’t have to do anything but follow rules. And as I was scared, I planned to go along with it.

But then they fucked me over a week before Senior Year ended and when June 5th passed and I got my diploma, I peaced out. We changed our phone number, stopped coming to the door when they came by, and ignored their chances at re-connection. And it was months after I got fucked over when they found out they were the ones in the wrong and tried to half ass an apology to me. Didn’t work.

After graduating, my step-dad demanded I get a job finally. Mind you, his failure of a son dropped out of HS & moved to PA with us and proceeded to rely on daddy to do all his work for him. Daddy got him a job at Weis, he faked being sick so much he was fired. Daddy got him another job at Walmart, he took too many days off and he got fired. He moved out of our house and in with his new girlfriend(after milking 3 of their cash already). This one was a trust fund baby(Bree) who was adopted. Her parents paid for her apartment, her nursing education, and gave her a card with $1,000 on it a month for anything she needed. Step-bro moved in and they wasted that whole card name-brand candy in a week. 

She started skipping classes to go out to eat with him. Her parents stopped by to see if she was doing well because the school became concerned over abnormal behavior. They wanted step-bro out of the apartment and the relationship to end because they said he was using her for her money(he was and admitted it to mine and my mom’s faces) and would get in the way of her goals in life. She refused. They said they’d take away her card if she didn’t. Well, they did. And another month went by with no changes and they withdrew the full payments for the schooling too. She dropped out. And finally the apartment a month after that.

So now she’s homeless and step-bro manages to swindle both of them back into our apartment. They have to sleep on the floor in the living room. Daddy got them both jobs at Amazon with him. The pay was pretty fucking good at the time. There was a year in between there where we had money and were contemplating getting our own house for the first time. Things were going well.

Step-dad didn’t try to help me get a job though. I asked for help because my search went nowhere. Those 3 got transportation every day and I was stuck with walking. We lived on a mountain and all businesses were at the bottom 2 miles away, so I applied to all available businesses within 2 miles, either in person or online. Never got any responses. As it was a bust, my mom just said, ‘help clean the house since they’re gone all day and help be my legs to watch your sister and I’ll consider that your rent’. So I did. Every day. And I hated it. And there are a lot of posts on here from then of me complaining about it.

So I asked him for help and he never did. But he would demand to know why I didn’t have a job yet or why the house wasn’t perfectly clean? And I’m like, “Dude, you leave your dirty clothes everywhere. You don’t take your dishes into the kitchen. I clean in the day, you get back in the evening and trash the place and by the morning when you’re gone, it’s all a mess. You only see mess because it’s all you 3 make all day with candy wrappers and soda cans!”

After year he had a seizure on the floor and had to be rushed to the hospital from Amazon. Epileptic issues meant no more work at Amazon because his job was operating heavy machinery and he kept having small seizures weeks later! Without him there every day to keep step-bro and gf on their toes, they started calling in sick together or skipping work with dumb reasons. They got fired soon after. The job hunt was a failure, but daddy was still getting jobs for all of them! Instead of over the table jobs, they now worked under the table, fixing up houses(sheetrock, spackle, insulation, etc...). Still didn’t try and help me get a job. I didn’t know how to do any of that, but gf didn’t either but they taught her how to do it.

Frankly, it got to a point of me being a live-in maid in exchange for me staying under their roof, while step-bro and gf made up excuses to not have to help step-dad. Sick, business, too tired, whatever they came up with. I remained home, handling my sister’s online education with my mom, cleaning the house, handling my sister’s bullies, handling our shitty inspector, and all that crap.

Step-dad takes in a friend of his who was evicted and homeless so he’s sleeping on our other couch at this time. Kind of easy to forget but we felt bad for his situation as it was his girlfriend who fucked him over.

And then step-dad and step-bro opened their mouths on something they should have avoided. In that place we kept to ourselves. There was shady shit going on. Murder, drug deals, drive-bys, etc. Mom and I left them all alone and turned the other way and they left us alone. 19 years in that place. If a cop came by asking questions of the only white person in the joint, she’d go, ‘we know nothing, we saw nothing, sorry’. But step-dad and Junior opened their mouths and one of the newer guys reported the son and gf because they weren’t on our lease. We got evicted after 19 years of good relations with management because someone inserted an opinion in something he should have stayed out of.

So 30 days to gtfo, no one in the house has a real job with consistent pay, we move in with my mom’s uncle for the time being. The house is huge with many bedrooms but to conserve space, I, mom, and my sister bunk in the same room. Mom and Bethy got the bed and I slept on the floor for 2 years. Step-dad don’t know what the eff he’s doing for months. We’re up in buttfuck Egypt. He and the Tweedle dimwits are still doing what they were doing before but now have to drive 3 hours to and 3 hours back just to make it. Mom is doing surveys online to make extra money. She’s trying to do her best while disabled. I’m helping clean the house as my form of payment. The car fails, money that was being saved up to move out, has to go to that. The next one fails too so that has to be handled and we’re in debt now! Christmases and Birthdays are nonexistent. Her Uncle’s new wife isn’t quite so open to us being there and complains a lot.

Step-dad manages to make a deal with a guy he’s working with. He fixes up a house the guy owns, and works for him on more houses after that, and he’ll get a considerably low payment for the rent monthly. He didn’t do much work and lied to mom about what was done and when all was said and done, we moved in and it was a wreck. Worse than it is now but it’s still pretty effin terrible. No kitchen, the bathroom is half-finished still, no insulation, power problems, you name it. It’s bad. But cheap because the lease shows we owe $20 a month instead of $200 because the guy forgot to add a zero when he was drawing up the contract.

Then step-bro and gf manage to convince step-bro’s grammy to move down to PA and rent a house for them to use. They still don’t have jobs, disabled grammy pays for everything. Step-dad’s couch-dwelling friend gets a new gf and moves in with her. Step-dad is driving 3 hours to work and by the time he gets back, he sleeps for 4 hours and then has to leave again. Finally he starts staying at his son’s place because it’s closer and less gas to spend, but that also means he’s taken the car. We’re stranded here with only a mini mart across the street as the only shop for miles! He makes excuses for why he can’t come up. Mom has so many health problems but hasn’t seen a doctor in 5 years because of this. I haven’t seen one in 6. My sister is the only one with regular appointments because they’re necessary for school. If anything, at least she remains unaffected by this crap.

I too have taken to doing surveys now. If I get 500 pts a day that’s a $5 gift card to target which delivers here. One of the few places that do.

I can’t even work at the mini mart because the man has 6 employees for each day of the day. 1 works with him each day but Monday where he works alone because there’s less rush on Mondays.

No matter how I complain it’s not like I can go anywhere. There’s still a roof over my head and I have access to the internet. Even if I’m cold every day, borderline ill, and miserable, it’s better than being on the streets.

Some poor people are very unlucky. We are those people. The ones where everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Step-dad’s been through 4 cars since coming here cuz they keep breaking down and needing to be fixed. My sister’s been sick every other month. Power goes out a lot.

I cope by whining online.

[canaryatlaw]

WOW I’VE BEEN AWAKE FOR 23 HOURS SO THAT’S FUN. lol, I did nap shortly this afternoon but I don’t think I actually fell asleep. but yeah, this morning my alarm went off at 3 am (eastern time, so 2 am central where it’s now 1 am) and I got out of bed, got ready, and thankfully got an uber to the airport (I was kinda worried we wouldn’t be able to get one at that hour in Jacksonville because, well, it’s not exactly Chicago), and were there shortly after. There were a surprising number of people in line for security for that hour, but the airport itself was pretty much abandoned, nobody was open yet. There were people inside the Starbucks (the front gate thing was down) but they weren’t opening until 5 and our plane took off at 5:15, so we’d already be long boarded since then, so breakfast was mostly a clementine and some belvita breakfast crackers we had. I attempted the second medium difficultly sudoku puzzle on the airplane magazine because it was the only one I hadn’t done yet, and I didn’t think I’d be able to finish it but I actually did, so I felt accomplished there. I pulled out my laptop to read some fanfic I had pulled up on my browser, then went back and did more sudoku because why the fuck not. I also ate some candy because I was hungry 🤷🏻‍♀️😂. Our plane landed at 6:45 am Chicago time, and Jess had to get to work by 8, so we were doing our best to get out of there but we had to wait for the shuttle to the economy lot (not the economy garage or the daily parking lot, both of which shuttles came before ours) so that took a while, and then the drive back up to the loop took a bit because Midway is pretty far on the south side. I pretty much jumped out of the moving car (okay that might be a slight exaggeration, but I definitely opened the door before the car stopped moving) at the Roosevelt red line stop so I could head over to school. I first stopped at the Starbucks across the street and got a venti pink drink (because it’s made with the refresher mix which is non-coffee caffeination) so I could try to wake up some more because the small cup of coke I had on the plane was not doing it. I then walked back to our building, as expected at 8 am, it was virtually abandoned, I’m pretty sure it’s the earliest I’ve ever even been at school, and I didn’t have class til 1 but I had plenty of stuff to work on so I settled into the PAD office and got to work. First was reading the case for civil rights for Wednesday, which clocked in at 36 pages, so I ended up reading the first half to figure out what was going on and then used the summaries to piece the rest of it together. Then came working on the rest of my Illinois Bar Exam application, which has been stressing me out a bit because apparently the DMV records I need to get them from NY can’t be downloaded online, I have to wait for them to send me a physical copy in the mail, which will probably not be postmarked by the April 1st deadline, which then puts my registration into the “really late” category and the fee jumps up another $350 (when it’s already like $1100 ffs) so I’d like to avoid that but I might not be able to 😑 as if they don’t have enough of my money already, I have to pay to take the test I’m forced to take to get certified as an attorney, and this is one I might not even take because as of now I’m gonna end up registering for the Illinois and New York bars, when in all likelihood (like 99% likelihood) I’m only gonna be taking one of them, which means I get to eat the $1K nonrefundable application fee 😑😑😑 wonderful, thanks government. So that took a while, but then I got back to my legal drafting assignment, which I’m fairly happy with right now, though at the same time I’m kinda nervous because my last few assignments have been getting such crappy grades, but I’m definitely putting more effort into this one and it is something I have real world experience doing, so that should help. plus we’re back in case-based reasoning, which is like, my jam, so I got to work finding an analogous case and stumbled upon a real winner that I was able to get a solid three paragraphs of analysis out of. It’s supposed to be 5-6 pages total, including the motion and brief in support of motion (basically the actual motion is a quick 1-2 page summary while the brief goes into details, but I just hit 5 pages on the brief and honestly I still have more stuff to say, so I’ll have to spend some time doing some editing and working on that. I’m trying to find a distinguishing case (meaning a case that goes against your argument that you can argue is distinguishable from the present case and that precedent shouldn’t apply) but since it’s motion to extend wardship a lot of what came up was juvenile justice stuff, not child protection, and it’s actually kinda hard to find info on those cases, so I may or may not end up finding one, but if there is one out there and I don’t find it (or ignore it) it could reflect badly upon me so I’m trying to avoid that for sure. A little after noon I stopped and got some salad from the place across the street (because yay salad~) and came back to school, eating my salad and then heading to civil rights. class was fine, I was feeling kinda antsy about maybe getting called on because I know it’s been a while, but not like super urgent about it so I wasn’t terribly surprised when I didn’t in fact get called on. Class ended, I dropped my book in the PAD office and then returned to Starbucks because I had to try their special “Crystal Ball Frappuccino” they were only having through today, because I had a birthday reward to use for a free drink and it was so kind of Starbucks to release a special drink for my birthday again, since back in 2015 they were featuring the birthday cake frap on my birthday, so clearly this was something I needed to try. It was pretty good! a solid peach flavor, I thought it was quite enjoyable. Took the train home and collapsed onto my bed for about an hour, though I don’t think I actually ever fell asleep, which is pretty typical for naps for me really. I got back up at 5 and spent a little while filling out the paperwork I need to send to the NY DMV tomorrow, then Jess came over and I ordered pizza. Jess gave me my birthday present, which is a super amazing and adorable friendship scrapbook featuring all our adventures so far and I love it so damn much and I feel super blessed to have gained an amazing best friend this year who’s made my life so much more fun. So we watched Mistresses waiting for Legends which we were of course very excited about because it was finally time for “I, Ava” which we had long been speculating on. I am already super tired and sleep is fast creeping up on me so I’ll try to keep this somewhat short (or we’ll see at least). I really liked the episode, I thought it was super well-written and just excellent all around. MY POOR BBY AVA. She was so obviously distressed but that scene with Sara reassuring her is my LIFE, and it gave me so much love, as did the following scene of them totally kicking ass together, just like, I am living my best life right now with my girls, my soft girlfriends who are totally endgame despite not officially being back together yet (I mean, Sara basically confessed her love for Ava tonight, so it’s really only a matter of time). Otherwise in the episode, the Nate and Kuasa/Damien stuff was pretty good, the one scene with Darhk and Nate pretending to be torturing Nate was fucking hilarious, they both played it so well. It’s gonna be a very interesting climax they’re building to with Darhk growing more and more concerned about his daughter and caring less about Mallus, and at this point (and given the promotional photos for 3x17 released today) it looks like Darhk may be the one the legends make an “uneasy alliance” with in 3x17. All the family stuff with Kuasa and Amaya and Mari (who I was kinda sad we didn’t get a cameo of, but I guess the actress is otherwise occupied) was both great and heartbreaking, so much emotion so well played by everyone. I wasn’t all that crazy about the Zari and Mick stuff, mostly because I feel like their characterization of Mick this season has been really poor, hitting an all time low tonight with him calling Zari a bitch. Like....what? I don’t understand why this is happening, it isn’t funny or entertaining, it’s just awkward. Give him something else to do please, and don’t keep writing him as a dumbass who’s just rude to everyone. But yeah, I liked the episode a lot (so much for keeping it short, but hey it happens). After the episode Jess was writing her episode tag and I attempted to get ice cream delivered because birthday but it ended up being a whole big fiasco and I wrote a very long note to postmates about it and I’m honestly hoping I get my money back because it was all just fucking ridiculous. but yeah, Jess finished writing, she left and I edited it for her while she walked home, then I started getting ready for bed and here we be. DV courthouse tomorrow, which I’m looking forward to because of course I genuinely enjoy working there. I only have two shifts left until I have to report my pro bono hours for school and I don’t think I’m gonna hit the 200 hours needed to get the award I want, and like, I’m somewhat tempted to fudge it but lying about pro bono hours sounds like a really not good thing to do....we’ll see I guess. Again, really fucking tired and glad I get to sleep until almost 11 tomorrow so I can at least catch up on sleep a little. Today was a lovely birthday. Goodnight my darlings. Have a lovely night.

[hyphenatedamericans]

“write it all down.”

I heard it from some dumb lady on a dumb podcast saying dumb things. It’s the only bit of information that actually stuck with me. So I’m going to give it a try. Because I don’t have any other options. My mental health is at an all time low and I don’t know what to do. 

I want to stop living, truthfully. I don’t mean I want to kill myself. I don’t have the guts. I just mean I want it to be all over. I just want some nuclear explosion to make us all go away. Or if that’s too painful... what about if we just disappear? like that Hulu show. Idk what its called. where people just go poof. But not some conspiracy shit. I just want to cease to exist. Idc how.

I’ve had enough of the pressures of life, which is some weak shit to say being that I’m pretty privileged: educated, food, shelter, work, family, love. But I guess I’m just not strong enough to deal with the pressures that I have. Mentally, I mean. Others can go through real life fucking trauma and live and come out stronger. But I can’t seem make it through my everyday tasks without wanting to die. I just dont think im strong enough to do anything.

Is this depression? They always say that it looks different on everyone. Some can’t get out of bed, some express self-hate, some this, some that. 

Is it anxiety? Everything stresses me out. Noises outside my window, the little red squiggly line under the misspelled words in this text post, paying bills, planning meals, having kids, the GRE, applying to schools, time to see my grandma, my dog shedding his summer coat. 

You know that saying of the camel and the straw that broke its back. I feel like all of these things are bricks. Not straws. And that my back broke down bricks ago but somehow people keep piling on more bricks. 

Here’s a list:

1. I need Jaira to get a new job because I need help with bills and shit 2. I need a cleaning lady. Im tired of cleaning 3 times a week. 3. Planning my every meal is exhausting. I get home at 730 to have to start cooking dinner. 4. i go to sleep past 12am every night. 5. my hair requires maintenance 6. applying to schools. 7. asking briana and andi for recommendation letters

8. studying for the gre 9. i took it already and performed sooooooo below average 10. i have to take it again 11. my grade on this next one 12. starting applications !3. i dont have time to do any of the 12 things ive mentioned so far 14. I should get a poster board to write down all of my grad school requirements. but that means i need cash to get it because the dollar store doesnt take card. but I have $23 in my checking account and if I take out $20 that means ill have $3 until thursday.  15. Jaira needs to start applying for 4-years 16. i miss my grandma 17. i miss my mom and my dad 18. i should help my dad park the car for street cleaning 19. why should i ? nicolas doesnt do shit. 20. i hope tiffany never kills herself. because i will blame it on myself. 21. why do i care what people think 22. should i go back to smoking cigarettes? those make me fee better 23, i need to fill fafsa out 24, i need to change my loans so that I dont have to start paying in november 25. i need to ask briana whether i have to pay taxes on what im making 26. fuck trump 27. innocant people die everyday 28. black lives matter 29. undocumented lives matter 30. WTF DOES ILLEGAL EVEN MEAN- no one is fucking illegal 31. people confuse race and ethnicity and that fucks everything up 32. i miss the obamas 33. am i fulfilling my civic duty by not protesting enough 34. election day is coming up. i should educate others on the importance of voting 35. relax maca: mental health >well being others. heal yourself before you can help others 36. im a lazy shit that cant help herself. 37. I wanna shave my head.

all of these thoughts are allways in my head at the same time. all day every day.

im having some weird existential crisis where i realize that nothing in life has meaning and nothing really matters. we give it meaning we allow the facets of life to control us. so then why am i panicking? why do i care? and when i stop caring.... this list bumps into my head again. ive never gotten all of these feeelings out at once. im glad i did. im glad i put it in writing. where i can SEE it. and theyre not just words floating in my head. it helps. im not sure how but writing this out helps. im glad i found the time to do it. but now i feel guilty about not studying for my GRE. its all a never-ending cycle of bad anxiety and self-loathing. 

i just told jaira to buy me a poster board. 

[rebeccahpedersen]

Greed Is Good……Right?

TorontoRealtyBlog

The 1980’s were said to be the “Decade of Greed,” and if Hollywood’s portrayal was any indication, those of us watching now in hindsight would have no reason to believe it was anything to the contrary.

Market regulations, consumer interactions, and the way commerce is transacted may have changed since then, but greed still exists.

The real estate market, as many of you would argue, is ground zero.

Let me tell you a story about greed, that still after having thought about this for weeks, and written the entire blog below, makes absolutely, positively, no sense…

“Greed Is Good”

It makes a great tagline, and looks cool in that quasi-Gothic font next to a young Michael Douglas, who blends into the background darkness in a way that Oliver Stone seems to see the whole world.

Wall Street opened my eyes as a young man, since I actually never watched it until I was in third year university, taking business, dreaming of becoming a caviar-eating, lear-jet flying, financier.

As cool as the movie was, and as great as the one-liners were, I actually found the movie to be quite depressing.

Unlike most people my age, I didn’t think Michael Douglas’ character was anything to aspire to.

Yes, he was rich and powerful, and if he didn’t earn the respect of his peers, he certainly went out and took it.

But like most people who does what he does, he eventually fell hard, as did his protege, Bud Fox, who had to rat out his mentor in order to save his own skin.

Many young people watch Wall Street and say, “That’s exactly what I want to do!”

The movie had the exact opposite effect on me.

I feared an existence like that of Bud Fox, who was only with a woman who liked him because he was rich, and scoffed at the idea of “getting by” in something less than a top-end Penthouse apartment.

And by the end of the movie, I began to wonder if the take-away was that hard work alone isn’t enough to be successful; you also have to lie, cheat, and steal.

The timing of my first viewing of this film also coincided with the tech-boom of 1999, which led to a spectacular bust.

And I began to sour on the world of high-stakes trading, and look elsewhere as far as school, and career, was concerned.

That one line in the movie though always stuck out at me: Greed Is Good.

I never quite understood it.

I think that most people who play with fire, get burned.

I believe in taking risks, I believe in being different, I believe in thinking outside the box, and I think combined with hard work and sacrifice, success – and wealth, is achieveable.

But at what cost?  That’s where every individual has his or her own set of ideas and ideals.

And the whole “Greed is good” mentality never motivated me, because I didn’t think it was a means to a successful end.

There’s no shortage of greed in the real estate market, as many of you can attest to.

Whether you were on the giving or receiving end of greed, we all know that it happens as often as properties go up for sale.

But there are different measures of greed, and different motivations.

I’m not sure what’s worse: greed on a smaller scale, or a larger one.

I have clients who are relocating to Toronto, and they are the very definition of “executives;” a word that gets thrown around a lot.

Executive rentals, executive tenants – what does this all mean?

Well, my clients are actually executives, who have extremely high-paying jobs of great stature, can afford the “luxury rentals” that other people scoff at, and would be the absolute spitting image of a “Triple-A Tenant.”

We were looking at two penthouse condos in a luxury condo downtown, but before I took my clients for a viewing, I called the listing agent to clarify something in the broker’s remarks of the MLS listing.

The Condo was listed for $8,000 per month, and then decreased in price to $7,125 per month.

However, the following note appeared in the MLS listing:

Tenant Responsible For Base Rent of $7,125 Per Month Plus Condominium Maintenance Fees Of $875 Per Month = $8,000 Per Month.

So first of all, the unit wasn’t really decreased in price.  All they did was lower the asking price for the rent, and then build in the maintenance fee.

But more importantly, and as I asked the listing agent, “Who the hell expects a tenant to pay the maintenance fees?”

“I’ve done a hundred rentals,” I told her, “And I’ve never had a tenant pay for the maintenance fees.”

Surprisingly, she said, “I know, neither have I.”

So what was the issue here,  I wondered.  It didn’t make any sense.

“There’s something you have to know about these condos, and the landlords,” the listing agent told me.

“They’re smarter than you and I.”

Interesting.

I knew who the landlords were, since a quick Google search provided ample results.  They were two young guys in their late 30’s, early 40’s; sons of a very wealthy and prominent Toronto family.

“They’re incredible businessmen,” the listing agent told me.

“Allow me to explain,” she said, as I took a seat in my office chair and got ready for an earful.

“My clients aren’t a fan of the maximum 1.5% rent increases, as I would imagine everybody else in the Province aren’t either.”

“So they’re hedging their bet, you see,” she explained.

“If they were to only raise the rent 1.5%, that’s a pittance on $7,000.”

“But if the condo maintenance fees went up significantly, say, 6% next year, and the tenants are paying for that, then my guys are getting a 1.5% increase on $7,125, but they’re not having to pay the 6% increase on the $875 per month.”

“Genius,” she told me, as I could feel her pride through the phone.

“I don’t understand,” I told her.

She began to explain it to me again, and I stopped her: “No, no, no, I mean I understand the math, that’s not my problem.  I mean I don’t understand the purpose,” I told her.

She began to explain, the same thing, again, and I said, “Do you mind if I put you on hold for just one second?”

She said it wasn’t a problem.

So I got out my trust calculator – same CASIO that I’ve had since Grade 9, and did some really complex calculations.

If the unit rented for a flat $8,000 per month, and landlords raised the rent of the $8,000 per month condo by 1.5%, that would be $120, and thus a new rent of $8,120.  With the landlords paying the $875 per month maintenance fees, the net rent would be $7,245.

If the landlords rented the unit for $7,125 per month, and the tenants paid the maintenance fees, the 1.5% increase on the rent applied would be $7,232.

However, let’s say the maintenance fees went up 6% in the first scenario – from $875 per month to $927.50.

That means the $8,120 per month rent, minus the $927.50, would result in a net rent of $7,192.50.

And that is what the landlords are trying to guard against, you see!

You can play with those numbers all you like.  If fees went up, say, 10% in a year, then the net rent would only be $7,157.50.

So if you’re like me, right now, you’re thinking, “Who the F&$K cares?”

Why in the world are these jackasses monkeying around for $48 per month?

I came back on the phone and told the agent, “If I’m doing this correctly, it seems your ‘genius’ clients are looking to take on a downside risk of $13 per month, in the event that fees don’t increase, but an upside risk that is…………..infinite.”

That was sarcasm, in case you weren’t playing along.

But the agent was!  She said, “EXACTLY!”

“So if maintenance fees went up, like, ten percent in the first year of the lease, your clients stand to gain a net of $87.50 per month.”

“Right on,” she said.

“Can I ask you an honest question,” I asked her.

“Sure,” she said.

“How fucking bored are your clients?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and eventually she said, “Come again?”

“Your clients’ family probably has a net worth in the $50 – $60 Million range.  Your clients could stop working today and live off the interest of their sizeable net worths.  So why in the world are they messing around over twenty-five goddam dollars per month?”

“Because,” she told me, “They’re genius businessmen!”

I don’t think she and I were on the same page.

“These guys are really tough negotiators,” she told me.  “This is the way they do all their business deals.”

It made no sense to me.

And it was the greatest combination of greed and stupidity that I had seen in such a long time.

These guys, with their two penthouse condos, looking for $8,000 per month tenants, were getting creative with all their big-deal-business-acumen, trying to squeeze out an extra $10, $20, $30 per month in rent, which would represent a gain of less than one-half of one-percent.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that people don’t like working with assholes, and don’t – when they can avoid it.

I told my clients the story, gave them the lowdown on how the rent would break down, and threw them an ever-so-gentle opinion of mine, based on what I’ve said above.

We went and saw the unit, and it was fantastic.

But in the end, nothing would be worth dealing with those two knuckleheads as landlords.

And I’m not judging a book by its cover here; that one situation with how they want to deal with the rent, is chapter and verse of what to expect moving forward.

If this was my condo, I’d be looking for Triple-A tenants who would be easy to manage, quiet, respectful, low-key, and who would stay for another year, and another after that.

If this was my condo, I’d do everything possible to ensure I didn’t have a month’s vacancy, since losing $8,000 in rent would blow my entire return.

But it’s not my condo.  It’s a condo that belongs to somebody that is either really bored, and needs a hobby, or somebody that would cut off his nose to spite his face.

These guys have more money than the know what to do with, and thus maybe they’re okay losing $8,000 per month, to get a “victory” in having a tenant agree to their “genius” idea, that showed what a “tough negotiator” they could be.

But you know what?  I don’t think it’s the latter.

I think that greed can get in the way of smart decision-making; not often, but often enough.

And this is a case where these guys, despite all their wealth, and all their business acumen, aren’t thinking about the long-game.  They’re letting greed, and ego, get in the way, and massively inflating their downside, all in search of a limited upside.

Greed is good, right?

Not in this case.  Not a chance…

The post Greed Is Good……Right? appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2tCzbpk

[rebeccahpedersen]

Greed Is Good……Right?

TorontoRealtyBlog

The 1980’s were said to be the “Decade of Greed,” and if Hollywood’s portrayal was any indication, those of us watching now in hindsight would have no reason to believe it was anything to the contrary.

Market regulations, consumer interactions, and the way commerce is transacted may have changed since then, but greed still exists.

The real estate market, as many of you would argue, is ground zero.

Let me tell you a story about greed, that still after having thought about this for weeks, and written the entire blog below, makes absolutely, positively, no sense…

“Greed Is Good”

It makes a great tagline, and looks cool in that quasi-Gothic font next to a young Michael Douglas, who blends into the background darkness in a way that Oliver Stone seems to see the whole world.

Wall Street opened my eyes as a young man, since I actually never watched it until I was in third year university, taking business, dreaming of becoming a caviar-eating, lear-jet flying, financier.

As cool as the movie was, and as great as the one-liners were, I actually found the movie to be quite depressing.

Unlike most people my age, I didn’t think Michael Douglas’ character was anything to aspire to.

Yes, he was rich and powerful, and if he didn’t earn the respect of his peers, he certainly went out and took it.

But like most people who does what he does, he eventually fell hard, as did his protege, Bud Fox, who had to rat out his mentor in order to save his own skin.

Many young people watch Wall Street and say, “That’s exactly what I want to do!”

The movie had the exact opposite effect on me.

I feared an existence like that of Bud Fox, who was only with a woman who liked him because he was rich, and scoffed at the idea of “getting by” in something less than a top-end Penthouse apartment.

And by the end of the movie, I began to wonder if the take-away was that hard work alone isn’t enough to be successful; you also have to lie, cheat, and steal.

The timing of my first viewing of this film also coincided with the tech-boom of 1999, which led to a spectacular bust.

And I began to sour on the world of high-stakes trading, and look elsewhere as far as school, and career, was concerned.

That one line in the movie though always stuck out at me: Greed Is Good.

I never quite understood it.

I think that most people who play with fire, get burned.

I believe in taking risks, I believe in being different, I believe in thinking outside the box, and I think combined with hard work and sacrifice, success – and wealth, is achieveable.

But at what cost?  That’s where every individual has his or her own set of ideas and ideals.

And the whole “Greed is good” mentality never motivated me, because I didn’t think it was a means to a successful end.

There’s no shortage of greed in the real estate market, as many of you can attest to.

Whether you were on the giving or receiving end of greed, we all know that it happens as often as properties go up for sale.

But there are different measures of greed, and different motivations.

I’m not sure what’s worse: greed on a smaller scale, or a larger one.

I have clients who are relocating to Toronto, and they are the very definition of “executives;” a word that gets thrown around a lot.

Executive rentals, executive tenants – what does this all mean?

Well, my clients are actually executives, who have extremely high-paying jobs of great stature, can afford the “luxury rentals” that other people scoff at, and would be the absolute spitting image of a “Triple-A Tenant.”

We were looking at two penthouse condos in a luxury condo downtown, but before I took my clients for a viewing, I called the listing agent to clarify something in the broker’s remarks of the MLS listing.

The Condo was listed for $8,000 per month, and then decreased in price to $7,125 per month.

However, the following note appeared in the MLS listing:

Tenant Responsible For Base Rent of $7,125 Per Month Plus Condominium Maintenance Fees Of $875 Per Month = $8,000 Per Month.

So first of all, the unit wasn’t really decreased in price.  All they did was lower the asking price for the rent, and then build in the maintenance fee.

But more importantly, and as I asked the listing agent, “Who the hell expects a tenant to pay the maintenance fees?”

“I’ve done a hundred rentals,” I told her, “And I’ve never had a tenant pay for the maintenance fees.”

Surprisingly, she said, “I know, neither have I.”

So what was the issue here,  I wondered.  It didn’t make any sense.

“There’s something you have to know about these condos, and the landlords,” the listing agent told me.

“They’re smarter than you and I.”

Interesting.

I knew who the landlords were, since a quick Google search provided ample results.  They were two young guys in their late 30’s, early 40’s; sons of a very wealthy and prominent Toronto family.

“They’re incredible businessmen,” the listing agent told me.

“Allow me to explain,” she said, as I took a seat in my office chair and got ready for an earful.

“My clients aren’t a fan of the maximum 1.5% rent increases, as I would imagine everybody else in the Province aren’t either.”

“So they’re hedging their bet, you see,” she explained.

“If they were to only raise the rent 1.5%, that’s a pittance on $7,000.”

“But if the condo maintenance fees went up significantly, say, 6% next year, and the tenants are paying for that, then my guys are getting a 1.5% increase on $7,125, but they’re not having to pay the 6% increase on the $875 per month.”

“Genius,” she told me, as I could feel her pride through the phone.

“I don’t understand,” I told her.

She began to explain it to me again, and I stopped her: “No, no, no, I mean I understand the math, that’s not my problem.  I mean I don’t understand the purpose,” I told her.

She began to explain, the same thing, again, and I said, “Do you mind if I put you on hold for just one second?”

She said it wasn’t a problem.

So I got out my trust calculator – same CASIO that I’ve had since Grade 9, and did some really complex calculations.

If the unit rented for a flat $8,000 per month, and landlords raised the rent of the $8,000 per month condo by 1.5%, that would be $120, and thus a new rent of $8,120.  With the landlords paying the $875 per month maintenance fees, the net rent would be $7,245.

If the landlords rented the unit for $7,125 per month, and the tenants paid the maintenance fees, the 1.5% increase on the rent applied would be $7,232.

However, let’s say the maintenance fees went up 6% in the first scenario – from $875 per month to $927.50.

That means the $8,120 per month rent, minus the $927.50, would result in a net rent of $7,192.50.

And that is what the landlords are trying to guard against, you see!

You can play with those numbers all you like.  If fees went up, say, 10% in a year, then the net rent would only be $7,157.50.

So if you’re like me, right now, you’re thinking, “Who the F&$K cares?”

Why in the world are these jackasses monkeying around for $48 per month?

I came back on the phone and told the agent, “If I’m doing this correctly, it seems your ‘genius’ clients are looking to take on a downside risk of $13 per month, in the event that fees don’t increase, but an upside risk that is…………..infinite.”

That was sarcasm, in case you weren’t playing along.

But the agent was!  She said, “EXACTLY!”

“So if maintenance fees went up, like, ten percent in the first year of the lease, your clients stand to gain a net of $87.50 per month.”

“Right on,” she said.

“Can I ask you an honest question,” I asked her.

“Sure,” she said.

“How fucking bored are your clients?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and eventually she said, “Come again?”

“Your clients’ family probably has a net worth in the $50 – $60 Million range.  Your clients could stop working today and live off the interest of their sizeable net worths.  So why in the world are they messing around over twenty-five goddam dollars per month?”

“Because,” she told me, “They’re genius businessmen!”

I don’t think she and I were on the same page.

“These guys are really tough negotiators,” she told me.  “This is the way they do all their business deals.”

It made no sense to me.

And it was the greatest combination of greed and stupidity that I had seen in such a long time.

These guys, with their two penthouse condos, looking for $8,000 per month tenants, were getting creative with all their big-deal-business-acumen, trying to squeeze out an extra $10, $20, $30 per month in rent, which would represent a gain of less than one-half of one-percent.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that people don’t like working with assholes, and don’t – when they can avoid it.

I told my clients the story, gave them the lowdown on how the rent would break down, and threw them an ever-so-gentle opinion of mine, based on what I’ve said above.

We went and saw the unit, and it was fantastic.

But in the end, nothing would be worth dealing with those two knuckleheads as landlords.

And I’m not judging a book by its cover here; that one situation with how they want to deal with the rent, is chapter and verse of what to expect moving forward.

If this was my condo, I’d be looking for Triple-A tenants who would be easy to manage, quiet, respectful, low-key, and who would stay for another year, and another after that.

If this was my condo, I’d do everything possible to ensure I didn’t have a month’s vacancy, since losing $8,000 in rent would blow my entire return.

But it’s not my condo.  It’s a condo that belongs to somebody that is either really bored, and needs a hobby, or somebody that would cut off his nose to spite his face.

These guys have more money than the know what to do with, and thus maybe they’re okay losing $8,000 per month, to get a “victory” in having a tenant agree to their “genius” idea, that showed what a “tough negotiator” they could be.

But you know what?  I don’t think it’s the latter.

I think that greed can get in the way of smart decision-making; not often, but often enough.

And this is a case where these guys, despite all their wealth, and all their business acumen, aren’t thinking about the long-game.  They’re letting greed, and ego, get in the way, and massively inflating their downside, all in search of a limited upside.

Greed is good, right?

Not in this case.  Not a chance…

The post Greed Is Good……Right? appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2tCzbpk