May 12, 2025 • 31 mins
In Episode Eleven of The Rent-ish Pod, Zach and Patrick take a ferry to the past in this week’s Proptology segment, diving into the history of Alcatraz. Before it became the world’s most famous prison, what was it used for? How big is it really? And why has it stuck around in pop culture for so long?
Then it's time to answer listener-submitted questions, tackling topics like self-managing your first rental and the one feature tenants actually care about (spoiler: it’s not granite countertops).
🏝️ Whether you're here for real estate tips or just curious about iconic islands, this episode keeps it light, informative, and Rent-ish as ever.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
you
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
What's going on, everyone?
I'm Zach, and I'm here withtrusty old Patrick.
What up?
Threw you off there a littlebit.
We're your hosts for this week'sepisode of the Rent-ish Podcast,
which is a podcast that's kindof about rental properties and
hosted by two guys that work inthe real estate industry, and
they kind of know what they'retalking about.
Yeah, but mostly not.
(00:26):
Yeah, mostly not.
That's why you're going to havefun listening to us talk to
experts, learning with us, orjust laughing at how little we
know, and it's It's okay, we cantake it.
It's fine.
We're tough.
Yeah, we're tough.
We got thick skin.
Just don't make fun of ourlooks.
Yeah, don't take that.
Peek.
attractive male over here.
(00:49):
Don't look up our LinkedInphotos.
Today's episode, we're gonnadive into a couple different
awesome things.
We got history of buildings,we're gonna bring back
Propetology, bring it back, andthen we're gonna do some
listener questions to wrap itup.
Patrick, how's your day going?
So far, so good.
I woke up a little bit earliertoday for a meeting that I would
have liked.
Yeah, so let's just get this outon the table.
(01:11):
We have an 8 a.m.
meeting.
Yep.
Company wide.
Correct.
You got up two minutes beforethe meeting.
7.58.
That is, you are correct.
Okay.
How is your life not filled withjust an enormous amount of
anxiety?
If I woke up two minutes beforeanything, I'd be freaked out.
It's a little bit more likehappiness.
Like, oh, if I had woken upearlier, I would be more tired
than I already am.
(01:32):
So it's like I did the rightthing.
I told you I woke up at likearound 7, had time to take the
dog out, get some coffee, do mycrossword.
Oh.
That doesn't sound relaxing toyou?
No.
That doesn't sound like a niceway to start the day?
That sounds horrible.
I mean, I'm happy.
for you man but if I set analarm for 7 I would have a
snooze every what was the snooze9 minutes until 7.58 something
like that yeah whatever I wouldnot get out of bed until 7.58
(01:54):
anyway so I'm like I'd rathermaximize on the high quality
sleep rather than interrupt thatat 7 for no reason you know what
I mean yeah I get it I we justlive we lead two different lives
my friend two different livesbut either way yeah I think our
energy copied up it's a littlelow we got some caffeine though
got some caffeine and we havegames coming up.
Games, yeah.
(02:16):
Who doesn't love games?
I know, with the adrenalinerunning there.
We're going to have some fun.
It's going to be a good episode.
I'm glad that you're awake andalert and ready to roll,
Patrick.
Alert, awake, alive, andenthusiastic.
Alert, awake, and...
No, what is this?
Alive, alert, awake, andenthusiastic?
Stop, drop, and roll.
We're good.
Okay.
Patrick, we're going to jumpright into it.
(02:37):
We're bringing it back.
One of everyone's favoritesegments, Propetology.
This is where we talk about theorigins of historic buildings,
historic landmarks, famousarchitecture, all that stuff.
We've got a lot of really coolstuff.
Oh, I should have mentioned thisat the top.
Thank you for listening to theRentish Podcast.
We're posting weekly.
Email questions attherentishpod.com if you want to
submit questions for listenerquestions, which we're going to
(02:59):
do later on in the show.
Follow us on the socials, allthat stuff.
Subscribe to the podcast.
Give us a thumbs up or a like ora five star.
Review us on Letterboxd.
Whatever you got to do.
Are we on Letterboxd, Patrick?
We need to get on Letterboxd.
We'll get on Letterboxd.
Get that on the the agenda.
Okay, proptology.
Today, And I'm reading thisstraight from the document.
(03:19):
The Alcatraz.
The Alcatraz.
Shout out to our producer who'ssitting in the room with us.
I love the Alcatraz, which Idon't think I've ever heard
anyone refer to Alcatraz withthe V.
It's like the Ohio StateUniversity.
Yeah, right.
That's what I was thinkingabout.
The Alcatraz.
Alcatraz, Patrick, before wejump in, do you have any
(03:40):
relationship with this building?
It's landmark.
Well, okay.
So I've seen it from afar.
I've been to San Francisco.
Okay.
And we had big plans.
to go to Alcatraz except when wegot there my dad totally didn't
book any sort of like tour andjust didn't happen so we saw it
like I saw the Alcatraz in themiddle of the bay or whatever
(04:00):
but yeah haven't been I've seenEscape from Alcatraz and The
Rock and you know whatever othermovies we've been there yeah
have you been yeah I haveactually this last year in 2024
I was in San Francisco and I gotthe opportunity to actually take
the ferry over to Alcatraz andget the whole tour go through
all the different exhibits.
We'll talk about it here in alittle bit.
But yeah, I got to see a lot ofreally, really cool stuff
(04:21):
because Alcatraz is a prison orwas a prison.
Well, yeah, I mean, I knew that.
It was a prison.
Yeah.
So let's get into the facts.
Alcatraz Island, located in SanFrancisco Bay, about 1.25 miles
offshore from San Francisco,California.
It's known as The Rock, whichalso famous movie.
Right.
Gets the correlation there.
(04:42):
It is one of the most infamousprisons in American history and
now serves as a popular touristtourist destination, and that is
true.
It is the touristy of touristdestinations in San Francisco.
Which is so funny to me, becauseit was like a prison for really
bad people.
And it's like, I don't know howmany prisons in the world have
(05:02):
become tourist destinations, ifthat's a common thing or not.
But to me, that idea, thatconcept is just kind of wild.
Yeah, it's not like you can goon a sightseeing tour in
Guantanamo Bay.
I think that that's kind of notthe same thing.
But yeah, it's weird that it hastaken on this kind of like
tourist destination because yeahwhen i went man kids and
families and like moms pushingstrollers with their but look
SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
at the prisons
SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
look
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
at the alcatraz
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
and so it was pretty cool but the island is renowned
for its isolating locationisolated location which i think
is part of the draw right it'sjust you can see it from
anywhere you are on the bay insan francisco you're walking
along fisherman's wharf you'rehanging out in the downtown of
the business district whereveryou are you're crossing the
golden gate it's just thereright you look out into the
water and it's just this giantrock in the middle of the water
(05:49):
it's really really fascinatingso i think it's like the
intrigue of this this otherworld being like right within
reach you know it's kind offascinating right but yeah a lot
of notorious inmates stayedthere and many daring escape
attempts and it's been long heldas a symbol of mystery and
intrigue a little bit of historyalcatraz began as a military
fortification and prison in themid 19th century before becoming
(06:11):
a federal penitentiary in 1934prison was designed to hold the
most dangerous and incorrigiblecriminals.
Word of the day dictionary.
I knew you were going to have aword.
Including Al Capone.
Right.
Heard of him?
Yep.
Pretty famous.
Yes.
One of the most famous owls.
I would say a top two owl.
Top two owl.
(06:32):
Ranking owls coming soon.
George Machine Gun Kelly, notthe rapper.
Not right, but the gangsterMachine Gun Kelly.
The gangster, yeah.
And Robert Stroud, who isotherwise known as the Birdman
of Alcatraz.
I've seen that movie too.
It movie from the 60s called TheBirdman of Alcatraz starring
Burt Lancaster.
That's another one I've seen.
That's the only reason I knowwho he is.
I don't think he was like that.
(06:53):
He wasn't like an Al Caponelevel criminal, but he just like
raised birds in Alcatraz as aninmate.
Yeah, it's like what he did.
How's the movie?
It's solid, so not to get toonerdy here, but John
Frankenheimer is my favoritedirector of the 1960s and it's
probably his worst movie fromthat era.
But it's good.
Okay.
Have you ever raised birds in acriminal fashion or are we
allowed to talk about that onthe podcast?
(07:14):
I haven't, so maybe that was thething.
I didn't feel as much of apersonal connection to that
movie.
What was he doing with thebirds?
Messengers?
No, he would just, like, hesaved this, like, bird, caught
it in the, like, on his walkoutside or whatever.
I don't know.
But he, like, saved this babybird and then got really into,
like, ornithology.
And so just, like, startedhaving birds in Alcatraz.
Okay.
Interesting.
(07:35):
Yeah.
Check it out.
Harsh conditions and reputationfor being inescapable added to
the notoriety.
So, obviously, part of the bigreason why they built it out
there is because it's a home forthe most dangerous of people.
If you're going to escape thisprison or try to attempt an
escape, you got to swim realfar.
So, why?
1.25 miles how far is like isthat like a good a great swimmer
(07:57):
how far can they swim I mean Idon't know if you researched
that I don't know I mean likeit's 1.25 miles so you gotta
swim 1.25 miles that just seemslike a lot it's a long distance
I mean like obviously you saw itfrom the distance in the bay
it's not like you're not goingfor a summer swim on the beach
it's like you gotta cross theentire length of that that bay
it's pretty crazy but fun factin 1962 three inmates Frank
(08:21):
Morris and brothers John andClarence Anglin attempted a
daring escape and their fateremains unknown.
So people have tried to escapeAlcatraz in the past.
It was officially closed,though, as a prison in 1963 due
to high operating costs anddeteriorating facilities.
And then later on in 1972, itbecame part of the Golden Gate
National Recreation Area and wasopen to the public.
(08:44):
Wow.
So it's a national park.
That's one of my favorite funfacts about Alcatraz is that
literally it's a national park.
It's a national park.
So you go there and it's likethere are park officers and
people that are giving tours andyou can donate to the parks
facilities and it's part of theNational Parks Association.
It's a park?
Like, no way.
(09:04):
It's like, there's Yosemite,there's Yellowstone, there's
Arches, there's Glacier, andthere's Alcatraz.
There's Alcatraz.
That's crazy.
It's pretty cool.
Fun facts.
So we got more fun facts here.
Alcatraz waters are famouslycold and treacherous,
contributing to the belief thatThat escape was impossible.
However, and this is what istouched on this earlier.
(09:25):
The annual escape from Alcatraztriathlon proves that swimming
from the island to mainland isachievable.
So you can actually participate.
I'm not swimming a mile.
I'm 1.25 miles.
You were just talking to meearlier about your, uh, you're
not interested in exercising atall.
Correct.
Exercise is not part ofPatrick's life.
(09:46):
You go on walks.
I go on walks.
I like walking, you know, butevery time I'm like, Oh, I'm
going to start doing this toll.
you know thing I just I do itfor like a week and a half and
then it just fizzles out intonothing so I just kind of
decided like me and exerciselike we don't get along super
well well swimming to Alcatrazis just like walking except for
you're moving your legs and armsand you're in the water okay how
(10:07):
about yeah okay I'll get into aregular exercise rhythm by
visiting Alcatraz and pretendingto escape okay if that's how
about this if we get to 500,000subscribers by the end of the
year will you do the theAlcatraz escape from Alcatraz
try And we'll film it and put iton Twitch.
You got to agree right now.
A million?
(10:28):
Million subscribers.
Yeah, let's bump up this.
Five million subscribers.
500 million subscribers.
Not 500 million.
Five million and I'll do it.
Five million subscribers.
All right.
Follow the rent-ish.
Do the things.
Get Patrick in the water.
So prison cells here at Alcatrazmeasured five feet by nine feet
with inmates spending about 23hours a day in confinement.
(10:50):
Oh, man.
Oh, man.
Not for me.
I would agree.
Just throwing that out there.
Okay, so in my trip to Alcatraz,being on the island itself, one
of the coolest things that weactually got to experience
there, and you can go and it'swhat I highly recommend if you
get the chance to go to SanFrancisco.
It is a tourist destination, butit's not a tourist trap.
There's actually a lot ofhistory and really awesome stuff
(11:11):
to learn about Alcatraz and itshistory and about all the
different people that haveoccupied the island.
There was actually a NativeAmerican occupation of the
island in the 70s before it wasturned into a national park.
Really cool story that you canread about online.
I won't get into it here.
But one of the things that youcan do while you're on the
island is you can get ademonstration of the doors.
(11:32):
So do you know what I'm talkingabout here?
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
So in Alcatraz, they devisedthis method of closing the
prison doors.
The hallways are these long,stretched out hallways where
it's nothing but doors.
Prison on top of prison on topof prison on top of cells on
cells on cells on cells.
And they designed these doors towork in a way where the guard
(11:54):
could pull the levers of thedoors to open them and close
them.
It was all automated.
And for the time, done withoutany kind of like really
electricity at all.
It's all mechanics and gears.
So they could look down and seeall of the doors open at the
same exact time based on thelevers that they were pulling.
It was also an anti-escapemechanism.
(12:14):
So you could go and they'lldemonstrate what it looks like
for them to turn these giantlevers, open up, you have to
have like multiple keys, youopen open it up, and then you
have to pull these levers.
It's like a cartoon in aspecific way so that when you
pull the right lever, all thedoors open at once on your
specific row, and then you closethem all at the same time.
(12:36):
So you can tell these doors areopen, now they're closed.
And it's like these tiny littlemarkers that you can see when
the doors are open, there's acolor.
When the doors are closed, it'sall gone.
So you can tell if one door wasajar or whatever, that no one
was escaping or running out.
It's really, really cool.
And They make you, like, get allquiet for this whole
demonstration, too, so that youcan hear this loud, like,
SPEAKER_02 (12:59):
it's
SPEAKER_01 (13:00):
really, really cool.
It's a really cool experience.
Cool.
Okay.
During its 29 years as a federalprison, no inmate was officially
recorded as having successfullyescaped, although 36 men made 14
escape attempts.
Of those, 23 were caught, sixwere shot, two drowned.
What about the three that weremissing?
I don't know.
(13:21):
I feel like that...
I don't know.
I don't have the answers to thatparticular question.
But yeah, of 36, you know,going...
What?
Three, six, seven, three, five,three, four, three, three.
33 and six?
Yeah.
It's pretty...
Solid.
Yeah.
I don't know how the math worksout there.
(13:41):
Alcatraz, home to a rarepopulation of nesting seabirds,
including comorants and egrets,making it an important wildlife
refuge today, which I think isalso part of the reason for the
park's protection on the land.
You can see those, the birds,they're everywhere.
Like right out front, the areathat faces the bay, it's just
like you look over the edge,it's just like birds.
(14:02):
Everywhere, birds.
A lot of birds, yeah.
All right.
Movies.
This is where I need you to talka little bit so I can take a
drink of soda.
The Island has been featured innumerous films, including Escape
from Alcatraz in 1979, starringClint Eastwood and The Rock with
Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
Patrick, it's our movie corner.
Yeah.
Escape from Alcatraz.
I think it's a great movie.
(14:23):
Okay.
I don't know if you've seen it.
Clint Eastwood.
Yeah, I guess you said thatalready.
I've actually not seen either ofthese.
Okay.
I've never seen The Rock andit's, I feel like it should be
on my list to watch because Ithink I love classic Sean
Connery films and I'm a hugeNicolas Cage fan.
Yeah, I like both of them too.
I'm not a fan of The Rockpersonally.
Okay.
I just like that style of moviesjust kind of like I was getting
(14:45):
annoyed and bored.
But yeah, I don't know.
I think you'd like it more thanI did.
Okay.
I mean, the Alcatraz's aestheticis cool, though.
Yeah.
And Escape from Alcatraz, Ithink that's just a great prison
break movie.
I think that's based on the truestory of, like, the three people
or whatever who supposedlyescaped.
So really kind of cool escape.
I love, like, a clever prisonbreak movie, you know?
(15:06):
Great location for film.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, like, it's so creepy,and there's, like, all these
empty cells, and, like, theyleft stuff there the way that it
was, and it's like you're justwalking through history.
It's really...
Really quite a fascinatingbuilding.
Next time I'm in the Bay Area,I'll make sure my dad books the
(15:26):
tour ahead of time.
I won't spend too much time onthis, but I got to call out Call
of Duty.
Warzone.
Oh, yeah.
So they converted Alcatraz intoa map in a Call of Duty game.
So I spent many hours in thepandemic days fighting in the
walls of Alcatraz.
But one of the island's oldeststructures, which is the
(15:47):
Alcatraz Lighthouse, wasactually the first operational
lighthouse on the west coast ofthe U.S., constructed in 1854.
Really?
Yeah.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I guess it kind of makes sense.
Pretty important lighthouse.
Yeah.
You got this giant rock in themiddle of the San Francisco Bay
with a lot of boats and stuff.
You got a foggy night.
You got to know where that thingis.
Yeah, right.
(16:08):
It makes sense that it would bethere.
And then the last one I got foryou, Alcatraz's name comes from
the Spanish word– And Iapologize to all of Spain or the
Spanish people.
Alcatraces?
How about that?
Meaning pelicans reflecting theisland's historical connection
to bird life.
(16:28):
Okay, I had no idea that's whatthat meant.
Yeah, so...
Very, very interesting building.
Did you have something elsethere, buddy?
No.
I was– I realized it was stupidright after I started to say it.
Oh, well, now I really want tohear it.
Well, I was just going to saylike isn't an albatross– is that
a bird?
Albatross?
Albatross, yeah.
(16:48):
Albatross.
That's a bird.
Does that have anything to dowith alcatrasses?
I don't know.
Okay.
Producers, maybe we can get onthat wiki.
Wiki albatross.
See if we can't figure out someinformation.
All right.
I feel like it's a no, but.
Well, that's my...
I told you just about everyAlcatraz story that I had from
my trip.
It's a really fun, reallyinteresting building.
(17:10):
Lots of really cool history tobe learned about Alcatraz.
And yeah, that's beenPropetology.
Such a fun segment, that wasn'tit?
And welcome back to anotherround of listener-submitted real
estate questions that have beensent to questions at
therentishpod.com.
(17:30):
Remember...
We're here to help, but alwaysconsult the pros before making
any big moves.
We're here to give you some realestate expert advice from two
guys that are getting there, butwe're not there.
We're getting there, not gotthere.
Exactly.
So with anything serious, justmake sure that you always want
to consult a professional.
For sure.
(17:50):
So let's jump into the listenermail.
Questions at therentishpod.com.
Patrick, who emailed in today?
All right, we got Janice fromLansing, Michigan.
Janice is asking, I'm househacking and my tenant who lives
downstairs keeps blasting hisTV.
The funny thing is, we'rewatching the same show.
He seems like a cool guy andhonestly, I wouldn't mind
hanging out with him.
(18:11):
I know it's a bit unconventionalsince I'm his landlord, but
would it be weird to just ask ifwe could watch the show
together?
Well, firstly, I love that youwrote in, Janice, to us to ask
our opinion on this.
You clearly just need someone tovalidate you wanting to watch
the show with this guy.
What show do you think he'swatching?
I don't know.
(18:32):
It's gotta be something on, onlike cable.
If they're watching the sameshow, I mean like, because if
you're streaming, who knows ifit's the same, or maybe it is
the same show, like just ondifferent episodes.
It doesn't need to be like, Idon't think it's like sunk up.
Literally.
They're watching the same thingat the same exact time.
Maybe it's just like, Oh, Iheard, um, uh, frigging Moira
Rose downstairs on max volume,but it's like, what show is, How
(18:53):
loud do you need to be watchingyour TV at the apartment
building?
What shows are you blasting onmax volume?
I think my neighbor below me canhear what I'm blasting.
I've heard her playing TaylorSwift.
I'm like, oh, I'm singing alongto her Taylor Swift that she's
playing in her apartment.
I think it might just depend onhow loud.
Actually, my last apartment, Ibumped into my landlord at this
(19:16):
bar, and he bought me a coupledrinks.
We got to hanging out.
He was cool.
He's like 68 years old.
Yeah, I know.
He's just– That was like ourfirst time like hanging out, but
he was like, he was a cool guy.
Yeah.
He was like in a band in likethe seventies.
So thanks for paying me all thatmoney.
That was kind of cool.
And I know my, one of myfriends, she owns property and
(19:37):
rents out like it's a house.
It's just, she rents out one ofthe rooms to some person she
found who's like her age.
And like, obviously she pays herrent every month, but they hang
out.
They're like living in thehouse.
I, they watch presumably TVtogether, you know, and they eat
dinner and stuff together.
So I think it, you know, I mean,obviously like you, it can be
(19:58):
tricky because you don't wantthe, in my opinion, at least you
don't want the tenants just likewalk all over you.
If you're like friends, it'simportant to establish like the
landlord sort of boundary, like,Oh, like rent is still due sort
of thing.
Yeah.
That would be my answer to thisquestion is like, as someone
that can't relate to being alandlord and like having a
tenant, I would assume that youwould want boundaries.
(20:18):
I've had landlords in the pastthat are a little bit too
comfortable with like, just, youknow, be, around the apartment
or asking you questions, beingable to call you.
I kind of just want to be leftalone.
You have a landlord for a reasonfor all the help and getting
stuff fixed or whatever, butI've never personally ever
(20:40):
wanted a personal relationshipwith any of the landlords that
I've had.
It's a business partnership in away.
I don't know if I want to befriends with this guy.
But that's just my opinion.
Maybe I'm a little stead-offish.
Maybe the answer here is leavethe ball in his court.
Wait for the tenant to come andask you.
So turn your TV up.
(21:02):
Let him realize that you'rewatching the same show, and then
if he wants to watch it withyou, then you're golden.
You got to be careful because Icould see a situation where the
tenant thinks you're likemocking them or something.
It's like, what?
This son of a gun has turnedthis TV up?
Like, what the hell?
Then you got a war of escalationon your hands.
Like each person's turning theTV up.
(21:22):
All right.
Let's see.
Next question.
Next question.
Where's the next question?
We got James from Denver,Colorado writes in and asks, I'm
considering buying my firstrental property, but the market
here feels very competitive.
Should I focus on saving for alarger down payment or should I
try to get into the marketsooner with a smaller
(21:43):
investment?
This is tricky.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (21:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
feels like one of those questions we may need to
reach out to our real estateexpert, Mary Regano for.
Well, I've actually beenthinking about this too.
Like when it comes time for meto buy property, it's like, do I
want to buy like...
like be in a better situation,larger down payment and kind of
have maybe like a house I wouldwant to live in, you know, or
should I get something like alittle, maybe a little cheaper,
(22:09):
something maybe like a duplexthat I won't live in like
forever, but like just to startkind of building my portfolio.
I think it might depend on acouple of things like interest
rates and, you know, whateverelse.
But I'm not sure I have a superlike educated answer you should
rely on me for, because I'vebeen thinking about the same
question actually.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously one of thefirst things things you got to
(22:29):
do is just get your numbers inorder like calculate exactly
what you can afford and you knowand look for specific areas
where you think that you knowmaybe you don't need to put down
all the money in the world likeyou could probably stand to do
like you come to a number thatyou think is sensible for you
and for the property that you'retrying to invest in um But yeah,
(22:50):
I don't know.
I mean, if you can findsomething good that you like, I
don't see a problem with goingin and on a smaller investment,
but you got to do what's rightfor you.
Well, that's also nice becauseit's like a rental property,
right?
So like you're going to getlike, it's different than a
house that I guess you're livingin, you know, because like with
rentals, you'll get, even thoughyou'll have like mortgage
payments and whatever, you'llhave like that income coming in.
Right.
And then market trends,obviously, you got to think
(23:11):
about, you know, what's going onin different places.
We've talked on past episodes ofThe Rentish Pod about, you know,
kind of feeling out the trendsin your area.
Yeah.
(23:43):
One of those situations.
So good luck, James, Denver.
Let
SPEAKER_02 (23:48):
us know.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
Remember, don't take our advice too seriously and
consult a professional.
Who else?
What do we got here?
Patrick?
I got Mia from San Diego here.
Mia asks, I'm a new landlordcurrently setting up my rental
unit, but I only have enoughfunds to purchase either a
dishwasher or an in-unit laundrymachine.
In your opinion, which amenitywould renters prefer?
(24:11):
I definitely have one that Iwould prefer as a renter.
It might be kind of a hot take.
I could not live without adishwasher.
I hate doing dishes and I wouldnever ever cook if I had to do
my own dishes.
I would just take out all thetime.
I can work with bringing mylaundry down like, you know, to
(24:33):
another floor or I, my lastapartment, I had to go across
the street to a laundromat.
I would, I would take, this is ahot take and this is, this is
wrong.
All right.
So you would rather let me,okay.
Now I got to frame my mind causeI'm already getting angry.
The dishwasher is sole purposeis to clean the dishes so that
(24:54):
you can get the dishes out anduse them to put food on next
time or use the fork to to do,you know, stab the food and put
it in your mouth.
That is right.
Or rinse the coffee out so thatyou can not drink coffee water
and you can drink water water.
Yeah, that is the image of adishwasher, yeah.
So think about it this way.
In the sense of time, it takesfrom the time of you turning the
(25:18):
faucet water on to a warmtemperature, putting soap on a
sponge, and doing this, making acircular motion with my right
hand on my left hand, which I'mpretending is a plate.
It takes about, I'm going to sayconservatively, 42 seconds.
Wash a dish.
No way.
And put it in the drying rackand wait for it to dry out so
(25:39):
that you can use that again.
To do your laundry outside ofyour home, you have to pack up
your laundry.
You've got to carry it out.
You've got to go to the thing.
Oftentimes you've got to paymoney for the laundromat or for
the unit.
Like all the apartments thatI've lived in that have
out-of-unit laundry all are likepay machines.
Like you've got to put quartersin there.
Yeah.
Costs you extra money.
Then you got to wait.
(26:00):
Maybe sometimes you're sharingthose machines with other
people.
You got to deal with otherpeople's like dirty laundry in
your frigging thing.
None of this bothers you.
Okay.
But it's an adventure, Zach.
First of all, I will say likewhen you let plates and dishes
and whatever build up in thesink, eventually it's not 42
seconds.
I'm there for a half hourcleaning dishes.
You're washing dishes for halfan hour.
(26:22):
Yeah.
Versus I put the stuff– I put myclothes in the laundry machine.
Boom.
done.
I can go get a coffee.
I can do literally anythingelse.
It's also, you know, I've metplenty of, you know, I'm a
laundromat.
I just, like, strike upconversations with people.
I, you know, I met an NFL playerat a, not a coffee shop, at a
laundromat, you know?
(26:42):
I wouldn't have met an NFLplayer doing dishes in my own
apartment.
You know what I mean?
I guess.
I think you're doing it wrong.
It takes you 30 minutes to washthe dishes.
No, I'm just saying we have,like, a lot of, like, a
dishwasher's worth of build upin the sink eight minutes I want
to have you like turbo armsbecause I don't know how you're
(27:04):
doing that you go like this andthen you go like this and then
you put it in the tie rack Idon't know I like what you're
saying about you get theexperience of getting out of the
house and meeting other peopleyeah That's fine if that's what
you want to do.
But you put the laundry at home.
I go downstairs to my basement.
I throw the clothes in thewashing machine.
I do the thing.
I start it.
I go upstairs.
(27:24):
I keep playing Batman on a lotof the places.
Well, I'd like to have both, butthat's not the question.
Obviously, I'd rather havein-unit laundry.
And as far as the money thinggoes.
Oh, you would?
I thought you said you'd ratherhave in-unit.
No, no, no.
I would rather have in-unitlaundry than not have in-unit
laundry.
I would rather have both adishwasher and a laundry
machine.
However, if I'm picking one, I'mchoosing the dishwasher,$100.
(27:46):
times out of 100.
I completely disagree.
That's what we've been talkingabout.
Damn.
I have in-unit laundry and Idon't have a dishwasher.
In fact, I've never had adishwasher at any place that
I've lived in Cincinnati in myentire life.
I just want to also, because I'mthinking about it now, the point
(28:06):
about the coin, paying for itwith quarters or whatever,
that's annoying.
But units that have in-unitlaundry, you can make for more
money.
Those tend to be more money.
for rent for...
Are you trying to say that thewater bill gets higher?
Is that what you're trying tosay?
No, no, no.
I'm just saying, like, let's sayan apartment's for rent for
nine...
They might charge you more forrent because they have in-unit
lodging.
Yes, they brilliantly wordedthat.
(28:28):
Think brilliant.
Yes, you're a master with words.
But yeah, that's what I'msaying.
And so it's honestly probablyyou're saving money I don't
agree.
I'm going to a laundromatbecause they would jack up the
rent a hundred bucks a month.
Maybe, maybe.
That would be an interestingthing that we can research
sometime.
Email us if you listeners outthere fall on one side of the
(28:49):
coin on this one.
If you would rather have thein-unit laundry, if you'd rather
have the in-unit dishwasher,reach out to us, send us some
messages.
We'd love to hear from you andyour experiences on what you
prefer.
Questions at therentishpod.com.
We'll have to table this one,man, because the blood's
boiling.
Otherwise, I love your passionfor meeting NFL players in the
laundromat.
(29:09):
That's beautiful.
I love it.
All right, Patrick.
Well, that's all the time thatwe have for this week's episode
of The Rentish.
Thank you guys out there forlistening to us.
We really appreciate it.
It's been a fun one, man.
I mean, we may have gotten in anargument, but you know what?
I still appreciate you as afriend and a co-host.
We'll bury this hatchet at somepoint.
(29:29):
Thanks, everyone, for listening.
Remember, follow us on yourpodcast service of choice and
download the episodes.
Give us a like or subscribe orhit the notification if you want
to get alerted when new episodesgo live.
If your podcast service doesthat, you can also give us a
star rating or review us no notone star give us star ratings
multi-stars ideally 20 yeahright or 25 no less than 30 and
(29:54):
we would appreciate all yourfeedback and questions if you
want to email questions attherentishpod.com we'll answer
those questions live on airwhether they're about llamas or
not or about ghost houses that'smaybe a cut segment that's not
going to happen but we'll seemaybe one of these days we'll
talk about that but I've beenZach that's My co-host Patrick.
And we'll catch you guys nexttime.
you
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
What's going on, everyone?
I'm Zach, and I'm here withtrusty old Patrick.
What up?
Threw you off there a littlebit.
We're your hosts for this week'sepisode of the Rent-ish Podcast,
which is a podcast that's kindof about rental properties and
hosted by two guys that work inthe real estate industry, and
they kind of know what they'retalking about.
Yeah, but mostly not.
(00:26):
Yeah, mostly not.
That's why you're going to havefun listening to us talk to
experts, learning with us, orjust laughing at how little we
know, and it's It's okay, we cantake it.
It's fine.
We're tough.
Yeah, we're tough.
We got thick skin.
Just don't make fun of ourlooks.
Yeah, don't take that.
Peek.
attractive male over here.
(00:49):
Don't look up our LinkedInphotos.
Today's episode, we're gonnadive into a couple different
awesome things.
We got history of buildings,we're gonna bring back
Propetology, bring it back, andthen we're gonna do some
listener questions to wrap itup.
Patrick, how's your day going?
So far, so good.
I woke up a little bit earliertoday for a meeting that I would
have liked.
Yeah, so let's just get this outon the table.
(01:11):
We have an 8 a.m.
meeting.
Yep.
Company wide.
Correct.
You got up two minutes beforethe meeting.
7.58.
That is, you are correct.
Okay.
How is your life not filled withjust an enormous amount of
anxiety?
If I woke up two minutes beforeanything, I'd be freaked out.
It's a little bit more likehappiness.
Like, oh, if I had woken upearlier, I would be more tired
than I already am.
(01:32):
So it's like I did the rightthing.
I told you I woke up at likearound 7, had time to take the
dog out, get some coffee, do mycrossword.
Oh.
That doesn't sound relaxing toyou?
No.
That doesn't sound like a niceway to start the day?
That sounds horrible.
I mean, I'm happy.
for you man but if I set analarm for 7 I would have a
snooze every what was the snooze9 minutes until 7.58 something
like that yeah whatever I wouldnot get out of bed until 7.58
(01:54):
anyway so I'm like I'd rathermaximize on the high quality
sleep rather than interrupt thatat 7 for no reason you know what
I mean yeah I get it I we justlive we lead two different lives
my friend two different livesbut either way yeah I think our
energy copied up it's a littlelow we got some caffeine though
got some caffeine and we havegames coming up.
Games, yeah.
(02:16):
Who doesn't love games?
I know, with the adrenalinerunning there.
We're going to have some fun.
It's going to be a good episode.
I'm glad that you're awake andalert and ready to roll,
Patrick.
Alert, awake, alive, andenthusiastic.
Alert, awake, and...
No, what is this?
Alive, alert, awake, andenthusiastic?
Stop, drop, and roll.
We're good.
Okay.
Patrick, we're going to jumpright into it.
(02:37):
We're bringing it back.
One of everyone's favoritesegments, Propetology.
This is where we talk about theorigins of historic buildings,
historic landmarks, famousarchitecture, all that stuff.
We've got a lot of really coolstuff.
Oh, I should have mentioned thisat the top.
Thank you for listening to theRentish Podcast.
We're posting weekly.
Email questions attherentishpod.com if you want to
submit questions for listenerquestions, which we're going to
(02:59):
do later on in the show.
Follow us on the socials, allthat stuff.
Subscribe to the podcast.
Give us a thumbs up or a like ora five star.
Review us on Letterboxd.
Whatever you got to do.
Are we on Letterboxd, Patrick?
We need to get on Letterboxd.
We'll get on Letterboxd.
Get that on the the agenda.
Okay, proptology.
Today, And I'm reading thisstraight from the document.
(03:19):
The Alcatraz.
The Alcatraz.
Shout out to our producer who'ssitting in the room with us.
I love the Alcatraz, which Idon't think I've ever heard
anyone refer to Alcatraz withthe V.
It's like the Ohio StateUniversity.
Yeah, right.
That's what I was thinkingabout.
The Alcatraz.
Alcatraz, Patrick, before wejump in, do you have any
(03:40):
relationship with this building?
It's landmark.
Well, okay.
So I've seen it from afar.
I've been to San Francisco.
Okay.
And we had big plans.
to go to Alcatraz except when wegot there my dad totally didn't
book any sort of like tour andjust didn't happen so we saw it
like I saw the Alcatraz in themiddle of the bay or whatever
(04:00):
but yeah haven't been I've seenEscape from Alcatraz and The
Rock and you know whatever othermovies we've been there yeah
have you been yeah I haveactually this last year in 2024
I was in San Francisco and I gotthe opportunity to actually take
the ferry over to Alcatraz andget the whole tour go through
all the different exhibits.
We'll talk about it here in alittle bit.
But yeah, I got to see a lot ofreally, really cool stuff
(04:21):
because Alcatraz is a prison orwas a prison.
Well, yeah, I mean, I knew that.
It was a prison.
Yeah.
So let's get into the facts.
Alcatraz Island, located in SanFrancisco Bay, about 1.25 miles
offshore from San Francisco,California.
It's known as The Rock, whichalso famous movie.
Right.
Gets the correlation there.
(04:42):
It is one of the most infamousprisons in American history and
now serves as a popular touristtourist destination, and that is
true.
It is the touristy of touristdestinations in San Francisco.
Which is so funny to me, becauseit was like a prison for really
bad people.
And it's like, I don't know howmany prisons in the world have
(05:02):
become tourist destinations, ifthat's a common thing or not.
But to me, that idea, thatconcept is just kind of wild.
Yeah, it's not like you can goon a sightseeing tour in
Guantanamo Bay.
I think that that's kind of notthe same thing.
But yeah, it's weird that it hastaken on this kind of like
tourist destination because yeahwhen i went man kids and
families and like moms pushingstrollers with their but look
SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
at the prisons
SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
look
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
at the alcatraz
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
and so it was pretty cool but the island is renowned
for its isolating locationisolated location which i think
is part of the draw right it'sjust you can see it from
anywhere you are on the bay insan francisco you're walking
along fisherman's wharf you'rehanging out in the downtown of
the business district whereveryou are you're crossing the
golden gate it's just thereright you look out into the
water and it's just this giantrock in the middle of the water
(05:49):
it's really really fascinatingso i think it's like the
intrigue of this this otherworld being like right within
reach you know it's kind offascinating right but yeah a lot
of notorious inmates stayedthere and many daring escape
attempts and it's been long heldas a symbol of mystery and
intrigue a little bit of historyalcatraz began as a military
fortification and prison in themid 19th century before becoming
(06:11):
a federal penitentiary in 1934prison was designed to hold the
most dangerous and incorrigiblecriminals.
Word of the day dictionary.
I knew you were going to have aword.
Including Al Capone.
Right.
Heard of him?
Yep.
Pretty famous.
Yes.
One of the most famous owls.
I would say a top two owl.
Top two owl.
(06:32):
Ranking owls coming soon.
George Machine Gun Kelly, notthe rapper.
Not right, but the gangsterMachine Gun Kelly.
The gangster, yeah.
And Robert Stroud, who isotherwise known as the Birdman
of Alcatraz.
I've seen that movie too.
It movie from the 60s called TheBirdman of Alcatraz starring
Burt Lancaster.
That's another one I've seen.
That's the only reason I knowwho he is.
I don't think he was like that.
(06:53):
He wasn't like an Al Caponelevel criminal, but he just like
raised birds in Alcatraz as aninmate.
Yeah, it's like what he did.
How's the movie?
It's solid, so not to get toonerdy here, but John
Frankenheimer is my favoritedirector of the 1960s and it's
probably his worst movie fromthat era.
But it's good.
Okay.
Have you ever raised birds in acriminal fashion or are we
allowed to talk about that onthe podcast?
(07:14):
I haven't, so maybe that was thething.
I didn't feel as much of apersonal connection to that
movie.
What was he doing with thebirds?
Messengers?
No, he would just, like, hesaved this, like, bird, caught
it in the, like, on his walkoutside or whatever.
I don't know.
But he, like, saved this babybird and then got really into,
like, ornithology.
And so just, like, startedhaving birds in Alcatraz.
Okay.
Interesting.
(07:35):
Yeah.
Check it out.
Harsh conditions and reputationfor being inescapable added to
the notoriety.
So, obviously, part of the bigreason why they built it out
there is because it's a home forthe most dangerous of people.
If you're going to escape thisprison or try to attempt an
escape, you got to swim realfar.
So, why?
1.25 miles how far is like isthat like a good a great swimmer
(07:57):
how far can they swim I mean Idon't know if you researched
that I don't know I mean likeit's 1.25 miles so you gotta
swim 1.25 miles that just seemslike a lot it's a long distance
I mean like obviously you saw itfrom the distance in the bay
it's not like you're not goingfor a summer swim on the beach
it's like you gotta cross theentire length of that that bay
it's pretty crazy but fun factin 1962 three inmates Frank
(08:21):
Morris and brothers John andClarence Anglin attempted a
daring escape and their fateremains unknown.
So people have tried to escapeAlcatraz in the past.
It was officially closed,though, as a prison in 1963 due
to high operating costs anddeteriorating facilities.
And then later on in 1972, itbecame part of the Golden Gate
National Recreation Area and wasopen to the public.
(08:44):
Wow.
So it's a national park.
That's one of my favorite funfacts about Alcatraz is that
literally it's a national park.
It's a national park.
So you go there and it's likethere are park officers and
people that are giving tours andyou can donate to the parks
facilities and it's part of theNational Parks Association.
It's a park?
Like, no way.
(09:04):
It's like, there's Yosemite,there's Yellowstone, there's
Arches, there's Glacier, andthere's Alcatraz.
There's Alcatraz.
That's crazy.
It's pretty cool.
Fun facts.
So we got more fun facts here.
Alcatraz waters are famouslycold and treacherous,
contributing to the belief thatThat escape was impossible.
However, and this is what istouched on this earlier.
(09:25):
The annual escape from Alcatraztriathlon proves that swimming
from the island to mainland isachievable.
So you can actually participate.
I'm not swimming a mile.
I'm 1.25 miles.
You were just talking to meearlier about your, uh, you're
not interested in exercising atall.
Correct.
Exercise is not part ofPatrick's life.
(09:46):
You go on walks.
I go on walks.
I like walking, you know, butevery time I'm like, Oh, I'm
going to start doing this toll.
you know thing I just I do itfor like a week and a half and
then it just fizzles out intonothing so I just kind of
decided like me and exerciselike we don't get along super
well well swimming to Alcatrazis just like walking except for
you're moving your legs and armsand you're in the water okay how
(10:07):
about yeah okay I'll get into aregular exercise rhythm by
visiting Alcatraz and pretendingto escape okay if that's how
about this if we get to 500,000subscribers by the end of the
year will you do the theAlcatraz escape from Alcatraz
try And we'll film it and put iton Twitch.
You got to agree right now.
A million?
(10:28):
Million subscribers.
Yeah, let's bump up this.
Five million subscribers.
500 million subscribers.
Not 500 million.
Five million and I'll do it.
Five million subscribers.
All right.
Follow the rent-ish.
Do the things.
Get Patrick in the water.
So prison cells here at Alcatrazmeasured five feet by nine feet
with inmates spending about 23hours a day in confinement.
(10:50):
Oh, man.
Oh, man.
Not for me.
I would agree.
Just throwing that out there.
Okay, so in my trip to Alcatraz,being on the island itself, one
of the coolest things that weactually got to experience
there, and you can go and it'swhat I highly recommend if you
get the chance to go to SanFrancisco.
It is a tourist destination, butit's not a tourist trap.
There's actually a lot ofhistory and really awesome stuff
(11:11):
to learn about Alcatraz and itshistory and about all the
different people that haveoccupied the island.
There was actually a NativeAmerican occupation of the
island in the 70s before it wasturned into a national park.
Really cool story that you canread about online.
I won't get into it here.
But one of the things that youcan do while you're on the
island is you can get ademonstration of the doors.
(11:32):
So do you know what I'm talkingabout here?
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
So in Alcatraz, they devisedthis method of closing the
prison doors.
The hallways are these long,stretched out hallways where
it's nothing but doors.
Prison on top of prison on topof prison on top of cells on
cells on cells on cells.
And they designed these doors towork in a way where the guard
(11:54):
could pull the levers of thedoors to open them and close
them.
It was all automated.
And for the time, done withoutany kind of like really
electricity at all.
It's all mechanics and gears.
So they could look down and seeall of the doors open at the
same exact time based on thelevers that they were pulling.
It was also an anti-escapemechanism.
(12:14):
So you could go and they'lldemonstrate what it looks like
for them to turn these giantlevers, open up, you have to
have like multiple keys, youopen open it up, and then you
have to pull these levers.
It's like a cartoon in aspecific way so that when you
pull the right lever, all thedoors open at once on your
specific row, and then you closethem all at the same time.
(12:36):
So you can tell these doors areopen, now they're closed.
And it's like these tiny littlemarkers that you can see when
the doors are open, there's acolor.
When the doors are closed, it'sall gone.
So you can tell if one door wasajar or whatever, that no one
was escaping or running out.
It's really, really cool.
And They make you, like, get allquiet for this whole
demonstration, too, so that youcan hear this loud, like,
SPEAKER_02 (12:59):
it's
SPEAKER_01 (13:00):
really, really cool.
It's a really cool experience.
Cool.
Okay.
During its 29 years as a federalprison, no inmate was officially
recorded as having successfullyescaped, although 36 men made 14
escape attempts.
Of those, 23 were caught, sixwere shot, two drowned.
What about the three that weremissing?
I don't know.
(13:21):
I feel like that...
I don't know.
I don't have the answers to thatparticular question.
But yeah, of 36, you know,going...
What?
Three, six, seven, three, five,three, four, three, three.
33 and six?
Yeah.
It's pretty...
Solid.
Yeah.
I don't know how the math worksout there.
(13:41):
Alcatraz, home to a rarepopulation of nesting seabirds,
including comorants and egrets,making it an important wildlife
refuge today, which I think isalso part of the reason for the
park's protection on the land.
You can see those, the birds,they're everywhere.
Like right out front, the areathat faces the bay, it's just
like you look over the edge,it's just like birds.
(14:02):
Everywhere, birds.
A lot of birds, yeah.
All right.
Movies.
This is where I need you to talka little bit so I can take a
drink of soda.
The Island has been featured innumerous films, including Escape
from Alcatraz in 1979, starringClint Eastwood and The Rock with
Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
Patrick, it's our movie corner.
Yeah.
Escape from Alcatraz.
I think it's a great movie.
(14:23):
Okay.
I don't know if you've seen it.
Clint Eastwood.
Yeah, I guess you said thatalready.
I've actually not seen either ofthese.
Okay.
I've never seen The Rock andit's, I feel like it should be
on my list to watch because Ithink I love classic Sean
Connery films and I'm a hugeNicolas Cage fan.
Yeah, I like both of them too.
I'm not a fan of The Rockpersonally.
Okay.
I just like that style of moviesjust kind of like I was getting
(14:45):
annoyed and bored.
But yeah, I don't know.
I think you'd like it more thanI did.
Okay.
I mean, the Alcatraz's aestheticis cool, though.
Yeah.
And Escape from Alcatraz, Ithink that's just a great prison
break movie.
I think that's based on the truestory of, like, the three people
or whatever who supposedlyescaped.
So really kind of cool escape.
I love, like, a clever prisonbreak movie, you know?
(15:06):
Great location for film.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, like, it's so creepy,and there's, like, all these
empty cells, and, like, theyleft stuff there the way that it
was, and it's like you're justwalking through history.
It's really...
Really quite a fascinatingbuilding.
Next time I'm in the Bay Area,I'll make sure my dad books the
(15:26):
tour ahead of time.
I won't spend too much time onthis, but I got to call out Call
of Duty.
Warzone.
Oh, yeah.
So they converted Alcatraz intoa map in a Call of Duty game.
So I spent many hours in thepandemic days fighting in the
walls of Alcatraz.
But one of the island's oldeststructures, which is the
(15:47):
Alcatraz Lighthouse, wasactually the first operational
lighthouse on the west coast ofthe U.S., constructed in 1854.
Really?
Yeah.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I guess it kind of makes sense.
Pretty important lighthouse.
Yeah.
You got this giant rock in themiddle of the San Francisco Bay
with a lot of boats and stuff.
You got a foggy night.
You got to know where that thingis.
Yeah, right.
(16:08):
It makes sense that it would bethere.
And then the last one I got foryou, Alcatraz's name comes from
the Spanish word– And Iapologize to all of Spain or the
Spanish people.
Alcatraces?
How about that?
Meaning pelicans reflecting theisland's historical connection
to bird life.
(16:28):
Okay, I had no idea that's whatthat meant.
Yeah, so...
Very, very interesting building.
Did you have something elsethere, buddy?
No.
I was– I realized it was stupidright after I started to say it.
Oh, well, now I really want tohear it.
Well, I was just going to saylike isn't an albatross– is that
a bird?
Albatross?
Albatross, yeah.
(16:48):
Albatross.
That's a bird.
Does that have anything to dowith alcatrasses?
I don't know.
Okay.
Producers, maybe we can get onthat wiki.
Wiki albatross.
See if we can't figure out someinformation.
All right.
I feel like it's a no, but.
Well, that's my...
I told you just about everyAlcatraz story that I had from
my trip.
It's a really fun, reallyinteresting building.
(17:10):
Lots of really cool history tobe learned about Alcatraz.
And yeah, that's beenPropetology.
Such a fun segment, that wasn'tit?
And welcome back to anotherround of listener-submitted real
estate questions that have beensent to questions at
therentishpod.com.
(17:30):
Remember...
We're here to help, but alwaysconsult the pros before making
any big moves.
We're here to give you some realestate expert advice from two
guys that are getting there, butwe're not there.
We're getting there, not gotthere.
Exactly.
So with anything serious, justmake sure that you always want
to consult a professional.
For sure.
(17:50):
So let's jump into the listenermail.
Questions at therentishpod.com.
Patrick, who emailed in today?
All right, we got Janice fromLansing, Michigan.
Janice is asking, I'm househacking and my tenant who lives
downstairs keeps blasting hisTV.
The funny thing is, we'rewatching the same show.
He seems like a cool guy andhonestly, I wouldn't mind
hanging out with him.
(18:11):
I know it's a bit unconventionalsince I'm his landlord, but
would it be weird to just ask ifwe could watch the show
together?
Well, firstly, I love that youwrote in, Janice, to us to ask
our opinion on this.
You clearly just need someone tovalidate you wanting to watch
the show with this guy.
What show do you think he'swatching?
I don't know.
(18:32):
It's gotta be something on, onlike cable.
If they're watching the sameshow, I mean like, because if
you're streaming, who knows ifit's the same, or maybe it is
the same show, like just ondifferent episodes.
It doesn't need to be like, Idon't think it's like sunk up.
Literally.
They're watching the same thingat the same exact time.
Maybe it's just like, Oh, Iheard, um, uh, frigging Moira
Rose downstairs on max volume,but it's like, what show is, How
(18:53):
loud do you need to be watchingyour TV at the apartment
building?
What shows are you blasting onmax volume?
I think my neighbor below me canhear what I'm blasting.
I've heard her playing TaylorSwift.
I'm like, oh, I'm singing alongto her Taylor Swift that she's
playing in her apartment.
I think it might just depend onhow loud.
Actually, my last apartment, Ibumped into my landlord at this
(19:16):
bar, and he bought me a coupledrinks.
We got to hanging out.
He was cool.
He's like 68 years old.
Yeah, I know.
He's just– That was like ourfirst time like hanging out, but
he was like, he was a cool guy.
Yeah.
He was like in a band in likethe seventies.
So thanks for paying me all thatmoney.
That was kind of cool.
And I know my, one of myfriends, she owns property and
(19:37):
rents out like it's a house.
It's just, she rents out one ofthe rooms to some person she
found who's like her age.
And like, obviously she pays herrent every month, but they hang
out.
They're like living in thehouse.
I, they watch presumably TVtogether, you know, and they eat
dinner and stuff together.
So I think it, you know, I mean,obviously like you, it can be
(19:58):
tricky because you don't wantthe, in my opinion, at least you
don't want the tenants just likewalk all over you.
If you're like friends, it'simportant to establish like the
landlord sort of boundary, like,Oh, like rent is still due sort
of thing.
Yeah.
That would be my answer to thisquestion is like, as someone
that can't relate to being alandlord and like having a
tenant, I would assume that youwould want boundaries.
(20:18):
I've had landlords in the pastthat are a little bit too
comfortable with like, just, youknow, be, around the apartment
or asking you questions, beingable to call you.
I kind of just want to be leftalone.
You have a landlord for a reasonfor all the help and getting
stuff fixed or whatever, butI've never personally ever
(20:40):
wanted a personal relationshipwith any of the landlords that
I've had.
It's a business partnership in away.
I don't know if I want to befriends with this guy.
But that's just my opinion.
Maybe I'm a little stead-offish.
Maybe the answer here is leavethe ball in his court.
Wait for the tenant to come andask you.
So turn your TV up.
(21:02):
Let him realize that you'rewatching the same show, and then
if he wants to watch it withyou, then you're golden.
You got to be careful because Icould see a situation where the
tenant thinks you're likemocking them or something.
It's like, what?
This son of a gun has turnedthis TV up?
Like, what the hell?
Then you got a war of escalationon your hands.
Like each person's turning theTV up.
(21:22):
All right.
Let's see.
Next question.
Next question.
Where's the next question?
We got James from Denver,Colorado writes in and asks, I'm
considering buying my firstrental property, but the market
here feels very competitive.
Should I focus on saving for alarger down payment or should I
try to get into the marketsooner with a smaller
(21:43):
investment?
This is tricky.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (21:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
feels like one of those questions we may need to
reach out to our real estateexpert, Mary Regano for.
Well, I've actually beenthinking about this too.
Like when it comes time for meto buy property, it's like, do I
want to buy like...
like be in a better situation,larger down payment and kind of
have maybe like a house I wouldwant to live in, you know, or
should I get something like alittle, maybe a little cheaper,
(22:09):
something maybe like a duplexthat I won't live in like
forever, but like just to startkind of building my portfolio.
I think it might depend on acouple of things like interest
rates and, you know, whateverelse.
But I'm not sure I have a superlike educated answer you should
rely on me for, because I'vebeen thinking about the same
question actually.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously one of thefirst things things you got to
(22:29):
do is just get your numbers inorder like calculate exactly
what you can afford and you knowand look for specific areas
where you think that you knowmaybe you don't need to put down
all the money in the world likeyou could probably stand to do
like you come to a number thatyou think is sensible for you
and for the property that you'retrying to invest in um But yeah,
(22:50):
I don't know.
I mean, if you can findsomething good that you like, I
don't see a problem with goingin and on a smaller investment,
but you got to do what's rightfor you.
Well, that's also nice becauseit's like a rental property,
right?
So like you're going to getlike, it's different than a
house that I guess you're livingin, you know, because like with
rentals, you'll get, even thoughyou'll have like mortgage
payments and whatever, you'llhave like that income coming in.
Right.
And then market trends,obviously, you got to think
(23:11):
about, you know, what's going onin different places.
We've talked on past episodes ofThe Rentish Pod about, you know,
kind of feeling out the trendsin your area.
Yeah.
(23:43):
One of those situations.
So good luck, James, Denver.
Let
SPEAKER_02 (23:48):
us know.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
Remember, don't take our advice too seriously and
consult a professional.
Who else?
What do we got here?
Patrick?
I got Mia from San Diego here.
Mia asks, I'm a new landlordcurrently setting up my rental
unit, but I only have enoughfunds to purchase either a
dishwasher or an in-unit laundrymachine.
In your opinion, which amenitywould renters prefer?
(24:11):
I definitely have one that Iwould prefer as a renter.
It might be kind of a hot take.
I could not live without adishwasher.
I hate doing dishes and I wouldnever ever cook if I had to do
my own dishes.
I would just take out all thetime.
I can work with bringing mylaundry down like, you know, to
(24:33):
another floor or I, my lastapartment, I had to go across
the street to a laundromat.
I would, I would take, this is ahot take and this is, this is
wrong.
All right.
So you would rather let me,okay.
Now I got to frame my mind causeI'm already getting angry.
The dishwasher is sole purposeis to clean the dishes so that
(24:54):
you can get the dishes out anduse them to put food on next
time or use the fork to to do,you know, stab the food and put
it in your mouth.
That is right.
Or rinse the coffee out so thatyou can not drink coffee water
and you can drink water water.
Yeah, that is the image of adishwasher, yeah.
So think about it this way.
In the sense of time, it takesfrom the time of you turning the
(25:18):
faucet water on to a warmtemperature, putting soap on a
sponge, and doing this, making acircular motion with my right
hand on my left hand, which I'mpretending is a plate.
It takes about, I'm going to sayconservatively, 42 seconds.
Wash a dish.
No way.
And put it in the drying rackand wait for it to dry out so
(25:39):
that you can use that again.
To do your laundry outside ofyour home, you have to pack up
your laundry.
You've got to carry it out.
You've got to go to the thing.
Oftentimes you've got to paymoney for the laundromat or for
the unit.
Like all the apartments thatI've lived in that have
out-of-unit laundry all are likepay machines.
Like you've got to put quartersin there.
Yeah.
Costs you extra money.
Then you got to wait.
(26:00):
Maybe sometimes you're sharingthose machines with other
people.
You got to deal with otherpeople's like dirty laundry in
your frigging thing.
None of this bothers you.
Okay.
But it's an adventure, Zach.
First of all, I will say likewhen you let plates and dishes
and whatever build up in thesink, eventually it's not 42
seconds.
I'm there for a half hourcleaning dishes.
You're washing dishes for halfan hour.
(26:22):
Yeah.
Versus I put the stuff– I put myclothes in the laundry machine.
Boom.
done.
I can go get a coffee.
I can do literally anythingelse.
It's also, you know, I've metplenty of, you know, I'm a
laundromat.
I just, like, strike upconversations with people.
I, you know, I met an NFL playerat a, not a coffee shop, at a
laundromat, you know?
(26:42):
I wouldn't have met an NFLplayer doing dishes in my own
apartment.
You know what I mean?
I guess.
I think you're doing it wrong.
It takes you 30 minutes to washthe dishes.
No, I'm just saying we have,like, a lot of, like, a
dishwasher's worth of build upin the sink eight minutes I want
to have you like turbo armsbecause I don't know how you're
(27:04):
doing that you go like this andthen you go like this and then
you put it in the tie rack Idon't know I like what you're
saying about you get theexperience of getting out of the
house and meeting other peopleyeah That's fine if that's what
you want to do.
But you put the laundry at home.
I go downstairs to my basement.
I throw the clothes in thewashing machine.
I do the thing.
I start it.
I go upstairs.
(27:24):
I keep playing Batman on a lotof the places.
Well, I'd like to have both, butthat's not the question.
Obviously, I'd rather havein-unit laundry.
And as far as the money thinggoes.
Oh, you would?
I thought you said you'd ratherhave in-unit.
No, no, no.
I would rather have in-unitlaundry than not have in-unit
laundry.
I would rather have both adishwasher and a laundry
machine.
However, if I'm picking one, I'mchoosing the dishwasher,$100.
(27:46):
times out of 100.
I completely disagree.
That's what we've been talkingabout.
Damn.
I have in-unit laundry and Idon't have a dishwasher.
In fact, I've never had adishwasher at any place that
I've lived in Cincinnati in myentire life.
I just want to also, because I'mthinking about it now, the point
(28:06):
about the coin, paying for itwith quarters or whatever,
that's annoying.
But units that have in-unitlaundry, you can make for more
money.
Those tend to be more money.
for rent for...
Are you trying to say that thewater bill gets higher?
Is that what you're trying tosay?
No, no, no.
I'm just saying, like, let's sayan apartment's for rent for
nine...
They might charge you more forrent because they have in-unit
lodging.
Yes, they brilliantly wordedthat.
(28:28):
Think brilliant.
Yes, you're a master with words.
But yeah, that's what I'msaying.
And so it's honestly probablyyou're saving money I don't
agree.
I'm going to a laundromatbecause they would jack up the
rent a hundred bucks a month.
Maybe, maybe.
That would be an interestingthing that we can research
sometime.
Email us if you listeners outthere fall on one side of the
(28:49):
coin on this one.
If you would rather have thein-unit laundry, if you'd rather
have the in-unit dishwasher,reach out to us, send us some
messages.
We'd love to hear from you andyour experiences on what you
prefer.
Questions at therentishpod.com.
We'll have to table this one,man, because the blood's
boiling.
Otherwise, I love your passionfor meeting NFL players in the
laundromat.
(29:09):
That's beautiful.
I love it.
All right, Patrick.
Well, that's all the time thatwe have for this week's episode
of The Rentish.
Thank you guys out there forlistening to us.
We really appreciate it.
It's been a fun one, man.
I mean, we may have gotten in anargument, but you know what?
I still appreciate you as afriend and a co-host.
We'll bury this hatchet at somepoint.
(29:29):
Thanks, everyone, for listening.
Remember, follow us on yourpodcast service of choice and
download the episodes.
Give us a like or subscribe orhit the notification if you want
to get alerted when new episodesgo live.
If your podcast service doesthat, you can also give us a
star rating or review us no notone star give us star ratings
multi-stars ideally 20 yeahright or 25 no less than 30 and
(29:54):
we would appreciate all yourfeedback and questions if you
want to email questions attherentishpod.com we'll answer
those questions live on airwhether they're about llamas or
not or about ghost houses that'smaybe a cut segment that's not
going to happen but we'll seemaybe one of these days we'll
talk about that but I've beenZach that's My co-host Patrick.
And we'll catch you guys nexttime.
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