April 7, 2025 ⢠33 mins
 In episode six of The Rent-ish Pod, Zach and Patrick kick things off by breaking down the latest CBS News price tracker. From food and gas to utilities and housing, the hosts dig into how rising costs are impacting everyday lifeâand what that means for renters and landlords alike.
Next up, it's time for Proptology! This weekâs architectural spotlight lands on the iconic Flatiron Building. Discover the bold design choices, quirky history, and why this legendary structure still turns heads over a century later.
Finally, Zach and Pat tackle a fresh batch of Listener Questionsâsome practical, some hilarious, and all answered with their usual blend of insight and banter.
đď¸ From economic trends to real estate trivia and iconic landmarks, this episode delivers value with a side of entertainment.
đ§ Tune in now for another jam-packed episode of real estate talk, good laughs, and your questions answered!
đŠ Got a question or story for the show? Drop us a line at questions@therentishpod.comâwe might feature you on a future episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
you
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to the Rent-ish Podcast.
I'm Zach, and I'm here with myco-host, Patrick.
What up?
We are your hosts today, andwe're the podcast that kind of
talks about rental propertiesand property management.
It's hosted by us two, two guysthat work in the real estate
industry, and we kind of knowwhat we're talking about.
But mostly don't.
(00:24):
You nailed the catchphrase thisweek.
I did.
I studied hard.
Beautiful.
I love it.
But I think you guys are goingto have fun listening to the
episode.
We're going to talk to experts.
We're We're going to hear somenews updates from around the
world of property management andreal estate.
We're going to talk about somefun buildings today.
We've got three humdingers.
If I do say so myself, we've gotlistener questions.
We're going to talk about theflat iron building and we do
(00:45):
proptology and we're going totalk about rising housing, food,
gas costs.
So does that sound fun?
Are you ready for
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
it?
SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
Yeah, I'm ready.
You ready for it?
Two coffees in me.
I drink a coffee, and then 10seconds after finishing that,
producer gives me a cup ofcoffee.
So I'm shaking right now.
I am ready to talk about these.
She just wants to talk about
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
the news.
Flat
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
iron building.
Let's talk news.
That's a good name for thesegment.
Let's talk news.
Let's talk news.
That's a good.
Yeah, I like it.
Let's talk news.
That was organic.
That's what we call.
Thinking on the spot.
All right.
CBS News price tracker shows howmuch food, gas, utility, and
housing costs are rising.
(01:30):
So this is an article from CBSNews.
Patrick, did you read thearticle?
I was going to, but then I sortof didn't and forgot.
That's fine.
My bad.
No, it's okay.
I like that this is our bit nowis that I do all the work and
then you sit there and lookpretty.
All right.
Rising costs are reshaping dailylife in America with housing
(01:52):
leading the charge.
Soaring home prices and rentscombined with high food, gas,
and utility bills are squeezinghousehold budgets like never
before.
So discussion real quick beforewe get into a a lot of the
bullets of the article and thearticle itself.
How have rising costs affectedyour daily life, whether it's
housing, groceries, gas, all ofthe above?
(02:13):
I feel like we can be candidhere.
The producers are like, justtalk about it.
I mean, costs have affectedeverybody.
We can say that pretty straighton.
The very noticeable one for me,because I live in the city
downtown, so I don't get in mycar as much as probably most
people do.
So gas isn't affecting me asmuch, but definitely food, I've
definitely noticed in the pastfive years.
McDonald's alone is twice asexpensive as it was like your
(02:35):
college you know yeah dude allright so side note on the
mcdonald's thing fast foodinflation yeah what what the
hell is happening here yeah thelast time so i i rarely get fast
food just casually but like onroad trips it's really
convenient like if i'm drivingto columbus or cleveland or
whatever i need to get like fastfood that's fine but a 10 piece
(02:56):
chicken mcnugget fry and a drinkis like it's like 12 now it's
like oh yeah how in the world isthat worth it i i i I don't
know.
I can't, I remember my, I wouldget like a regular hamburger
from McDonald's ending when like20.
20, I think the 2019 ish.
It was 90 cents for a hamburger.
And now it's like two 50 forjust a regular hamburger.
(03:17):
You know, it's insane.
And my, one of my businessbuddies told me that a really
good indication of how badinflation is, is things like
McDonald's for everyday items,fast, fast food, American food,
quick convenience.
Yeah.
When that stuff starts going up,you can realize like, I've, I've
been told that same thing, thecost of a burger or the price of
a Coke price of a bottle Cokecan of Coke.
Like you can tell like what'sgoing on by the cost of that,
(03:37):
like how it fluctuates orwhatever.
But yeah, it's, it's, It's crazyto me.
I used to in college, not eventhat long ago.
I was in college in the early2010s.
I was able to go to Taco Bellwith$5 and eat like a king.
That's the thing.
These places are for gettingâ ifyou have$4 in your bank account,
you know you can go toMcDonald's or Taco Bell and get
(03:57):
a real substantial meal.
Or at least you used to be ableto.
But now it'sâ you're payingâ Youknow, it's definitely different
restaurant prices, Michelin
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
restaurant,
SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
Michelin, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, food, I think is prettyubiquitous.
I mean, if you're an American,you're usually buying groceries.
I can't think of anyone outthere.
That's like, that doesn't reallyapply to, I guess, colleges and
young kids.
That's true.
But it's like, you know, peopleare aged.
I mean, like over, you know, 25and up 23 and up wherever you're
at in life.
(04:30):
Typically you need to go to thegrocery store.
That's where I'm noticing it hitthe most.
Like, in terms of like risingcosts affecting my daily life is
that I've had to budgetdifferently for the, for the
grocery.
Like I can no longer get thesame amount of groceries that I
used to for a hundred dollars atKroger.
Like I, I have to, I have toplan differently, different
meals, different items of food.
I've been leaning towards like,to like help make costs of the
(04:52):
grocery last longer.
I've been making a lot more likecrock pot meals.
So like getting like a biggerpiece of meat and being able to
like cook it down in the crockpot and then have leftovers for
days afterwards and be able tolike stretch a meal, stretch
that dollar a little bitfurther.
Right.
Do you, You don't cook at home.
Well, I do health kick.
I don't know if listeners haveheard.
(05:13):
I want a health kick.
I had chicken and broccoli lastnight for dinner, and I had it,
again, leftovers for lunch, andI cooked it.
Added some salt.
I would hope you cooked.
I got chicken and broccoli rawstream in the package.
Yeah, it was, it was good.
I'm all about this new cookinglifestyle.
Yeah.
I'm kind of a, kind of shufflingit up as I'm proud of you.
(05:33):
Yes.
I think that's good, butobviously it means that you're
spending more money at thegrocery.
Yeah, but I'm spending lessmoney at restaurants.
So, uh, cause we're likerestaurants.
I would love like truly, I wouldlove nothing more than to make
enough money so I can eat outevery single meal.
Like that's my main incentive tolike become rich, uh, That's
really my only incentive is Idon't want to cook, but like I
can't because of how expensive.
(05:55):
So when you go to a jobinterview and they ask like,
where do you see yourself infive years?
You're like not cooking my ownmeal.
Right.
That's pretty much.
Yeah, that's pretty much theanswer.
Okay.
Well, so have you noticed thedifference in, in your spend,
like in your spend from likelimiting your restaurants and
cooking more at home?
Do you feel like you're spendingless?
Certainly grocery wise?
Like, I mean, I, cause I didget, I, I don't lie.
(06:16):
I didn't get some groceries incollege and certainly groceries
have gone up, but yeah overallbecause I can't eat at
restaurants as often as I youknow once was I'm definitely you
know I have to compensate forthat maybe spend the exact same
amount but like have to get more
SPEAKER_01 (06:30):
like
SPEAKER_00 (06:31):
yeah gas you mentioned like it doesn't really
affect you that much living inthe city which is cool that's
awesome gas for me I only driveto the office a couple times a
week but and my commute's onlyabout 12-15 minutes so it's
really like I'll fill my car uponce and it'll last me a few
weeks I don't really driveanywhere else except for to work
so that hasn't really affectedme a lot but I'm imagine people
like we work with people thathave like a 45 minute commute
(06:53):
back and forth to home it's likeoh my god that's my sister
that's like a whole tank of gasyeah and those prices are crazy
too but the housing we'll dig alittle bit deeper into this so
yeah we're talking about realestate yeah well this is all
it's all factors into it if youknow expensive gas location
location location food like youhave to think about all these
factors that go into likerenting as well so housing costs
(07:14):
so from the article again thisis citing from the article
skyrocketing home prices homesnow cost five times the median
household That's kind of crazyin just a span of four years.
(07:44):
Pretty nuts.
I mean, have you...
Not that you have to talk abouthow much you pay in rent, but I
mean, have you noticed a change?
I've noticed it since, well, Ihave really only been renting a
few years at this point, youknow, myself, because I didn't
really have to deal with that asmuch in college.
I mean, I'm paying$300 more thanI was two years ago.
(08:06):
Yeah, I've just anecdotally, weboth were recording this in
lovely, beautiful Cincinnati,Ohio.
And yeah, that's where ourstudio is.
And I've lived in CincinnatiOkay.
Mm-hmm.
(08:38):
which just feels, I mean, itfeels like a lot, but it's also
a longer time period.
Like it's been a little bit moregradual.
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:46):
I've only ever had one instance where rent was like
really jacked up in a shortamount of time.
It was during the pandemic too.
Yeah.
So that was, that was tough,but.
Well, I'm talking to peoplewho've been around like long,
you know, like people ourparents' age or whatever.
I was talking to my uncle whobought his house, I forget when
he bought it, sometime in the2000s, for like$100,000.
And now it's worth like what?
(09:06):
Like$400,000 or something likecrazy like that.
It's like just crazy how muchhousing prices have jumped in
the past decade.
Yep.
All right, food costs.
So continue with the articlehere.
Grocery examples.
We got prices for staples likeeggs surged by over 70% in 2022.
And while they have stabilizedthey remain much higher than
(09:26):
pre-pandemic levels eggs manTalk about something that just
fluctuates in price all thetime.
I feel like it's different everytime I go to the grocery.
I don't really buy eggs, so.
Really?
Yeah, I buy like five things.
But of your five essentials,eggs typically don't make it on
the list.
Eggs, yeah, I don't justregularly cook eggs, honestly.
I don't know.
So I believe you though.
(09:47):
I believe the article.
Cereal and baked goodscontinuing to rise with a recent
6% year over year increase.
That's another thing.
I don't know about you, but likeI used to love cereal as a kid,
but I've kind of like grown outof it a little bit yeah same
crave cereal the same way I didwhen I was younger although like
this hot take I prefer drycereal but I know that this
(10:08):
might over wet cereal yeah okaythat's I agree though I love I
had at least two bowls a daywhen I was younger like at least
two probably three like tricksCap'n Crunch.
Cap'n Crunch was the bomb.
Lucky Charms were my number one.
Lucky Charms were great.
Sometimes I'll eat the SpecialK, but I'm not really big into
(10:31):
it anymore.
And then dining out.
Menu prices at restaurants haveclimbed about 24% since 2020,
driven by rising wages andingredients costs.
The interesting thing for me,and I don't know if you feel the
same way, because I don't knowwhat kind of places that you go
out to eat at.
Fast, casual, fast food.
takeout restaurants.
All three of those I've noticedsignificant jumps where I
(10:53):
noticed the price increases, butlike dine in restaurants, like
nicer upscale restaurants herein Cincinnati, like places in
OTR where I live, like it's likesit down restaurants.
I feel like there have beenincreases, but not as drastic,
but maybe it's also because Ifeel like those are places where
inherit more quality food.
I feel like I'm getting a bettermeal at like a mom and pop sit
(11:14):
down restaurant with like a nicemenu and like not Bucca di Beppo
or whatever.
Like a place.
I still feel like, I still feellike those have definitely gone
up.
Like, I feel like what may havebeen like a$12 meal before is
now like a$17 meal.
Maybe I'm, maybe I'm wrong.
No, you're definitely not wrong.
(11:35):
It depends on the place,obviously, but I've, I've
definitely noticed all acrossthe board restaurant.
I mean like maybe superexpensive restaurants to begin
with, Like maybe those have beenincreased at that same rate.
Yeah, I'm not a high dining kindof person.
Like the nicest restaurant Ithink I frequent in Cincinnati
would probably be like somewherebetween like$35 to$45 a plate.
(11:58):
Okay.
Maybe a little bit more.
Gotcha.
Gas.
We'll quickly go through thisone.
Gas average about$3.85 pergallon nationally in November of
2024 with California seeingprices above$5.
Diesel prices critical fortransportation and goods
delivery also remain elevatedwhich keeps logistic costs high.
Two things.
The first thing, gas is one ofthose weird ones that fluctuates
(12:18):
all the time.
Like I've seen it recently gobelow three, which was actually
crazy to see.
Unlike food, like you'll nevergo to McDonald's one week and be
like, oh, the burger is only,you know, a dollar now.
But speaking of California, mydad's in California.
He complains constantly abouthow absurdly expensive stuff is
out there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've had, I have friends thatlive in San Francisco and I've
(12:40):
traveled through Californiaquite a few times.
And man, it is, It is adifference, like paying for gas
out there.
Yeah.
Yeah, be prepared to fill yourcar up.
It typically costs like 40 bucksor whatever.
It's going to cost like 60, 70dollars.
Crazy, crazy.
Utility bills have increasedabout 25% over the past five
years with average monthlyelectric bills now exceeding
about$130 in many states.
(13:02):
Definitely, I felt this one.
You felt this one?
Yeah, definitely felt this one.
Yeah, it's not been atrociousfor me this year, but we just
started turning on the heat inthe house.
Our first bill was like$150 AndI was like, yeah.
I mean, October and May areusually like, whoa, I'm saving
so much money.
Prices have gone way down in thesecond AC or heat kicks on.
(13:23):
Yep, that's how it goes.
Contributing factors includegrid modernization, renewable
energy investments, and risingoperational costs.
So, yeah, we've talked aboutnoticing our bills and household
expenses going up.
All that to say, rising costs,gas, food, electricity...
All that.
Yeah.
It may be overwhelming, butunderstanding all these
(13:44):
different factors at play andexploring solutions is
definitely the first stepforward in creating a more
affordable future for everyone.
Obviously, a lot of this stuffimpacts rental properties.
If you're owning a property, ifyou're renting in a property, so
it affects everybody.
This is a universal one.
So, okay.
that's the real news what did icall it let's talk news let's
talk news all right well wetalked news so now we're going
(14:06):
to talk buildings uh we're goingto do proptology which is
patrick this week you're goingto talk to me about a building
yeah flat iron building yeah ihad no idea that's what this
building was called and to behonest with you i don't even
think i've ever thought aboutthis building and then yeah well
i mean like obviously irecognize it but i've never i
never knew about this buildinglike a distinct you didn't know
(14:28):
that this was a thing well iknew it was a thing.
Like, you know, like I said, Irecognize the building.
If you, I see the picture of thebuilding, I'm like, Oh yeah,
that building.
But I've never given it thoughtin the same way, you know, like
empire state building.
It's like, Oh yeah, that's abuilding.
I've, you know, I candistinguish that building like
just without the picture.
Right.
So that's fair.
It's not like it doesn't scream.
(14:49):
landmark.
One of the other episodes we didthe space needle.
Yes.
And it's like, that's the thing.
That's a definitely uniquelooking thing.
But this, I think it's a littlebit more of a subtle historical
building.
Yeah.
I mean like the classicalarchitecture, there's a lot of,
you know, just classic New Yorkdesign here.
The thing about it, if it waslike a four sided building, it
(15:10):
would just be like, that's abuilding.
And for like those who don'thave the picture right in front
of them, it's kind of like a,triangular sort of building
where it just kind of like thetwo of the sides just kind of
meet to sort of like one roundedpoint.
But yeah, I mean like the shapeof the building more than
anything is what kind of givesit the distinct look.
So it was actually made decadesbefore the Empire State
(15:32):
Building, over a century beforethe One World Trade Center was
built.
It was one of the biggestbuildings in Manhattan at the
time.
It's 22 stories tall, a littleover 300 feet.
So, pretty big.
Nothing, like, huge according tomodern standards.
Yeah.
Obviously, the Flatiron Buildingname comes from the resemblance
(15:53):
to the clothing irons used atthe time of the 20th century,
which I actually did not knowthat's how it got its name.
How it got the name.
I wasn't really sure.
When I think of Flatiron, isn'tthere that character from
SpongeBob?
You know who I'm talking about?
What?
No pickles.
No, no, no, no, no.
Yeah.
No, no, no.
(16:14):
No, it's like squid bits.
It's like bits.
Big Billy or something likethat.
No, no, no.
The No Pickles guy fromSpongebob.
Isn't that flat?
What is that, producer?
Bubble Bass.
Bubble Bass?
Yeah.
Okay.
I see.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't know.
That's his name?
Bubble Bass?
That's Bubble Bass.
Oh.
UNKNOWN (16:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
My bad.
Are you just saying because helooks like an iron?
No, I'm just saying I thoughtthat was his name.
You thought his name was iron?
Maybe that's the kind of specieshe is in the SpongeBob universe.
I don't know.
Maybe I was just completely offwith that one.
No, it's okay.
If there's someone out therewho's like, I know that
reference.
I understand that reference.
Anyways, building, flat ironbuilding, not fish, was designed
(16:56):
by Daniel Burnham, Americanarchitect, urban planner, and
this building became an iconicsymbol of New York.
Now, would it surprise youreading through the Wikipedia
article for the FlatironBuilding?
A survey in 2023 found that theFlatiron Building was the fourth
most loved building in theUnited States.
Does that surprise you at all?
(17:16):
That does surprise me.
Yeah, it surprises me too.
Fourth most loved.
Do you know what the top threewere?
Pulling up the article rightnow, we got fourth most loved.
Fourth most loved.
But you got to also think like,that's what I'm talking about
with this being like a subtlebuilding is that like, I think
that this is a building thatpeople, like a property that is
beloved by architecture fans,like fans of like historical
(17:39):
buildings.
It's not just like, it's not theEmpire State Building.
It's not this symbol building.
It's like, it's like an underthe radar.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
So yeah, constructed 1901,completed 1902.
So pretty quick turnaroundthere.
A year.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a great turnaround.
That's a year.
Let's see, 902, minus 1901.
(18:01):
Yeah, I questioned that.
Yeah, it checks out.
Yeah, and so the architecturalstyle is called Beau Arts, which
I did not ever hear about thatstyle.
But apparently that styleinfluenced the design.
Beau Arts architecture was theacademic architectural style
taught at the...
You want to French this word forme?
Yeah, let's see.
(18:21):
Look at that.
What does that say?
Can you see that?
Ăcole des Bois.
Ăcole des Bois.
Okay.
School of...
Beau Arts.
Beau is like beautiful orpretty.
Got it.
Yeah, it was 1830s to the end ofthe 19th century, drew upon the
principles of Frenchneoclassicism, but incorporated
(18:42):
Renaissance and Baroque elementsused in modern buildings.
You can definitely tell thoseinfluences there, especially
from like the top of thebuilding.
I mean, as far as the buildingfor...
nearly 120 years now, has servedas an office space, actually.
So wouldn't that be cool to workin that office?
Have you ever been there?
Well, you've been to New York,right?
(19:03):
Yeah, I've been to New York, butI've never been to that building
specifically.
I've never been inside, but I'vewalked past it.
You have?
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think I've walkedpast it.
But yeah, the most notabletenant is the publishing house
Macmillan, which I think is thattextbook.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, I don't.
You know Macmillan?
No, I don't.
Macmillan?
Yeah.
Mac.
Macmillan.
M-A-C, yeah.
(19:23):
Yeah, I don't know.
Recently, I'm reading onBritannica, someone proposes
residential space, so you maysoon be able to also live in the
Flatirons.
Speaking of rising prices, thinkabout how much that would cost.
Oh, my God.
How much do you think a studioin New York City in Flatirons?
$4,000.
$4,000?
(19:44):
Yeah, what do you think?
You're probably right.
I don't know how much it coststo rent a typical studio in New
York as of right now.
Way too expensive.
Oh yeah, too expensive.
I think probably over$2,000.
Yeah, I would go at least$4,000in that building.
Yeah.
That location too.
A year ago, building ownersannounced plans to transform it
into luxury condos.
60 units, 22 stories.
(20:06):
So that conversion is set to befinished in late 2026.
Just in time.
Just in time for the podcast toreally blow up.
Yeah, so I mean, definitely not$4,000 per studio.
They're going to be luxurycondos.
We're going to startfundraising.
Let's start a GoFundMe.
Please donate to help thepodcast move to New York City.
Money will be a good use.
(20:27):
But yeah, as far as the buildingfun fact only six feet wide at
the one end that's the coolthing is that you walk if you
walk past the building youreally do realize like how it
does come to like quite like itdoes come to a tip like i mean
you get to walk up right next toyou you could probably like i
yeah like hug it arm span yeahit's pretty cool many new
yorkers at the time thought theodd looking building wouldn't
hold up calling it burnham'sfolly folly i don't know what
(20:51):
that folly Burnham's Folly.
Sounds like a very 1902 thing tosay.
It sounds like an Irish pubband.
That's a pretty sweet pub bandname.
Yeah.
I guess it's supposed to be likea roast or something.
They thought the winds wouldknock it over.
Yeah.
That sounds like some stupid,like, it's like, there, see, the
building, the winds are gonnaknock the, the winds are gonna
(21:12):
knock the building over, flat onits side.
The funny thing is that, like,you can see this, like, this
influence a lot of otherbuildings.
Even in Cincinnati, like,there's a building that looks
exactly like the Flatiron, juston a smaller scale.
Yeah, it comes to a tip at theend.
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
Yeah, it's down there, but,like, I see buildings like this
all the time.
Like, This kind of style.
Are we going to talk about thebathrooms or no?
(21:34):
We just skipped that fun fact.
Yeah, let's talk about thebathrooms.
So the male and female bathroomsare on separate floors.
Male bathrooms are on evenfloors and female bathrooms are
on odd floors.
That's a sign.
That's a different time.
That's a sign of a differenttime, yeah.
But yeah, okay.
On to movies, Zach.
This is what I live for.
Yes.
Man, where is it?
I don't see it on here.
I don't see Superman.
I recognize the building fromSpider-Man.
(21:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's the obvious one,Daily Bugle.
I mean, that's probably my firstexposure to it as well.
Like the first Spider-Man cameout, was it 2000?
2001.
No, 2001.
Yeah.
Yeah, the first Raimi Spider-Manwas 2001.
That's probably my firstexposure to the building was
seeing it as the Daily Bugle.
Yeah.
God.
I love those movies.
I love Spider-Man.
(22:16):
So good.
The third one's even kind ofunderrated, or like overhated.
It's a good bad movie.
That movie has aged better thana lot of other comic book
movies, I think, because everytime I go back, I just laugh at
the jokes.
There's a meme.
There's a different meme fromSpider-Man 3 every five seconds.
It's got charm to it.
I think the action in thosemovies is great.
(22:36):
I mean, it's kind of dated, butit's very comic book-y and fun.
I mean, Spider-Man 2, that trainscene with Dr.
Octopus us so awesome and thenhe's just the kid yeah no older
than my son yeah I love thatmovie yeah so good other movies
Godzilla I think I don't knowwhich one they're talking about
(22:57):
I would assume they're talkingyeah they're probably talking
about the bad Godzilla movie itwas like Mike Matthew Broderick.
Broderick, yeah.
It was Matthew Broderick.
Yeah, that's right.
Trash movie.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I'm assuming that's the MichaelBay one.
I don't even remember.
I saw that one in high school.
Certainly, they've probably putthe Flatiron Building and other
Mutant Ninja Turtles properties.
(23:18):
I don't know.
They're in New York.
They're jumping around.
All right, rapid fire here.
Armageddon.
Sure.
I don't remember.
Yes, I remember that.
I haven't seen that one,actually.
Believe it or not.
Oh, wow, you just got the jawdrop.
You've not seen Hitch?
That's probably one of his morefamous movies.
I would say
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Hitch.
SPEAKER_00 (23:38):
I don't love Hitch, but it's okay.
It was a romantic comedy for itstime.
I don't know if it ages thatwell, though.
I haven't seen it in years.
Um...
That we got, as good as it gets,I think it's that Jack Nicholson
movie.
I saw that one.
It's from like the 90s.
I don't remember that buildingin it at all.
But Veronica's Closet, nevereven heard of that one.
I've never heard of that oneeither, yeah.
(23:59):
Yeah, so obviously, and theremight even be more movies where
that's featured.
Obviously, tons of movies takeplace in New York City, so.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's, I mean, that'skind of the end of the notes
I've got here on the Flatiron.
Well, does researching theFlatiron and hosting the segment
make you want to go and check itout again the next time you're
in New York?
Yeah, no, definitely will makea...
A concrete pit stop.
Make sure I hit that next time Igo to New York.
(24:21):
Definitely recommend people outthere go check up on it.
Go see it if you're in the city.
Okay.
All good?
Yeah.
Cool.
Well, let's switch gears.
All right, Patrick.
What do you say we jump into themailbag and listen to some
questions that we got from ourlisteners out there?
I say let's do it.
Say let's do it.
Okay.
So this is going to be anothersegment of our listener
(24:42):
questions.
So as always, we appreciateeveryone for listening to the
show.
If you have a real estate orproperty management question, or
if you just have a fun questionthat you want to ask Patrick and
I, you can email those toquestions at therentishpod.com.
We would love to hear from you.
While we're here to help, we'rehere to answer your questions
and have a lot of fun.
Remember, consult with the prosbefore making any big moves.
(25:03):
We're not saying that we're notpros.
We're just saying that we're notnot pros.
Not, not, not pros.
So let's jump into this and hearwhat you got to say.
Do you want to go first?
You want me to go first?
You go for
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:14):
You want me to go?
Okay.
We got Tina from Tallahassee,Florida asks, I just inherited a
house that needs a lot of workand I want to rent it out.
What's the first thing I shouldtackle?
Painting the walls, fixing theleaky faucet, or the mysterious
smell in the basement?
Tina.
Tina.
We got problems at this house.
Sounds like we got problems.
(25:35):
Obviously, it's a trickysituation here.
Where would you go first, Pat?
I would say painting the wallsdefinitely isn't the priority
when you have a mysterious smellin the basement.
I'm going mysterious smell one,leaky faucet two, painting walls
three.
I think that's the appropriateranking.
Yeah.
Any, how do you, what's amysterious smell?
(25:58):
I don't know, that could beanything from like a, you know,
like a dead animal to somethinglike that could actually be
dangerous.
Yeah, I was gonna say like a gasleak or something.
It's like, yeah, it's allserious.
So yeah, check that out.
You know, water damage, if it'sa mysterious smell, it could be
like something that you need totake immediate action on.
But yeah, fixing a faucet, it'slike, I'm, you know, drippy
faucets or whatever.
That's a, that's, that'ssomething that's going to impact
(26:20):
your water bill and somethingyou want to get fixed, but
that's probably second on thepriority list.
Yeah.
And then yeah, painting whatmight need to be done for sure,
but it shouldn't be first on thelist.
Maybe try to avoid this.
This is again, not a, you know,take Zach's opinion on here, but
maybe avoid the landlord specialwhen it comes to painting.
But Hey, you know, that's justme.
(26:40):
It's been done to death.
Patrick, what you got?
Question two comes from Mannyfrom Des Moines, Iowa.
Never been to Des Moines, Iowa.
Never been to Iowa.
Anyways, Manny's from there.
I'm turning my attic into arental unit.
Cool, right?
Cool.
What's the one thing I shouldadd to make it super appealing
for renters?
(27:00):
Well, first of all, check to seesome states might have
legislation in terms of what youcan do.
make into a rental unit.
In some states, addictscertainly aren't going to fly,
probably I don't know what statethat is.
I don't know what the, what thesituation is.
Yeah.
We're not, we're not legalcouncils for the city of Des
(27:22):
Moines.
So yeah.
Check out those, see, see whatyou can legally make into a, an
apartment or a rental unit.
Um, but if you are able to makean attic into a rental unit,
like legally, definitelyinsulation.
Um, yeah, I feel like that'sgoing to be real hard to
temperature control.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like in order tomake an attic into a rental
(27:45):
unit, you got to Make it not anattic.
You know what I mean?
You have to kind of turn it intoits own sort of room.
Regardless of the situation,you're going to have some
serious...
renovation to do right becauseno attic is designed for a
renter to live in from base sothe funny thing is like I lived
in a three-story house inCincinnati for five years in the
(28:07):
Oakley neighborhood that waslike a renovated building and
the third floor was an atticthat was renovated to be a
single bedroom apartment rightand I only went up there a
handful of times but it's likethey had to do some serious
stuff plumbing think about allthat it's nuts it's a lot yeah
like HVAC, you know, my, uh, mygrandma's house in Paris has, I
(28:29):
think it was like maybe an atticat one point, but the, the
ceiling is kind of like, yeah.
Yeah.
So you can like stand up.
I mean, you can fully stand upin a lot of it, but like 10
housing.
Yes.
Is that what that term is?
I think so.
It's like when, when you live ina house that has a point, like a
pointed ceiling, like you're atthe top, like you're in a tent.
Yeah.
No, I think it's cool.
That's like, whenever I go,that's the room I stay in.
I think it's an awesome room.
(28:49):
So prime opportunity forskylights.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, there's a skylightthere.
He's like, there's a skylight.
It's just a hole.
It's a hole in the ceiling.
I've just seen the night sky.
would you live in an attic?
I mean, if it was nice, yeah, Iwould have no problems with it.
I mean, if it was like, if itwas like an attic, no, but if it
was like a renovated to be kindof its own little space, I think
(29:09):
it'd be cozy.
Okay.
Would you?
Yeah, I don't know.
Probably not.
I mean, it depends on if it wasrenovated or not, but I'm, I'm
imagining attic as in like, uh,I just watched Christmas
vacation.
Cause that's a movie I watcharound the holidays every year.
There's the seat where ClarkGriswold gets trapped in the
attic and he has to like throwlike a billion blankets on
himself just to keep.
Yes.
Yeah.
Very much.
Wouldn't want to live in that.
All right.
(29:30):
Last question of the day.
This comes from Sam in Portland,Oregon.
I'm renting out my backyard tinyhouse for the first time.
Tiny house.
Should I throw in free Wi-Fi?
If it's a shorter term rental,it might be like, oh, yeah,
Wi-Fi, free Wi-Fi included inyour stay.
If you're staying for like aweek or whatever.
That makes sense.
I think that generally like freeWi-Fi would be veryâ Not
(29:52):
necessarily essential there, butsomething that a lot of people
would look for if they'restaying somewhere for a week.
I expect it in a short-termrental.
If I'm going to a vacation houseor a hotel or an Airbnb or
whatever, I expect Wi-Fi.
But as a renter, I don't.
I've always had to pay for myown internet.
I always pay for the setup.
It's a whole hassle, obviously.
(30:13):
If somebody's staying for ashort period of time, you don't
want to make them do that.
But as a long-term renter...
you should never expect freeWi-Fi, you know, like in terms
of the bills.
That's it.
That's it for this week'sSolicitor Questions.
So that was really fun.
Patrick, did you have a goodtime?
(30:33):
I had a great time.
Great time.
Thank you guys all for emailingquestions at therentishpod.com.
Again, We'd love to hear fromyou.
Email us your questions.
You got fun topics, movie.
If you want to hear ourrecommendations for movies you
should watch or whatever.
Yeah, please give us one ofthose.
Something that's not propertymanagement related.
We'd just love that.
I'm just kidding.
All right.
That's it for this episode ofthe Rentish Podcast.
(30:56):
Thank you all for listening andsupporting the show as always.
Patrick, I hope you have a greatrest of your day, man.
Hey, thanks.
Right back at you.
Yeah, you're hosting triviatonight.
You gonna do good?
I am.
Am I going to do good?
Yeah.
That remains to be seen, but Ithink I've got some fire
questions ahead of me.
Can you spoil one of them?
Yeah.
You're not going to be there,are you?
No, I can't make it tonight.
(31:16):
I'm sorry.
All right.
Here's a trivia question.
Okay.
Hit me.
On this day in history, 1984,the Sino-British Joint
Declaration was signed byChinese Premier...
Zhao Ziyang and British PrimeMinister Margaret Thatcher,
which declared that thisterritory would be transferred
from the UK back to China in1997.
Louisiana Purchase.
(31:37):
Wow.
I don't know.
It's Hong Kong.
Oh, yeah.
Were you going to get thatright?
Yeah.
Oh, nice.
Good job, Priester.
Yeah, I couldn't think of a morewrong answer than Louisiana
Purchase.
I just, you know, hey, ha ha ha,we're doing funnies and stuff
like that.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
Thanks, everybody, forlistening.
Have a great day.
you
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to the Rent-ish Podcast.
I'm Zach, and I'm here with myco-host, Patrick.
What up?
We are your hosts today, andwe're the podcast that kind of
talks about rental propertiesand property management.
It's hosted by us two, two guysthat work in the real estate
industry, and we kind of knowwhat we're talking about.
But mostly don't.
(00:24):
You nailed the catchphrase thisweek.
I did.
I studied hard.
Beautiful.
I love it.
But I think you guys are goingto have fun listening to the
episode.
We're going to talk to experts.
We're We're going to hear somenews updates from around the
world of property management andreal estate.
We're going to talk about somefun buildings today.
We've got three humdingers.
If I do say so myself, we've gotlistener questions.
We're going to talk about theflat iron building and we do
(00:45):
proptology and we're going totalk about rising housing, food,
gas costs.
So does that sound fun?
Are you ready for
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
it?
SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
Yeah, I'm ready.
You ready for it?
Two coffees in me.
I drink a coffee, and then 10seconds after finishing that,
producer gives me a cup ofcoffee.
So I'm shaking right now.
I am ready to talk about these.
She just wants to talk about
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
the news.
Flat
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
iron building.
Let's talk news.
That's a good name for thesegment.
Let's talk news.
Let's talk news.
That's a good.
Yeah, I like it.
Let's talk news.
That was organic.
That's what we call.
Thinking on the spot.
All right.
CBS News price tracker shows howmuch food, gas, utility, and
housing costs are rising.
(01:30):
So this is an article from CBSNews.
Patrick, did you read thearticle?
I was going to, but then I sortof didn't and forgot.
That's fine.
My bad.
No, it's okay.
I like that this is our bit nowis that I do all the work and
then you sit there and lookpretty.
All right.
Rising costs are reshaping dailylife in America with housing
(01:52):
leading the charge.
Soaring home prices and rentscombined with high food, gas,
and utility bills are squeezinghousehold budgets like never
before.
So discussion real quick beforewe get into a a lot of the
bullets of the article and thearticle itself.
How have rising costs affectedyour daily life, whether it's
housing, groceries, gas, all ofthe above?
(02:13):
I feel like we can be candidhere.
The producers are like, justtalk about it.
I mean, costs have affectedeverybody.
We can say that pretty straighton.
The very noticeable one for me,because I live in the city
downtown, so I don't get in mycar as much as probably most
people do.
So gas isn't affecting me asmuch, but definitely food, I've
definitely noticed in the pastfive years.
McDonald's alone is twice asexpensive as it was like your
(02:35):
college you know yeah dude allright so side note on the
mcdonald's thing fast foodinflation yeah what what the
hell is happening here yeah thelast time so i i rarely get fast
food just casually but like onroad trips it's really
convenient like if i'm drivingto columbus or cleveland or
whatever i need to get like fastfood that's fine but a 10 piece
(02:56):
chicken mcnugget fry and a drinkis like it's like 12 now it's
like oh yeah how in the world isthat worth it i i i I don't
know.
I can't, I remember my, I wouldget like a regular hamburger
from McDonald's ending when like20.
20, I think the 2019 ish.
It was 90 cents for a hamburger.
And now it's like two 50 forjust a regular hamburger.
(03:17):
You know, it's insane.
And my, one of my businessbuddies told me that a really
good indication of how badinflation is, is things like
McDonald's for everyday items,fast, fast food, American food,
quick convenience.
Yeah.
When that stuff starts going up,you can realize like, I've, I've
been told that same thing, thecost of a burger or the price of
a Coke price of a bottle Cokecan of Coke.
Like you can tell like what'sgoing on by the cost of that,
(03:37):
like how it fluctuates orwhatever.
But yeah, it's, it's, It's crazyto me.
I used to in college, not eventhat long ago.
I was in college in the early2010s.
I was able to go to Taco Bellwith$5 and eat like a king.
That's the thing.
These places are for gettingâ ifyou have$4 in your bank account,
you know you can go toMcDonald's or Taco Bell and get
(03:57):
a real substantial meal.
Or at least you used to be ableto.
But now it'sâ you're payingâ Youknow, it's definitely different
restaurant prices, Michelin
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
restaurant,
SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
Michelin, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, food, I think is prettyubiquitous.
I mean, if you're an American,you're usually buying groceries.
I can't think of anyone outthere.
That's like, that doesn't reallyapply to, I guess, colleges and
young kids.
That's true.
But it's like, you know, peopleare aged.
I mean, like over, you know, 25and up 23 and up wherever you're
at in life.
(04:30):
Typically you need to go to thegrocery store.
That's where I'm noticing it hitthe most.
Like, in terms of like risingcosts affecting my daily life is
that I've had to budgetdifferently for the, for the
grocery.
Like I can no longer get thesame amount of groceries that I
used to for a hundred dollars atKroger.
Like I, I have to, I have toplan differently, different
meals, different items of food.
I've been leaning towards like,to like help make costs of the
(04:52):
grocery last longer.
I've been making a lot more likecrock pot meals.
So like getting like a biggerpiece of meat and being able to
like cook it down in the crockpot and then have leftovers for
days afterwards and be able tolike stretch a meal, stretch
that dollar a little bitfurther.
Right.
Do you, You don't cook at home.
Well, I do health kick.
I don't know if listeners haveheard.
(05:13):
I want a health kick.
I had chicken and broccoli lastnight for dinner, and I had it,
again, leftovers for lunch, andI cooked it.
Added some salt.
I would hope you cooked.
I got chicken and broccoli rawstream in the package.
Yeah, it was, it was good.
I'm all about this new cookinglifestyle.
Yeah.
I'm kind of a, kind of shufflingit up as I'm proud of you.
(05:33):
Yes.
I think that's good, butobviously it means that you're
spending more money at thegrocery.
Yeah, but I'm spending lessmoney at restaurants.
So, uh, cause we're likerestaurants.
I would love like truly, I wouldlove nothing more than to make
enough money so I can eat outevery single meal.
Like that's my main incentive tolike become rich, uh, That's
really my only incentive is Idon't want to cook, but like I
can't because of how expensive.
(05:55):
So when you go to a jobinterview and they ask like,
where do you see yourself infive years?
You're like not cooking my ownmeal.
Right.
That's pretty much.
Yeah, that's pretty much theanswer.
Okay.
Well, so have you noticed thedifference in, in your spend,
like in your spend from likelimiting your restaurants and
cooking more at home?
Do you feel like you're spendingless?
Certainly grocery wise?
Like, I mean, I, cause I didget, I, I don't lie.
(06:16):
I didn't get some groceries incollege and certainly groceries
have gone up, but yeah overallbecause I can't eat at
restaurants as often as I youknow once was I'm definitely you
know I have to compensate forthat maybe spend the exact same
amount but like have to get more
SPEAKER_01 (06:30):
like
SPEAKER_00 (06:31):
yeah gas you mentioned like it doesn't really
affect you that much living inthe city which is cool that's
awesome gas for me I only driveto the office a couple times a
week but and my commute's onlyabout 12-15 minutes so it's
really like I'll fill my car uponce and it'll last me a few
weeks I don't really driveanywhere else except for to work
so that hasn't really affectedme a lot but I'm imagine people
like we work with people thathave like a 45 minute commute
(06:53):
back and forth to home it's likeoh my god that's my sister
that's like a whole tank of gasyeah and those prices are crazy
too but the housing we'll dig alittle bit deeper into this so
yeah we're talking about realestate yeah well this is all
it's all factors into it if youknow expensive gas location
location location food like youhave to think about all these
factors that go into likerenting as well so housing costs
(07:14):
so from the article again thisis citing from the article
skyrocketing home prices homesnow cost five times the median
household That's kind of crazyin just a span of four years.
(07:44):
Pretty nuts.
I mean, have you...
Not that you have to talk abouthow much you pay in rent, but I
mean, have you noticed a change?
I've noticed it since, well, Ihave really only been renting a
few years at this point, youknow, myself, because I didn't
really have to deal with that asmuch in college.
I mean, I'm paying$300 more thanI was two years ago.
(08:06):
Yeah, I've just anecdotally, weboth were recording this in
lovely, beautiful Cincinnati,Ohio.
And yeah, that's where ourstudio is.
And I've lived in CincinnatiOkay.
Mm-hmm.
(08:38):
which just feels, I mean, itfeels like a lot, but it's also
a longer time period.
Like it's been a little bit moregradual.
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:46):
I've only ever had one instance where rent was like
really jacked up in a shortamount of time.
It was during the pandemic too.
Yeah.
So that was, that was tough,but.
Well, I'm talking to peoplewho've been around like long,
you know, like people ourparents' age or whatever.
I was talking to my uncle whobought his house, I forget when
he bought it, sometime in the2000s, for like$100,000.
And now it's worth like what?
(09:06):
Like$400,000 or something likecrazy like that.
It's like just crazy how muchhousing prices have jumped in
the past decade.
Yep.
All right, food costs.
So continue with the articlehere.
Grocery examples.
We got prices for staples likeeggs surged by over 70% in 2022.
And while they have stabilizedthey remain much higher than
(09:26):
pre-pandemic levels eggs manTalk about something that just
fluctuates in price all thetime.
I feel like it's different everytime I go to the grocery.
I don't really buy eggs, so.
Really?
Yeah, I buy like five things.
But of your five essentials,eggs typically don't make it on
the list.
Eggs, yeah, I don't justregularly cook eggs, honestly.
I don't know.
So I believe you though.
(09:47):
I believe the article.
Cereal and baked goodscontinuing to rise with a recent
6% year over year increase.
That's another thing.
I don't know about you, but likeI used to love cereal as a kid,
but I've kind of like grown outof it a little bit yeah same
crave cereal the same way I didwhen I was younger although like
this hot take I prefer drycereal but I know that this
(10:08):
might over wet cereal yeah okaythat's I agree though I love I
had at least two bowls a daywhen I was younger like at least
two probably three like tricksCap'n Crunch.
Cap'n Crunch was the bomb.
Lucky Charms were my number one.
Lucky Charms were great.
Sometimes I'll eat the SpecialK, but I'm not really big into
(10:31):
it anymore.
And then dining out.
Menu prices at restaurants haveclimbed about 24% since 2020,
driven by rising wages andingredients costs.
The interesting thing for me,and I don't know if you feel the
same way, because I don't knowwhat kind of places that you go
out to eat at.
Fast, casual, fast food.
takeout restaurants.
All three of those I've noticedsignificant jumps where I
(10:53):
noticed the price increases, butlike dine in restaurants, like
nicer upscale restaurants herein Cincinnati, like places in
OTR where I live, like it's likesit down restaurants.
I feel like there have beenincreases, but not as drastic,
but maybe it's also because Ifeel like those are places where
inherit more quality food.
I feel like I'm getting a bettermeal at like a mom and pop sit
(11:14):
down restaurant with like a nicemenu and like not Bucca di Beppo
or whatever.
Like a place.
I still feel like, I still feellike those have definitely gone
up.
Like, I feel like what may havebeen like a$12 meal before is
now like a$17 meal.
Maybe I'm, maybe I'm wrong.
No, you're definitely not wrong.
(11:35):
It depends on the place,obviously, but I've, I've
definitely noticed all acrossthe board restaurant.
I mean like maybe superexpensive restaurants to begin
with, Like maybe those have beenincreased at that same rate.
Yeah, I'm not a high dining kindof person.
Like the nicest restaurant Ithink I frequent in Cincinnati
would probably be like somewherebetween like$35 to$45 a plate.
(11:58):
Okay.
Maybe a little bit more.
Gotcha.
Gas.
We'll quickly go through thisone.
Gas average about$3.85 pergallon nationally in November of
2024 with California seeingprices above$5.
Diesel prices critical fortransportation and goods
delivery also remain elevatedwhich keeps logistic costs high.
Two things.
The first thing, gas is one ofthose weird ones that fluctuates
(12:18):
all the time.
Like I've seen it recently gobelow three, which was actually
crazy to see.
Unlike food, like you'll nevergo to McDonald's one week and be
like, oh, the burger is only,you know, a dollar now.
But speaking of California, mydad's in California.
He complains constantly abouthow absurdly expensive stuff is
out there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've had, I have friends thatlive in San Francisco and I've
(12:40):
traveled through Californiaquite a few times.
And man, it is, It is adifference, like paying for gas
out there.
Yeah.
Yeah, be prepared to fill yourcar up.
It typically costs like 40 bucksor whatever.
It's going to cost like 60, 70dollars.
Crazy, crazy.
Utility bills have increasedabout 25% over the past five
years with average monthlyelectric bills now exceeding
about$130 in many states.
(13:02):
Definitely, I felt this one.
You felt this one?
Yeah, definitely felt this one.
Yeah, it's not been atrociousfor me this year, but we just
started turning on the heat inthe house.
Our first bill was like$150 AndI was like, yeah.
I mean, October and May areusually like, whoa, I'm saving
so much money.
Prices have gone way down in thesecond AC or heat kicks on.
(13:23):
Yep, that's how it goes.
Contributing factors includegrid modernization, renewable
energy investments, and risingoperational costs.
So, yeah, we've talked aboutnoticing our bills and household
expenses going up.
All that to say, rising costs,gas, food, electricity...
All that.
Yeah.
It may be overwhelming, butunderstanding all these
(13:44):
different factors at play andexploring solutions is
definitely the first stepforward in creating a more
affordable future for everyone.
Obviously, a lot of this stuffimpacts rental properties.
If you're owning a property, ifyou're renting in a property, so
it affects everybody.
This is a universal one.
So, okay.
that's the real news what did icall it let's talk news let's
talk news all right well wetalked news so now we're going
(14:06):
to talk buildings uh we're goingto do proptology which is
patrick this week you're goingto talk to me about a building
yeah flat iron building yeah ihad no idea that's what this
building was called and to behonest with you i don't even
think i've ever thought aboutthis building and then yeah well
i mean like obviously irecognize it but i've never i
never knew about this buildinglike a distinct you didn't know
(14:28):
that this was a thing well iknew it was a thing.
Like, you know, like I said, Irecognize the building.
If you, I see the picture of thebuilding, I'm like, Oh yeah,
that building.
But I've never given it thoughtin the same way, you know, like
empire state building.
It's like, Oh yeah, that's abuilding.
I've, you know, I candistinguish that building like
just without the picture.
Right.
So that's fair.
It's not like it doesn't scream.
(14:49):
landmark.
One of the other episodes we didthe space needle.
Yes.
And it's like, that's the thing.
That's a definitely uniquelooking thing.
But this, I think it's a littlebit more of a subtle historical
building.
Yeah.
I mean like the classicalarchitecture, there's a lot of,
you know, just classic New Yorkdesign here.
The thing about it, if it waslike a four sided building, it
(15:10):
would just be like, that's abuilding.
And for like those who don'thave the picture right in front
of them, it's kind of like a,triangular sort of building
where it just kind of like thetwo of the sides just kind of
meet to sort of like one roundedpoint.
But yeah, I mean like the shapeof the building more than
anything is what kind of givesit the distinct look.
So it was actually made decadesbefore the Empire State
(15:32):
Building, over a century beforethe One World Trade Center was
built.
It was one of the biggestbuildings in Manhattan at the
time.
It's 22 stories tall, a littleover 300 feet.
So, pretty big.
Nothing, like, huge according tomodern standards.
Yeah.
Obviously, the Flatiron Buildingname comes from the resemblance
(15:53):
to the clothing irons used atthe time of the 20th century,
which I actually did not knowthat's how it got its name.
How it got the name.
I wasn't really sure.
When I think of Flatiron, isn'tthere that character from
SpongeBob?
You know who I'm talking about?
What?
No pickles.
No, no, no, no, no.
Yeah.
No, no, no.
(16:14):
No, it's like squid bits.
It's like bits.
Big Billy or something likethat.
No, no, no.
The No Pickles guy fromSpongebob.
Isn't that flat?
What is that, producer?
Bubble Bass.
Bubble Bass?
Yeah.
Okay.
I see.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't know.
That's his name?
Bubble Bass?
That's Bubble Bass.
Oh.
UNKNOWN (16:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
My bad.
Are you just saying because helooks like an iron?
No, I'm just saying I thoughtthat was his name.
You thought his name was iron?
Maybe that's the kind of specieshe is in the SpongeBob universe.
I don't know.
Maybe I was just completely offwith that one.
No, it's okay.
If there's someone out therewho's like, I know that
reference.
I understand that reference.
Anyways, building, flat ironbuilding, not fish, was designed
(16:56):
by Daniel Burnham, Americanarchitect, urban planner, and
this building became an iconicsymbol of New York.
Now, would it surprise youreading through the Wikipedia
article for the FlatironBuilding?
A survey in 2023 found that theFlatiron Building was the fourth
most loved building in theUnited States.
Does that surprise you at all?
(17:16):
That does surprise me.
Yeah, it surprises me too.
Fourth most loved.
Do you know what the top threewere?
Pulling up the article rightnow, we got fourth most loved.
Fourth most loved.
But you got to also think like,that's what I'm talking about
with this being like a subtlebuilding is that like, I think
that this is a building thatpeople, like a property that is
beloved by architecture fans,like fans of like historical
(17:39):
buildings.
It's not just like, it's not theEmpire State Building.
It's not this symbol building.
It's like, it's like an underthe radar.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
So yeah, constructed 1901,completed 1902.
So pretty quick turnaroundthere.
A year.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a great turnaround.
That's a year.
Let's see, 902, minus 1901.
(18:01):
Yeah, I questioned that.
Yeah, it checks out.
Yeah, and so the architecturalstyle is called Beau Arts, which
I did not ever hear about thatstyle.
But apparently that styleinfluenced the design.
Beau Arts architecture was theacademic architectural style
taught at the...
You want to French this word forme?
Yeah, let's see.
(18:21):
Look at that.
What does that say?
Can you see that?
Ăcole des Bois.
Ăcole des Bois.
Okay.
School of...
Beau Arts.
Beau is like beautiful orpretty.
Got it.
Yeah, it was 1830s to the end ofthe 19th century, drew upon the
principles of Frenchneoclassicism, but incorporated
(18:42):
Renaissance and Baroque elementsused in modern buildings.
You can definitely tell thoseinfluences there, especially
from like the top of thebuilding.
I mean, as far as the buildingfor...
nearly 120 years now, has servedas an office space, actually.
So wouldn't that be cool to workin that office?
Have you ever been there?
Well, you've been to New York,right?
(19:03):
Yeah, I've been to New York, butI've never been to that building
specifically.
I've never been inside, but I'vewalked past it.
You have?
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think I've walkedpast it.
But yeah, the most notabletenant is the publishing house
Macmillan, which I think is thattextbook.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, I don't.
You know Macmillan?
No, I don't.
Macmillan?
Yeah.
Mac.
Macmillan.
M-A-C, yeah.
(19:23):
Yeah, I don't know.
Recently, I'm reading onBritannica, someone proposes
residential space, so you maysoon be able to also live in the
Flatirons.
Speaking of rising prices, thinkabout how much that would cost.
Oh, my God.
How much do you think a studioin New York City in Flatirons?
$4,000.
$4,000?
(19:44):
Yeah, what do you think?
You're probably right.
I don't know how much it coststo rent a typical studio in New
York as of right now.
Way too expensive.
Oh yeah, too expensive.
I think probably over$2,000.
Yeah, I would go at least$4,000in that building.
Yeah.
That location too.
A year ago, building ownersannounced plans to transform it
into luxury condos.
60 units, 22 stories.
(20:06):
So that conversion is set to befinished in late 2026.
Just in time.
Just in time for the podcast toreally blow up.
Yeah, so I mean, definitely not$4,000 per studio.
They're going to be luxurycondos.
We're going to startfundraising.
Let's start a GoFundMe.
Please donate to help thepodcast move to New York City.
Money will be a good use.
(20:27):
But yeah, as far as the buildingfun fact only six feet wide at
the one end that's the coolthing is that you walk if you
walk past the building youreally do realize like how it
does come to like quite like itdoes come to a tip like i mean
you get to walk up right next toyou you could probably like i
yeah like hug it arm span yeahit's pretty cool many new
yorkers at the time thought theodd looking building wouldn't
hold up calling it burnham'sfolly folly i don't know what
(20:51):
that folly Burnham's Folly.
Sounds like a very 1902 thing tosay.
It sounds like an Irish pubband.
That's a pretty sweet pub bandname.
Yeah.
I guess it's supposed to be likea roast or something.
They thought the winds wouldknock it over.
Yeah.
That sounds like some stupid,like, it's like, there, see, the
building, the winds are gonnaknock the, the winds are gonna
(21:12):
knock the building over, flat onits side.
The funny thing is that, like,you can see this, like, this
influence a lot of otherbuildings.
Even in Cincinnati, like,there's a building that looks
exactly like the Flatiron, juston a smaller scale.
Yeah, it comes to a tip at theend.
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
Yeah, it's down there, but,like, I see buildings like this
all the time.
Like, This kind of style.
Are we going to talk about thebathrooms or no?
(21:34):
We just skipped that fun fact.
Yeah, let's talk about thebathrooms.
So the male and female bathroomsare on separate floors.
Male bathrooms are on evenfloors and female bathrooms are
on odd floors.
That's a sign.
That's a different time.
That's a sign of a differenttime, yeah.
But yeah, okay.
On to movies, Zach.
This is what I live for.
Yes.
Man, where is it?
I don't see it on here.
I don't see Superman.
I recognize the building fromSpider-Man.
(21:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's the obvious one,Daily Bugle.
I mean, that's probably my firstexposure to it as well.
Like the first Spider-Man cameout, was it 2000?
2001.
No, 2001.
Yeah.
Yeah, the first Raimi Spider-Manwas 2001.
That's probably my firstexposure to the building was
seeing it as the Daily Bugle.
Yeah.
God.
I love those movies.
I love Spider-Man.
(22:16):
So good.
The third one's even kind ofunderrated, or like overhated.
It's a good bad movie.
That movie has aged better thana lot of other comic book
movies, I think, because everytime I go back, I just laugh at
the jokes.
There's a meme.
There's a different meme fromSpider-Man 3 every five seconds.
It's got charm to it.
I think the action in thosemovies is great.
(22:36):
I mean, it's kind of dated, butit's very comic book-y and fun.
I mean, Spider-Man 2, that trainscene with Dr.
Octopus us so awesome and thenhe's just the kid yeah no older
than my son yeah I love thatmovie yeah so good other movies
Godzilla I think I don't knowwhich one they're talking about
(22:57):
I would assume they're talkingyeah they're probably talking
about the bad Godzilla movie itwas like Mike Matthew Broderick.
Broderick, yeah.
It was Matthew Broderick.
Yeah, that's right.
Trash movie.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I'm assuming that's the MichaelBay one.
I don't even remember.
I saw that one in high school.
Certainly, they've probably putthe Flatiron Building and other
Mutant Ninja Turtles properties.
(23:18):
I don't know.
They're in New York.
They're jumping around.
All right, rapid fire here.
Armageddon.
Sure.
I don't remember.
Yes, I remember that.
I haven't seen that one,actually.
Believe it or not.
Oh, wow, you just got the jawdrop.
You've not seen Hitch?
That's probably one of his morefamous movies.
I would say
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Hitch.
SPEAKER_00 (23:38):
I don't love Hitch, but it's okay.
It was a romantic comedy for itstime.
I don't know if it ages thatwell, though.
I haven't seen it in years.
Um...
That we got, as good as it gets,I think it's that Jack Nicholson
movie.
I saw that one.
It's from like the 90s.
I don't remember that buildingin it at all.
But Veronica's Closet, nevereven heard of that one.
I've never heard of that oneeither, yeah.
(23:59):
Yeah, so obviously, and theremight even be more movies where
that's featured.
Obviously, tons of movies takeplace in New York City, so.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that's, I mean, that'skind of the end of the notes
I've got here on the Flatiron.
Well, does researching theFlatiron and hosting the segment
make you want to go and check itout again the next time you're
in New York?
Yeah, no, definitely will makea...
A concrete pit stop.
Make sure I hit that next time Igo to New York.
(24:21):
Definitely recommend people outthere go check up on it.
Go see it if you're in the city.
Okay.
All good?
Yeah.
Cool.
Well, let's switch gears.
All right, Patrick.
What do you say we jump into themailbag and listen to some
questions that we got from ourlisteners out there?
I say let's do it.
Say let's do it.
Okay.
So this is going to be anothersegment of our listener
(24:42):
questions.
So as always, we appreciateeveryone for listening to the
show.
If you have a real estate orproperty management question, or
if you just have a fun questionthat you want to ask Patrick and
I, you can email those toquestions at therentishpod.com.
We would love to hear from you.
While we're here to help, we'rehere to answer your questions
and have a lot of fun.
Remember, consult with the prosbefore making any big moves.
(25:03):
We're not saying that we're notpros.
We're just saying that we're notnot pros.
Not, not, not pros.
So let's jump into this and hearwhat you got to say.
Do you want to go first?
You want me to go first?
You go for
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:14):
You want me to go?
Okay.
We got Tina from Tallahassee,Florida asks, I just inherited a
house that needs a lot of workand I want to rent it out.
What's the first thing I shouldtackle?
Painting the walls, fixing theleaky faucet, or the mysterious
smell in the basement?
Tina.
Tina.
We got problems at this house.
Sounds like we got problems.
(25:35):
Obviously, it's a trickysituation here.
Where would you go first, Pat?
I would say painting the wallsdefinitely isn't the priority
when you have a mysterious smellin the basement.
I'm going mysterious smell one,leaky faucet two, painting walls
three.
I think that's the appropriateranking.
Yeah.
Any, how do you, what's amysterious smell?
(25:58):
I don't know, that could beanything from like a, you know,
like a dead animal to somethinglike that could actually be
dangerous.
Yeah, I was gonna say like a gasleak or something.
It's like, yeah, it's allserious.
So yeah, check that out.
You know, water damage, if it'sa mysterious smell, it could be
like something that you need totake immediate action on.
But yeah, fixing a faucet, it'slike, I'm, you know, drippy
faucets or whatever.
That's a, that's, that'ssomething that's going to impact
(26:20):
your water bill and somethingyou want to get fixed, but
that's probably second on thepriority list.
Yeah.
And then yeah, painting whatmight need to be done for sure,
but it shouldn't be first on thelist.
Maybe try to avoid this.
This is again, not a, you know,take Zach's opinion on here, but
maybe avoid the landlord specialwhen it comes to painting.
But Hey, you know, that's justme.
(26:40):
It's been done to death.
Patrick, what you got?
Question two comes from Mannyfrom Des Moines, Iowa.
Never been to Des Moines, Iowa.
Never been to Iowa.
Anyways, Manny's from there.
I'm turning my attic into arental unit.
Cool, right?
Cool.
What's the one thing I shouldadd to make it super appealing
for renters?
(27:00):
Well, first of all, check to seesome states might have
legislation in terms of what youcan do.
make into a rental unit.
In some states, addictscertainly aren't going to fly,
probably I don't know what statethat is.
I don't know what the, what thesituation is.
Yeah.
We're not, we're not legalcouncils for the city of Des
(27:22):
Moines.
So yeah.
Check out those, see, see whatyou can legally make into a, an
apartment or a rental unit.
Um, but if you are able to makean attic into a rental unit,
like legally, definitelyinsulation.
Um, yeah, I feel like that'sgoing to be real hard to
temperature control.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like in order tomake an attic into a rental
(27:45):
unit, you got to Make it not anattic.
You know what I mean?
You have to kind of turn it intoits own sort of room.
Regardless of the situation,you're going to have some
serious...
renovation to do right becauseno attic is designed for a
renter to live in from base sothe funny thing is like I lived
in a three-story house inCincinnati for five years in the
(28:07):
Oakley neighborhood that waslike a renovated building and
the third floor was an atticthat was renovated to be a
single bedroom apartment rightand I only went up there a
handful of times but it's likethey had to do some serious
stuff plumbing think about allthat it's nuts it's a lot yeah
like HVAC, you know, my, uh, mygrandma's house in Paris has, I
(28:29):
think it was like maybe an atticat one point, but the, the
ceiling is kind of like, yeah.
Yeah.
So you can like stand up.
I mean, you can fully stand upin a lot of it, but like 10
housing.
Yes.
Is that what that term is?
I think so.
It's like when, when you live ina house that has a point, like a
pointed ceiling, like you're atthe top, like you're in a tent.
Yeah.
No, I think it's cool.
That's like, whenever I go,that's the room I stay in.
I think it's an awesome room.
(28:49):
So prime opportunity forskylights.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, there's a skylightthere.
He's like, there's a skylight.
It's just a hole.
It's a hole in the ceiling.
I've just seen the night sky.
would you live in an attic?
I mean, if it was nice, yeah, Iwould have no problems with it.
I mean, if it was like, if itwas like an attic, no, but if it
was like a renovated to be kindof its own little space, I think
(29:09):
it'd be cozy.
Okay.
Would you?
Yeah, I don't know.
Probably not.
I mean, it depends on if it wasrenovated or not, but I'm, I'm
imagining attic as in like, uh,I just watched Christmas
vacation.
Cause that's a movie I watcharound the holidays every year.
There's the seat where ClarkGriswold gets trapped in the
attic and he has to like throwlike a billion blankets on
himself just to keep.
Yes.
Yeah.
Very much.
Wouldn't want to live in that.
All right.
(29:30):
Last question of the day.
This comes from Sam in Portland,Oregon.
I'm renting out my backyard tinyhouse for the first time.
Tiny house.
Should I throw in free Wi-Fi?
If it's a shorter term rental,it might be like, oh, yeah,
Wi-Fi, free Wi-Fi included inyour stay.
If you're staying for like aweek or whatever.
That makes sense.
I think that generally like freeWi-Fi would be veryâ Not
(29:52):
necessarily essential there, butsomething that a lot of people
would look for if they'restaying somewhere for a week.
I expect it in a short-termrental.
If I'm going to a vacation houseor a hotel or an Airbnb or
whatever, I expect Wi-Fi.
But as a renter, I don't.
I've always had to pay for myown internet.
I always pay for the setup.
It's a whole hassle, obviously.
(30:13):
If somebody's staying for ashort period of time, you don't
want to make them do that.
But as a long-term renter...
you should never expect freeWi-Fi, you know, like in terms
of the bills.
That's it.
That's it for this week'sSolicitor Questions.
So that was really fun.
Patrick, did you have a goodtime?
(30:33):
I had a great time.
Great time.
Thank you guys all for emailingquestions at therentishpod.com.
Again, We'd love to hear fromyou.
Email us your questions.
You got fun topics, movie.
If you want to hear ourrecommendations for movies you
should watch or whatever.
Yeah, please give us one ofthose.
Something that's not propertymanagement related.
We'd just love that.
I'm just kidding.
All right.
That's it for this episode ofthe Rentish Podcast.
(30:56):
Thank you all for listening andsupporting the show as always.
Patrick, I hope you have a greatrest of your day, man.
Hey, thanks.
Right back at you.
Yeah, you're hosting triviatonight.
You gonna do good?
I am.
Am I going to do good?
Yeah.
That remains to be seen, but Ithink I've got some fire
questions ahead of me.
Can you spoil one of them?
Yeah.
You're not going to be there,are you?
No, I can't make it tonight.
(31:16):
I'm sorry.
All right.
Here's a trivia question.
Okay.
Hit me.
On this day in history, 1984,the Sino-British Joint
Declaration was signed byChinese Premier...
Zhao Ziyang and British PrimeMinister Margaret Thatcher,
which declared that thisterritory would be transferred
from the UK back to China in1997.
Louisiana Purchase.
(31:37):
Wow.
I don't know.
It's Hong Kong.
Oh, yeah.
Were you going to get thatright?
Yeah.
Oh, nice.
Good job, Priester.
Yeah, I couldn't think of a morewrong answer than Louisiana
Purchase.
I just, you know, hey, ha ha ha,we're doing funnies and stuff
like that.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
Thanks, everybody, forlistening.
Have a great day.
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