Hello!
I live with my long-time girlfriend in NYC. We rent a very large 1.5 bedroom apt for $1,750 per month. Our apt is the top floor of a 3 story brownstone, and the only other resident is the owner of the home/landlord who occupies the first 2 floors. We have lived in this apt for 5 years. Our initial rent was $1,450, so our rent increases have ranged from moderate to nothing.
Our landlord is...strange. He keeps odd hours and works as a janitor at a public school somewhere in Brooklyn. He only accepts rent in cash via hand to hand transaction, and will often ask for the rent a week or two early. Once he asked for 2 months rent at once because he was in a bind. We often see notices on the house that his gas is in danger of being shut off if he doesn’t make an immediate payment, but it’s never actually been shut off. We don’t mind this too much really because we can afford it and in return we get to live in an apt that could easily be rented for $2,500 for $1,750. He also fixes any necessary repairs promptly and we generally only have contact with him when we are paying rent. He has been very good to us despite being a bit of an oddball.
Tonight he approached me and said that he is very behind on his water bill and that he owes taxes to the IRS and needs money. He said that if I pay him $10,500 (6 months rent) up front, he will give us 6 months rent free. We would sign a yearly lease paid in full for the amount of $10,500. We know that he owns the house outright, and that he is the only owner. He is asking that we make the payment in May, not immediately.
My girlfriend is an attorney for the city with an annual salary of 110k. Her job security is iron clad. I manage 2 restaurants and make 75k, I am in a very secure position but recognize that you never know what could happen. I also have a law degree and am eligible for bar admission in NY/NJ. We have 12k in checking/emergency and that’s it for liquid cash.
Am I crazy for wanting to do this? I realize how nuts it sounds, but we would rebuild our savings in 6 months and then double it over the next 6. I know that something too good to be true usually is, but as long as everything is recorded properly, in what ways are we putting ourselves at risk? Thanks in advance.
Submitted March 07, 2018 at 02:26AM by trickbk http://ift.tt/2oVUYH9
