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SAWHORSE
The New Dark Investors Plaguing the City of Oakland, CA
by Katalina Mendoza https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/24/18766010.php
Wednesday Dec 24th, 2014 1:02 PM
The First class Lodi LLC, and The Apartment Group Inc are examples of Owner Investors whose only goal in the real estate market is to flip houses. They will violate as many laws as possible in order to make a quick profit. The buildings they purchase are nothing more then ATM machines they utilize, to further expand their criminal empires. The communities they prey on are the true losers, who are displaced by these investors. Those that can afford these units are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money for overvalued housing. Oakland is under assault by a new breed of property investors, who only see people as untapped capital potential.
On June, 12th of 2014 The First Class Lodi LLC, and The Apartment Group Inc became the new owners and property management group for Lake Park Apartments. In addition to the acquisition of this multifamily building, the commercial leasing office was renovated in order for The Apartment Groups Inc to relocate its headquarters in the heart of Downtown Oakland's Lake Merritt region.
The TAG Inc office is now located at Lake Park Apartments and is comprised of a full staff, which has inconvenienced many tenants who reside in this building. In reaction to negative publicity, they have removed their signage in hopes of detouring angry community members from visiting their headquarters. There are many local residents who claim the primary issue with The Apartment Group Inc and The First Class Lodi LLC along with their other affiliate LLC's, is their excessive time and energy applied to illicit a culture of chronic non compliance. The desire to reach high profit margins has outweighed their responsibility to properly serve the tenants; whose rent amortizes their property expenses.
Reduction in housing services is a normative MO utilized by the current large investment Real Estate Groups, who implement many tactical techniques to supplant long-term tenants with higher capital earners. The Apartment Group has set a precedence, which permits unsatisfactory housing services to be provided to tenants. There are many atrocious violation, and some of these negligence includes: Not notifying tenants about building or unit work 24 hours in advanced, the insufficient tackling of waste management, the lack of or improper pulling of permits for major projects and renovations, the lack of sufficient sanitation of their properties, and lastly the deception and opaqueness management subjects their residents to. This is detrimental to the relationship between tenants and landlords, which could spell disaster in a climate where there is a growing sentiment and disdain for Owner investors as the income wealth disparity gap continues to grow.
There was a tenant in Lake Park apartments who posted a Yelp review to inform the public of the unethical deeds and violations committed by the First Class Lodi LLC and The Apartment group Inc. Harassment was imposed on this tenant along with diligent denial of culpability by the owners and management. There is a long list of code violations that these two institutions have breached. The original awareness was kick started by a published article in the Eastbay Express in their June, 2014 edition. A correlation was drawn to explain how the Lake Park apartments incidence, was a microcosm of a larger issue of predatory investor owners plaguing the city of Oakland, CA.
by Katalina Mendoza https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/24/18766010.php
Wednesday Dec 24th, 2014 1:02 PM
The First class Lodi LLC, and The Apartment Group Inc are examples of Owner Investors whose only goal in the real estate market is to flip houses. They will violate as many laws as possible in order to make a quick profit. The buildings they purchase are nothing more then ATM machines they utilize, to further expand their criminal empires. The communities they prey on are the true losers, who are displaced by these investors. Those that can afford these units are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money for overvalued housing. Oakland is under assault by a new breed of property investors, who only see people as untapped capital potential.
On June, 12th of 2014 The First Class Lodi LLC, and The Apartment Group Inc became the new owners and property management group for Lake Park Apartments. In addition to the acquisition of this multifamily building, the commercial leasing office was renovated in order for The Apartment Groups Inc to relocate its headquarters in the heart of Downtown Oakland's Lake Merritt region.
The TAG Inc office is now located at Lake Park Apartments and is comprised of a full staff, which has inconvenienced many tenants who reside in this building. In reaction to negative publicity, they have removed their signage in hopes of detouring angry community members from visiting their headquarters. There are many local residents who claim the primary issue with The Apartment Group Inc and The First Class Lodi LLC along with their other affiliate LLC's, is their excessive time and energy applied to illicit a culture of chronic non compliance. The desire to reach high profit margins has outweighed their responsibility to properly serve the tenants; whose rent amortizes their property expenses.
Reduction in housing services is a normative MO utilized by the current large investment Real Estate Groups, who implement many tactical techniques to supplant long-term tenants with higher capital earners. The Apartment Group has set a precedence, which permits unsatisfactory housing services to be provided to tenants. There are many atrocious violation, and some of these negligence includes: Not notifying tenants about building or unit work 24 hours in advanced, the insufficient tackling of waste management, the lack of or improper pulling of permits for major projects and renovations, the lack of sufficient sanitation of their properties, and lastly the deception and opaqueness management subjects their residents to. This is detrimental to the relationship between tenants and landlords, which could spell disaster in a climate where there is a growing sentiment and disdain for Owner investors as the income wealth disparity gap continues to grow.
There was a tenant in Lake Park apartments who posted a Yelp review to inform the public of the unethical deeds and violations committed by the First Class Lodi LLC and The Apartment group Inc. Harassment was imposed on this tenant along with diligent denial of culpability by the owners and management. There is a long list of code violations that these two institutions have breached. The original awareness was kick started by a published article in the Eastbay Express in their June, 2014 edition. A correlation was drawn to explain how the Lake Park apartments incidence, was a microcosm of a larger issue of predatory investor owners plaguing the city of Oakland, CA.