How to Fail as a Slumlord Herman Thorbecke 9780615656625 Books
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In his second volume of amusing short stories, Thorbecke tells us about his struggle to make a living during his first years in the USA. After coming to St Petersburg, FL. during the late seventies, to join a small sailboat builder as marketing manager, he and his wife try their luck as owners of rental properties. The properties they buy are of the NO-Money-Down type. They soon find providing rental property to lower income clients can be very rewarding, if not financially so. His stories about their experience with a wide variety of tenants, some smart, some conniving and others funny, are very amusing. After some years of ‘Slum lording’ they finally gave up and started something totally different. He and his wife Lea open a daycare center that prospers into a small private school. The second part of this book should perhaps be called ‘How to Succeed at Running a Private School’. With tongue in cheek Thorbecke relates about their experiences with children, parents and ‘regulating authorities’. Final the final section of this book adds a few additional experiences from additional times in the author's life.
How to Fail as a Slumlord Herman Thorbecke 9780615656625 Books
The author is a Dutchman who spent the first twenty years of his adult life in South Africa and Switzerland. He relocated to St. Petersburg, FL in the 1970's to sell for a boat manufacturer. When high interest rates caused a slump in the luxury boat business, he and his wife started looking for a way to support themselves. A friend urged them to follow him into down-scale rental properties. The trick (he assured them) is to buy the cheapest properties available, with no money down and interest-only loans. Fill them with tenants paying exorbitant rents (probably because their credit keeps them out of nicer places) and spend NOTHING on maintenance. When conditions get so bad that nobody will live there, sell the property or let the bank take it. All rents collected are pure profit.Anyone who's ever been a student living in run-down housing "off-campus" will immediately have a mental picture of the type of property involved and the type of people who own and manage them. But the Thorbeckes lack the steely-eyed cold-heartedness necessary to be successful slumlords. And so they spent money on maintenance and returned damage deposits when they could and made a living, but not a killing. The combination of the author's soft heart and his fascination with people and the eclectic (not to say strange) types found in coastal towns makes for some great stories. The "comprehensive" massage from the charming tenant's beautiful "sister" is a classic!
English is not this author's native tongue, but his use of it is masterful. His intelligence and roguish humor make this book a wonderful read.
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Tags : How to Fail as a Slumlord [Herman Thorbecke] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In his second volume of amusing short stories, Thorbecke tells us about his struggle to make a living during his first years in the USA. After coming to St Petersburg,Herman Thorbecke,How to Fail as a Slumlord,Zephyr Publishing Inc,0615656625,Biography & Autobiography Personal Memoirs
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How to Fail as a Slumlord Herman Thorbecke 9780615656625 Books Reviews
All about being a "Slumlord" owner of low rent housing. I've seen this market from the renter's side, back when I was a perennial student in Atlanta, and from the owners' side from friends who have been rental landlords. And this is one of the funniest books I've read! I'm pretty sure that Thorbecke would agree that a few years distance from the activity makes it a lot more fun to write or read about. I mean, how do we allow ourselves to back into such intolerable situations. But time heals the pain and we look back and see all the hilarity and the truly wild characters life springs on us. Great book. If you've ever been a renter or a rentee you'll howl with laughter at the antics in this book.
If you're thinking about getting into rental real estate, READ THIS BOOK. It's not an investment guide or, looking at the title, an investment warning. It is a very funny book, a wry look at the author's experiences with, shall we say, the lower end of the rental housing market. The characters he interacts with, both his employees and his tenants, are vividly drawn. I found myself sympathizing with many of them, not just the author, even though some are scoundrels. And why did Thorbecke "fail?" (He didn't really, he found a better investment.) Perhaps because he and his wife were too sympathetic to his tenants. His tales are told with heart, with some self-deprecation, with humor, but beyond the humor there are real triumphs (not many) and tragedies (quite a few) and a big slice of the human condition.
Truly enjoyed reading Mr. Thorbecke's "How to Fail as a Slumlord". Having lived in St Petersburg, Florida, I can totally relate to the types of tenants he writes about. His "other" ventures are equally funny. Definitely recommend this book to any reader.
Of all the funny, amusing stories I've ever read, "How to Fail as a SlumLord" definitely takes the cake! You laugh while you're reading it - it's hilarious! Herman Thorbecke comically expresses both an innocence and, at times, a seemingly lack of knowledge concerning some of the poor, down-trodden and "conniving" tenants. This is a most enjoyable, entertaining group of short stories I've had the privilege to read in a long time.
If you enjoy laughing until the tears come, and you are still laughing, then this book is for you! Some of Thorbecke's passages are as hilarious as the best of a David Sedaris short story or novel.
What makes the autobiographical narrative, "How to Fail as a Slumlord" both entertaining and so endearing is that the hapless and somewhat naive protagonist is all of us at our empathetic best. It's a contemporary tale, set in the Gulf coast of urban Florida, filled with ordinary, well meaning folks with borderline lives.
Buy this book for any of your imperfect friends and family who can laugh at themselves and enjoy a good cathartic read.
After reading Herman Thorbecke's first book, So Long Europe, Hello South Africa, I started to correspond directly with him via email. He asked for my opinion on his latest book which I immediately ordered from . This second book although vastly different subject matter, is also very enjoyable to read. One short story after another leaves the reader with a smile on their face since all of Herman's tales are truly funny, well-written and completely down-to-earth. All of us can relate to the tales in How To Fail As A Slumlord and other stories.
The author is a Dutchman who spent the first twenty years of his adult life in South Africa and Switzerland. He relocated to St. Petersburg, FL in the 1970's to sell for a boat manufacturer. When high interest rates caused a slump in the luxury boat business, he and his wife started looking for a way to support themselves. A friend urged them to follow him into down-scale rental properties. The trick (he assured them) is to buy the cheapest properties available, with no money down and interest-only loans. Fill them with tenants paying exorbitant rents (probably because their credit keeps them out of nicer places) and spend NOTHING on maintenance. When conditions get so bad that nobody will live there, sell the property or let the bank take it. All rents collected are pure profit.
Anyone who's ever been a student living in run-down housing "off-campus" will immediately have a mental picture of the type of property involved and the type of people who own and manage them. But the Thorbeckes lack the steely-eyed cold-heartedness necessary to be successful slumlords. And so they spent money on maintenance and returned damage deposits when they could and made a living, but not a killing. The combination of the author's soft heart and his fascination with people and the eclectic (not to say strange) types found in coastal towns makes for some great stories. The "comprehensive" massage from the charming tenant's beautiful "sister" is a classic!
English is not this author's native tongue, but his use of it is masterful. His intelligence and roguish humor make this book a wonderful read.
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