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Welcome to Medusa Properties!
The philosophy behind this site is one that I live my life by--that less really IS more--and that if you give people good information, they can make good choices.
I wanted a site where people looking for quality vintage apartments in the Houston or Salt Lake City areas can see what I have to offer, can browse through
my upcoming vacancies, and can get the accurate, up-to-date information that they need to compare my units to the others that are out there for lease in the same areas. No hype. No advertisements. No flashy gimmicks. If you see something you like, great. If not, you’re out in two minutes. :)
Strangely enough I am a landlord only by circumstance. I buy and restore old buildings because I love the process of design and construction--and truly believe in the concepts of renewal and recycling. My aim in all things is to consume the minimum to produce the maximum. And, truth be told, I do enjoy swinging a hammer and the smell of freshly cut lumber... but that's a conversation for another time and place!
Ultimately everyone has to make a living somehow. Little did I know, 18 yrs ago, sitting in those college calculus and statistics classes, that one day I'd be using those skills on a construction site and not in a board room. I think a lot of people see a guy on a job site and think, "Poor guy! Should have gone to college." Be careful about making assumptions! :) Some of the sharpest, most successful guys I've ever met are in this business. But they're guys like me: people who like being outside, moving around all day, using their hands--using their muscles--and using their brains in a very real way--for practical problem solving.
Once or twice a year I buy something old, something gnarled, something abused, something hopelessly crooked--but always something that was once useful, beautiful or interesting. And then I gut it. I take it apart brick by brick and I put it back together again stronger, straighter, and hopefully more beautiful and more useful than it was before. In the case of houses, I usually sell them. In the case of apartments, I typically keep them and rent them out.
Before I starting restoring these old buildings I was a partner in a mortgage company--a fairly successful one. I had a place near the beach in San Diego, some land in Costa Rica, and plenty of money in the bank. But at the end of the day all I really did was get paid to shuffle paper around. I had no real pride in my work--I mean, a mortgage is a mortgage. No one ever said, "Dude! That was a super cool mortgage you just got for me!" All I really had to show for a month's work is a folder two inches thick and a commission check. File the folder, deposit the check, REPEAT. Not the life for me!
Ranging from the 1890s to the 1950s, all of my units would fall under the category of "vintage" or "retro". I am a slavish devotee of natural materials like wood, glass, steel, concrete and natural stone. I don’t do carpet, vinyl, laminate, or any other synthetic material that I can possibly avoid. And beige, tan, off-white, bone, baby’s breath, mother of pearl, ecru--and every other non-color--are not in my palette. Love it or hate it, you'll won't my style anywhere else and you won't see the finishes we do in my units anywhere else. Because we custom build just about everything ourselves--from the simple Art Deco crown molding we use to the commercial style stainless steel kitchen sinks--just about everything is custom and one of a kind. And no two units in any of my projects are exactly alike. We vary the finishes in a variety ways, improving & tweaking as we go from unit to unit. Repetition is boring.
From a management standpoint, I run all potential tenants through the same fair but rigorous screening process--focusing more on the person as a whole and how they will fit into the overall culture of a particular property than on anything as arbitrary as a simple credit score or debt-to-income ratios. That being said, I doubt any other landlord in Houston or Salt Lake City has higher standards for their tenants than I do. (Click the "Applications" tab above for more details.)
Or, click on the "Vacancies" tab above and scroll down through the units that I have coming up for rent. That page is always up-to-date and the headline of each property indicates the city (either Houston or Salt Lake) where it is located. For example: "Classic 1920s 4-Plex in Montrose (Houston, TX)".
*** (No matter how tempting it might be, DO NOT click on the properties for Salt Lake City if you are moving to Houston--or vice versa. Undoubtedly you’ll find the perfect apartment--in the WRONG city. :)
Have fun out there on the site. I hope you find something perfect for your situation. If not that, then perhaps just a bit of inspiration.
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