So Constantin Reznik was in San Francisco and he knew that a simple way to
draw income was to become a landlord in a city that would always have
a shortage on housing.  He would take the apartments in the not so
good parts of town but, ah!, they were becoming better all the time.
Better and more expensive.  So as long as you could hold on to an
investment, not letting tenants run around like crazies, doing harm
and bringing down values, you were doing good.  And people would say
you were doing good by them too.

So Constantin went along buying up properties -- good quality, but in poor
neighborhoods, like Western Addition, Civic Center, Mission -- and he
would go and he would fix them up and rent them out to all the young
professionals who wanted to come to San Francisco.  (Why did they
come?  Eh, who knows?  Why was he here?  Its just what happens.)  San
Francisco grew up fast and Reznik made a lot of money.  So much money,
in fact, that he had scarecly time to look after the places anymore.
Sure, he had handymen, plumbers, people to take care of the day to day
tasks.  He wasn't a laborer, but even as a manager his success outdid
him.

So Eric met this young guy named James and one day they had coffee.

"So James," Constantin said, "I have too many properties to manage myself
anymore.  I thought this was going to be a small-time real estate
venture, but I get lucky.  But now I need someone to manage them.  And
I was thinking of you."

James drunk his coffee, hanging on Constantin's every word.

"So I know your story, James," Constantin said, "You are college drop-out.
But you are very talented.  You know it, and I know it.  You are a
very hard worker.
You want to make a lot of money.  If you take this job, you will make
a lot of money.  Not what I make, you know the rules, but a whole lot
more than you will make anywhere else.  But you will have to work very
hard.  The job is too much for me and it will be too much for you, but
here is the difference.  I will sit in this office and be myself, have
coffee in morning, work hard and never have to act like I am happy.
You, James...  you look happy. You look happy right now, even when I
am telling you this.  And you look happy when you go and tenent is
going on about how they see mice, or how toilet is clogged, or how
prostitute annoys them.  You, James, never give them anything, never
promise them anything unless I say it is okay, but you look happy to
them.  Do you understand?"

"I think so," said James, "How much will you pay me?"

"Ah," said Constantin, finishing his coffee, "You ask question to let me
know that you're not an idiot, and fair enough.  No, I will pay you
well, but you will burn out very soon.  Let's go do some paperwork."

After they shook hands, Constantin and James got down to the more practical
talk of how to turn over apartments.

"Many people," said Eric, "In San Francisco don't understand what
classy is.  Californians are superstitious what is nice.  In Russia,
you just understand these things.  Not all Californians, of course.
The truly rich, everywhere, they know what is nice.  But our apartments
aren't for them.  We are renting to people who like to think they are
very classy but who usually don't know what they're talking about.
They hear their friends say granite counters are nice, hardwood floor
nice, so they look for these things because they hear their friends
say it.  But there is difference in hardwood floors, there is
difference in granite counters, do you get nice ones or do you get
cheap ones?  Are you listening to me, James?"

"Of course," said James, "So we're not giving them the top of the
heap."

"No," said Constantin, "But we don't give bottom of the heap either.  We do
a little better when we can.  I have a friend who can get good prices
on granite if we install it ourselves.  Nice granite, James, it will
look very expensive.  And the floors?  We will use the same wood that
all the mid-tier landlords in San Francisco are refinishing with these days.  You know,
I don't even know what tree it comes from these days.  But it looks
nice and people will think it is classy.  To them, it is. And
stainless steal appliances, these are what people want these days. We
will buy them nice appliances.  They will look nice and they will work
well, which will save us time too."

Constantin began to pace up and down a bit, contemplating his most recent
building purchase.  Then he continued, "But the cabinets?  They can be
cheap. As long as they look nice and dark next to the steal
appliances, it doesn't matter how cheap they are.  Who doesn't buy an
apartment for the cabinets?  All those sorts of fixtures you can do
cheap, which is good since they wear down quickly, though to be honest
if you make the place look nice enough you can pass a few tenents
through them.  I can see it in your eyes, you can see where this is
going can't you?"

"Yes," James said.  "So if we offer an in-unit washer dryer we can
look like we're marketing a home.  And we should use real hook-ups so
we will have the option of doing whatever we want with the place.  But
tenents are going to cycle through; San Francisco is restless these
days, so we can buy a few European-style small-capacity combo units.
Some tenents might like them and by the time others complain..."

"...their lease will be running out," said Constantin, "An excellent
idea. Put in the call today and have them in by next week."