How To Increase Your Income and Decrease Your Expenses
It seems like every Saturday nigh there was an illegal gathering in the cavernous basement of Calvert Hall, that is if some of the tenants were to be believed.
#62 Real Estate Man
It’s always a bit frightening to purchase a new investment property. Uplifting in a way but you’re spending your hard earned money and buying lots more work. Money acquired turned into money acquiring another challenge. Why not take a vacation, Real Estate Man always asked himself? It was with this mindset that Real Estate Man met William. He was the current superintendent of a building that Real Estate Man had just purchased in the University City district in Philadelphia. Clavert Hall had 48, 1 bedroom apartments. Most of them consisted of wary occupants, products of the normal tenant landlord suspicions built up over centuries of abuses in this uneven relationship. It always seems the tenants feel it’s up to the new owner to make improvements in their lives without changing them. No apartment investor can escape this feeling — so much can go wrong.
William seemed to be a popular figure in the building. The tenants appeared to like him. He and Real Estate Man talked wages and job description. He gave Real Estate Man some valuable information about the history of the building as he had been its superintendent going on 8 years now.
Real Estate Man tried to make it a point to meet all the renters over the next couple of months in order to get the feel of the building. All buildings have a certain energy about them — positive and negative. It’s good to get a feel for it as early as possible.
A word that Real Estate Man heard from the tenants frequently was “cabaret.”
It seemed that every Saturday night there was an illegal gathering in the cavernous basement of Calvert Hall, that is if some of the tenants were to believed.
Knowing that one of the perks of William’s employment as superintendent was an apartment in the basement. Real Estate Man questioned him about the gatherings on Saturday nights. William was evasive but admitted he always had a few friends over for a small party every Saturday evening. Small parties on a Saturday night should be anyone’s right to a balanced existence. Things seemed to be going well in Calvert Hall.
Until:
Driving home on a Saturday night after a dinner and show in Center City, Real Estate Man rode past Calvert Hall. There was a small line in front of his building. William’s cabaret?
On Monday morning Real Estate Man confronted William about his illegal side business using my building.The discussion wasn’t productive. The offer to continue to work at Calvert Hall was tendered but William had to give up running his cabaret. He chose to find employment elsewhere.
Real Estate Man hired a new superintendent (Mike) who reported that weeks later people continued to try to patronize the now discontinued cabaret. He gleaned from these disappointed former patrons they were paying $50 apiece at the door. For that sum they enjoyed an open bar, finger food and William rolling out a piano from his apartment and having his grandson play for a couple of hours. In short, a gold mine for William.
For Real Estate Man this little business was a colossal potential liability: owning a property in whose basement his agent (superintendent) was selling liquor without a license in addition to breaking every dram shop law the books. Frightening!
Real Estate Man, however, has always admired the entrepreneurial spirit in people and throws a small bouquet at William.
Real Estate Mans story:
The Mike was working out well as the new superintendent. He had taken occupancy of William’s old apartment adjacent to the huge basement.. He proved himself to be handy in all things related to maintenance. Actually much more knowledgeable than William.
Mike was a man of few words but about a year into his employment he said we needed to talk. A meeting was scheduled at the coffee shop on the corner at 11:00 the next day. Things were going smoothly, I hoped he wasn’t going to quit.
Mike was waiting when I sat down at table with him. After a hoody-do, Mike came right to the point:” There’s someone living behind the wall in the basement of Calvert Hall.” He went on to say that the fellow only comes in at night so the coast was clear for him to show me this odd arrangement this morning.
As my eyes adjusted to the dim cellar light. Mike showed me the piece of paneling that could be removed and replaced blending in perfectly with the rest of the basement wall. The panel was coving a small alcove which served as a windowless main room in the apartment that no one knew was there. In it were some clothes, a bedroll, mini fridge, light and hot plate plugged into a power strip the flexible cable of which went through a hole drilled in the wall. The cable was plugged into a receptacle in the separate laundry room.
Mike mentioned he found out about this guy about a month prior but wanted to make sure of his patterns of coming and going. By the looks of the secret space, it appeared the ghost tenant had lived there for months.
Mike and I, along with the rented security officer waited in the ghost tenant’s self styled space behind the wall the next evening. The light was off. We were certainly going to have the element of surprise.
Around 8:00 the 3 of us heard the panel being removed. We quickly made our move. I’m relieved to report nothing exciting happened in the operation. Actually, we all had a good conversation after revealing ourselves. The ghost was probably tired of living the life of a semi fugitive anyway. He always thought there was something fishy in the leasing arrangement he made with William a number of months ago. An agreement that he still honored by paying William $3.00 every week.
Imagine, a month’s rent for less than 1/3 the price for a night at the cabaret.
That William — I’m disappointed in his pricing structure.