The 234 Apartment

“And suddenly they were able to help us and to buy things that we cannot buy,” he said. “It was like a housekeeper buying your house. That is awkward.” The conditions in both countries created a perfect match: As Portugal reeled from a financial crisis a few years ago, Angolans were enjoying an oil boom that provided enormous opportunities for self-enrichment by the elite, particularly the president’s family and inner circle. Angola is often listed as one of the world’s most corrupt nations. And Portugal has been singled out for its laxness in reining in money laundering and bribery, particularly in its dealings with Angolans, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the research and policy organization of the world’s richest countries. “In Angola, they call Portugal the laundromat,” said Ana Gomes, a Portuguese lawmaker in the European Parliament and a member of Portugal’s governing Socialist Party . “It’s because it is.” But the two nations’ relationsh...

The Riveter: This one was my favorite. Steve Korn S eattle has the fourth-fastest- growing freelance economy in the country, which explains why there are almost as many coworking spaces opening up as luxury apartment buildings . Since I'll never be able to afford a luxury apartment , I thought maybe I can at least work at a place where the sink actually drains and the coffee is always fresh. So I checked out some coworking spaces and brought my laptop with me. I didn't tell them I was coming. I wanted to see what these places were like inside, without any PR hoopla. Clearly, we are living in the age of the remote worker. By 2020, 40 percent of the US workforce will be freelancers, temps, independent contractors, or "solopreneurs," according to a 2010 study by Intuit. According to the 2017 Global Coworking Survey , nearly 1. 2 million people worldwide will have tried coworking by the end of next year, and around 14, 000 coworking spaces will be in operation. Sixt...

By Sabra Ayres August, 3, 2017 Ksenia Belayeva and Igor Zaitsev sit at their kitchen inside an apartment they are sharing in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Vasiliy Kolotilov / For The Times) By the time Marina Maslova was born in the six- room communal apartment at 65 Bolshoi Prospect, an entire generation had lived there and come of age since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Maslova still lives in the room where she was born 61 years ago , and she remembers the dozens of families that have walked down its twisting, dark hallways and lived in its crowded rooms during her life. It was here that the guests at her wedding party in the 1970s moved the furniture aside to make room to dance in the 345-square-foot room she shared with her new husband, her parents and her grandmother. And it was here, in a small room just off the kitchen, where a 16-year-old boy hanged himself with his belt in the early 1960s after his parents, with whom he shared the cupboard-size space, disappeared. Both the...

A group of small ISPs is asking America's broadband watchdog to ban exclusivity deals that lock apartment buildings to a single broadband provider . Incompas, a Washington DC advocacy group for ISPs and telcos, told the FCC in a filing [PDF] that it should end the practice of landlords and building owners making deals with a single internet provider to have exclusive access to multi-tenant environments (MTEs) like apartment buildings and condos. The group argues that such deals, which often include payments or kickbacks to landlords when their tenants sign up for service, harm consumer choice in America, and unfairly let large telcos freeze out smaller ISPs. "The considerable barriers to entry faced by competitive providers seeking access to MTEs imperils the business case for the deployment of next-generation networks and services to the thirty percent of American consumers who live in multi-unit premises," Incompas says in the filing, submitted yesterday. ...

ARTICLE OPTIONS Throughout his early 60s, Brad Buchner and his wife, Elizabeth, lived in the kind of house that many near-retirees dream of: a peaceful, manageable ranch- style property tucked in a quiet Poconos town surrounded by trees, lakes, and plentiful open space . Costing anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000, tiny homes designed by Escape Homes enable anyone to travel around the country in a single-family home. As it turns out, however, that’s exactly what Buchner and his wife don’t want as they think about the next years of their lives. Three years ago, the Buchners packed their things and headed to Philadelphia, settling down in a Center City rental . As if ditching their longtime rural digs weren ’t enough, the pair also abandoned spaciousness, swapping their three-bedroom, two-bathroom home for precisely 345 total square feet . The transition has meant parting ways with a fully finished basement and a home office, and adjusting to an ovenless kitchenette and two miniature...

Google Fiber (Photo: Custom) Last week, U.S. District Judge David J. Hale dismissed what became known in Louisville as the " Google Fiber case ," possibly setting a precedent for similar cases across the country. The case was brought by BellSouth Telecommunications LLC , which operates as AT&T Kentucky, because of Louisville Metro Government 's " One Touch Make Ready " ordinance. It passed in February 2016. The legislation gave third- party internet service providers (Google Fiber, specifically) unfettered access to utility poles in the city — including those owned by AT&T — so the companies could run fiber and other cable for their own networks. The city saw the legislation as an important step toward improving Louisville's internet landscape . AT&T sued Metro Government , contending that it was inappropriate and unfair for the city to make such an ordinance because AT&T (BellSouth) owned the poles and therefore controlled the right of w...

Multifamily sales totaled $147 million in the Buffalo area market in 2016, up from $127 in 2015 and again above the $ 100 million dollar level achieved each of the last five years.  The investment market is most active in suburban garden apartment complexes . Private locally based principals were active as both buyers and sellers with prices at all-time high per unit valuations . These older apartment properties comprise the majority of the existing inventory and are often fully occupied with rising rents. From a tenant perspective they are often the best housing available at a given price. Located in dense residential neighborhoods , they are near employment, shopping, entertainment and within desirable suburban school districts . It would be impossible to duplicate them today in the same locations with the same rent structure and consequently they have little competition in their price range. This drives the rent growth that attracts investors. In April of 2017, RENTCafe’s surve...