IS THIS THE REAL MR. NESSEL THAT RESIDENTS SPEAK OF?

This is, I believe, your landlord! Enjoy!*

http://www.peta.org/Content/Standalone/sexiestvegetariannextdoor2009/ma_contestant.aspx#contestant1

Haven't Posted in Quite a While, So Why Now? He's Trying to Find a Buyer for Shaker Hall!

I turned on my computer earlier this morning to check e-mail and as usual, a number of Loopnet listings appeared along with my other morning mail. One e-mail stood out - Shaker Hall of Cleveland is for sale and you can only guess who the owner / poster to Loopnet might be.

After clearing some of the messages that need immediate attention, I got a strong cup of coffee and delved into the Shaker Hall post. It has a well stated opening statement, nice photo, well respected location, yet I know it is not a property that we could ever be interested in. There is understandably too much 'history' and clearly too much knowledge of the Property, the Seller & financial presentations.

I took some time to read through the rent roll, historic operating numbers and 2008 operating budgets. To say the very least, it is nice to know that some in today's multifamily business are very optimistic. I'm trying to recall the last QUALITY management team that tried to raise projected rents [with paid occupancy, of course] while coming off of a 15% vacancy for the prior year or reducing payroll on site for a 104 unit property when the total payroll is slotted for 2 people or ...

According to the Office of the Auditor for Cuyahoga County, the Property currently has an assessed value of $742,000 and a market value $2,120,000. With an offering price for the Property at $3,650,000, I do wonder when the Buyer of this asset will find an increased tax bill in his mailbox? I wonder if the Seller has some magic way of keeping the taxes in check without full & fair disclosure to the County Auditor? I guess you could attempt to take over control of the existing ownership entity itself, but I am not one who would want to step into the potential for contingent liabilities, even with some form of 'hold harmless' from this Seller. Maybe one of you is more daring!

In any event, if you would like to talk about this property, if you have done business with this Seller before & have advise to those looking at Shaker Hall or if you are just curious about the way some do business in this world, I do look forward to hearing from you. You can contact me here or via e-mail @ Mitch_Greenstein@Yahoo.com

If you don't believe me, ...

RECENTLY I RECEIVED AN E-MAIL FROM A GENTLEMAN IN DALLAS TEXAS WHO TOLD ME THAT RESIDENTS AT THE CITY CENTRAL APARTMENTS WERE NOT VERY HAPPY WITH THE MANAGEMENT OF THEIR PROPERTY. AS STAKEHOLDERS HE FELT THAT THE LANDLORD WAS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIM AND THAT THE QUALITY OF HOUSING PROVIDED WAS CERTAINLY LACKING.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS A COPY OF THE OPINION PAGE FOR CITY CENTRAL AS POSTED AT APARTMENTRATINGS.COM ... COME TO YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS AS TO WHOM TO DO BUSINESS WITH.

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/TX-Dallas-City-Central-Apartments-665278.html

DO NOT RENT NESSEL PROPERTIES

From: -Anonymous-
Date posted: 8/22/2007
Years at this apartment: 2007 - 2007

I recently moved into (and out of) Serendipity Apartments, also owned by Ariel Nessel (the owner of City Central). Although I called two times prior to my August 1st move-in day to assure that my apartment was ready, upon arrival (with movers) my apartment had no A/C, dishwasher, refrigerator, oven, stove or electricity! The twit manager asked if I could just "come back in a couple days." I moved in my belongings, and spent the next 2 days hounding the management for my appliances and A/C. I also came to find out that it was not just me that had this problem, but EVERYONE in my building (12 other tenants). I filed a violation notice with the City of Dallas Code Compliance office for the lack of A/C. On the third day, I gave notice to the manager that I would be vacating the apartment and sending the apartment a bill for all of my related expenses. Since then, it has been an on-going battle. The apartment (both management AND owner) refuse to take responsibility for anything and I have now hired an attorney.
If you have a similar experience, I encourage you to learn your rights as a tenant. If your apartment is not ready on your move-in day, this puts the property management in default of the lease agreement, which means you are legally allowed to leave the apartment and collect damages. BOTTOM LINE: DO NOT RENT ANYTHING OWNED BY NESSEL DEVELOPMENT!!

User Responses

From: Seaywealth Date: 08/22/2007 I am so sorry for your experience. I went through a similar thing at City Central last year. I endured this poor excuse for management, and have more than enough evidence that you and your attorney are welcome to.

From: suprwumn83 Date: 08/22/2007 I did not move in but I was still screwed over by Nessel. Somebody needs to put these lowlife -------s out of business!!

From: eminencegrise06 Date: 08/23/2007 Seaywealth, I could use the information also. I'm going through the same experience, have already told them that I refuse to pay for August and September, and that I will seek legal action if neccessary.

Thanks

From: Anonymous Date: 08/25/2007 You guys are crazy. Ihad a great exeperience at City Central and I would highly recommend living here to anyone. It is sad because people that have mean/bad things to say search harder to find a way to say them (to make everyone else miserable)and people who have positive things to say don't really search for a way to say them because they are content.

Come see City Central for yourself, formulate your own opinion.

From: Anonymous Date: 08/26/2007 I have lived at City Central for 2 years now and have and great experiences there. The community is very safe and everyone who lives there is young and professional. I know that sometimes there are disturbing tenants who just want to argue with management to let out thier frustration over things that are the tenants fault....like getting their cars towed or getting fines for loud music. It is these things the management does to keep the community safe.

From: Logan2211 Date: 08/28/2007 The anonymous person is right, everyone else is wrong.

Obviously.

From: SlumLordNessel Date: 08/31/2007 Anonymous & Logan2211: You're crazy. I also believe that you work for the apartment complex and are simply trying to skew the responses in order to help your leasing. Maybe if the management would properly address these very serious complaints, they would be able to have a quality product that would lease well without having to break the law.

The person who left the review has no A/C, no dishwasher, no oven, no stove, and no refrigerator! I can't believe you would think this person is unjustified in their complaints. Especially because it's followed by 3 reviews from individuals who can prove that they had similiar experiences. It's against the law to allow tenants to live in an apartment without air conditioning. There is absolutely zero excuse for this person to be without the most basic of human necessities for three days. When was this review posted? August? Do you understand how HOT it gets in Dallas in August? This poor person could have dropped dead in their apartment from heat stroke! I think the tenants that were abused in this fashion should come together to form a class action lawsuit. My Lord, even my DOG gets to be in air conditioning in the summer.

From: Anonymous Date: 12/02/2007 Dear Annoynmous, or anybody else who lives at Serendipity,
We are not the only ones. I would like to correspond with you and maybe we can join forces to fight the fight. Slum lords need to be taken down!
Please repost to my comment and maybe go from there?

From: Anonymous Date: 12/19/2007 If anybody hasn't figured it out now, please make sure everyone knows what they are getting into. Sure one day this place could be great, but it ain't happening anytime soon. So if you feel you want to move here, come back in two years when things are absolutely finished. This management company looks at things through beer goggles. They neglect many things, and take advantage of the residents. For those who you that believe this place is great, tell me why it is that people all over the country are complaining about this property management company. Do some research guys. Check public court records, the laws, and read over everything very carefully. Check this out. It may get you started. http://arinessel.blogspot.com/

PICKING UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF

Over the course of the past several month, many have sought us out to talk about their experiences with / exposure to the infamous Mr. Nessel. Everyone seems to have a story and each story seems to end without a kind word nor a smile. The stories from Cleveland are no different than those in Dallas - not a surprise.

After Thanksgiving we will pick up where we left off, seeking the advise and wisdom of those who might help to bring some 'justice' to situations where many feel as if they have been treated unjustly.

If you have a story to share, an insight into this mind, please contact me @ Mitch_Greenstein@Yahoo.com

Thanks and blessing on us all.

Peace / Out

Which Ariel Nessel you ask?

Just in case there was a question as to who we are talking about here, the following are links to his web sites & references of particular note:
- In Cleveland: http://nesselinc.com/
- In Dallas: http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/TX-Dallas-City-Central-Apartments-665278.html
- In San Francisco: http://www.bayareaveg.org/blog/?blog=2&cat=36&page=1&disp=posts&paged=2 ["To support veg*nism by donating; Please send a check payable to Vegan Outreach. Mail it to Ari. At the end of the month, he will send all all checks and their matching donation to Vegan Outreach. If you work for a corporation, ask them if they have a matching contribution program and your donation could be triple matched.; Ariel Thomas Nessel, 64 Levant Street, San Francisco, CA 94114; Donations of $230 have already been received or promised. So your donation, of any size, will make a big difference -- whether its $5 or $500, it will matched."]

OUT OF THE WOODWORK [AS THEY SAY]

While I cannot fully articulate at this moment all of the reasons that we started this blog, something quite interesting [no, I would dare say "revealing"] has taken place over the past two weeks or so. It has helped me to understand the power & energy / the breath & reach of the blogosphere.

Three separate and very different groups have reached out to make contact, to compare notes and stories and even concerns relations to their dealings with Ariel [Ari] Nessel of San Francisco. Their business dealings were all formatted quite differently with Ari, they were not all in Cleveland but each expressed concern over HONOR, ETHICS and business dealings that 'play in the grey'.

When one person on a blog gets such diverse responses on a hard-to-find blog, I must wonder about a few things:

• How many others are out there with similar stories?
• Does repetitive 'playing in the grey' lead [morally or legally] to a pattern of abuse that can & should be challenged at law?
  

Please let me hear from you on these questions. Post your comments here [with a method for me to contact you] or comment directly to me via e-mail. I do hope to be able to discuss these things with you in great detail.

Many thanks.

Mitch Greenstein

Which Ariel Nessel you ask?

I did not realize that there was more than one Ariel Nessel.

He sometimes goes by Ari and operates under the corporate name Nessel, Inc. among others. I've heard him use 'Shanti Holdings' as well.

Yes, it is the same gentleman who lives in San Francisco and does business in Dallas as well. Any of you Texans doing business with this gentleman? Please let me hear from you. We would like to learn from the experience of others and share our knowledge as well.

Thanks.
Mitch

Job, not Job

A friend called on Sunday evening. The conversation turned to this blog and Ari Nessel and others who are discussed and alluded to from time to time. He suggested to me that I need to send a copy of the Book of Job from the Old Testament to each and every person involved.

An interesting thought indeed, but I'm not really sure that they would see this as Evil vs. God [good]. As he said, and few understand: "the need of goodness to stand even alone against evil", and "I have never focused on the question as to whether business ethics was a sub set of general ethics"... obviously it shouldn't.

Book of Job (איוב)

Peace Out.
Mitch


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Job

Part II - Ethics 102

Another day - another question. By the way, my thanks to those who have contacted me off line to discuss this and I look for / hope for a lot more communication and thoughts in this regard.

In any event, let's go on to Part 2 of the Ethical considerations, that is the role of, the moral duty of and humanity of the broker [or realtor or real estate sales executive or whatever is the politically correct term]. We are not now discussing the legal aspects of that duty but duty tied to morality and good business and honor and principle.

Let's suppose you had a client. The client had not just one, but a few properties to be sold. You clearly should represent him to the best of your ability. How far should that take you? Do you just intervene on thier behalf? Do you take those on the other side of the table on 'wild goose chases' for the benefit of your client? Do you tell them that you believe "X" when in fact you believe "Y"? What if you actually know "X" to be false and misleading and that "Y" is really the case? How large a fee, a payment would you need to get in order to take such actions?

As the party who thinks that they have been treated wrongly, do you just lick your wounds and move on? Sue the other party? Sue the broker? What about the regulators? And how might you responses change if you know that you will end up doing business with these people at some time in the future? When does ethics fall victim to 'good business sense' or is the best of 'good business sense' simply being guided 100% of the time by high ethics?

As I said earlier, these are questions in theory thus far. No accusations at this point; no law suits; no tossing down the gauntlet - YET!

Comment to me here or directly via e-mail at Mitch.Greenstein@GMail.com

Peace Out
Mitch

Ethics 101

Allow me to pose to you, the reader, a simple question of ethics and morals. I would truly appreciate your comments and thoughts.

Suppose you own a property - an apartment community, with lots of families and seniors and young children reside. A purchaser of the property discovers that the property has both lead-based paint and asbestos. For reasons that are unimportant at this juncture [I hope to develop that part of this Blog at a later time], you end up selling your property to someone else. For whatever reason, you end up not disclosing the asbestos and lead-based paint; maybe they asked and your failed to disclose or maybe they just were not savvy enough to ask the base line questions that a purchaser [and certainly his lender] should.

Do you have a moral / ethical duty to disclose? Let's forget the issues of legal obligations at this time. If you disclose, you might not get the money you had hoped for / expected. If you simply shut your mouth and cash comes your way.

So tell me please, what should you do and what would you do? Yes, they are slightly different questions but both are of import. And while we are at it, what about those who work with / for the Seller - a different duty?

Thanks!
Mitch

{Coming on Sunday, Part II - Ethics 102}

The Beginning

This is the beginning of a series of posts, I hope. Working in the multi-family housing industry with emphasis in the Cleveland marketplace, I have come across and done business with Ariel [Ari] Nessel.

On behalf of one of my clients, I am attempting to learn more about your business dealings with him. I look forward to your posts and sharing our common experiences, learning as we go.

Thank you.
Mitch Greenstein