Comments on: Slumming It in Beverly Hills

By: Olivia @twitter

Olivia @twitter — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:13:02 +0000

Wow. Pretty interesting. Question, do you have any health concerns in the house? I’m a bit paranoid about mold spores…

We live in an older, somewhat lackadaisically maintained building as well, no matter how hard I scrub, that bathroom will never really be clean!

By: hellonheels

hellonheels — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:43:40 +0000

I totally relate to this…my boyfriend and I live in an apartment that his aunt and uncle have been renting as part of a multi-unit lease since 1970. We don’t pay rent (though we do earn our free housing in other ways, believe me), but this is in San Francisco, so given the rent control I can’t imagine the rent for our two-bedroom unit is any more than $500, if that. The caveat, of course, is that prior to moving in, the apartment had been unoccupied for 40 years – not only had no maintenance been done during that entire time period, it had basically been used as a storage unit for decades. It was like moving into an episode of Hoarders. Now we’ve fixed it up so it’s perfectly nice, but it’s always disheartening when, say, a chunk of plaster falls off the bathroom wall to reveal rotting wood beneath. But it’s totally worth it – having this chance to save money is probably the best chance we have at ever being able to afford to buy a house in this freakishly expensive city.

By: Taylor Jenkins Reid@twitter

Taylor Jenkins Reid@twitter — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:39:34 +0000

@Michelle LeBlanc@twitter Ah — apologies for the lack of clarity. I wash them in the sink with cold water.

By: Michelle LeBlanc@twitter

Michelle LeBlanc@twitter — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:36:03 +0000

“The kitchen sink doesn’t get hot water.”

The question “But where do you do dishes?!” bothered me for the rest of reading this, perhaps the answer is “a dishwasher” but…given the plumbing issues that seems unlikely.

By: Megano!

Megano! — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:35:23 +0000

@Lily Rowan Yeah probably. I just don’t understand people who buy houses and don’t understand upkeep, I guess (this is why I’m not sure if I want to buy a house).

By: automaticdoor

automaticdoor — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:33:41 +0000

And usually, it’s the idiosyncrasies of places like that which make them places you will be reminiscing about for years. Sometimes fondly, sometimes… not so fondly.

By: Koko Goldstein

Koko Goldstein — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:30:29 +0000

But I thought they declared peace in the Middle East!

By: Lily Rowan

Lily Rowan — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:21:59 +0000

@Megano! But really, it doesn’t sound like anyone would buy it as anything other than a tear-down?

By: Megano!

Megano! — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:03:57 +0000

Oh man, I would kind of be talking to to the landlord about the major things that need fixing. Like, if you could arrange it and try and get him the best price, would he pay for it. If only because if he ever DOES want to sell, it might be easier if the house isn’t a pile of garbage. You know, it’s protecting his own investment.