I have always understood the concept of “Penny Wise Pound Foolish”, but somehow I seem to keep making the same mistake.
For the house we have in San Diego, I hired an agent Sandra Chang who together with her husband John Bell run this real estate agency called “Emperor Realty”. I think the key reason for hiring her was really because she only charged 5% of the rent, although I justified to myself further by saying that Michael’s parents’ properties in San Diego were also under her management.
As rule, we get what we paid for. To start with, Sandra did not show the house to any potential tenant, after she put the ad I wrote up into the MLS system. I showed the house to everyone who expressed interest, and I decided on the tenants as well as the rent. When I asked her to hire a cleaner to clean up the house after we moved out and before the new tenants moved in, apparently the cleaner did a poor job. The arrangement I structured with Emperor Realty was such that my tenant would pay them, and they would take their cut and pay me. The very first check I got from Emperor Realty bounced. That should have been a telling sign. I scolded her, only to get a really defensive reaction as if I were unfair to her.
My tenants then listed a few things they wanted fixed. Sandra sent in the same handyman without ever showing up at the house. Then she asked for a reserve fund to cover repairs, so that the handyman would not have to wait until the tenant pays the rent that month to get paid. I said fine and gave her $1000, only to remember later on that she also was holding onto the deposit from the tenant, which surely can cover any small repairs.
Fortunately, I selected good tenants, and they have maintained the property nicely. Then earlier this spring, we heard that Sandra died of a stroke suddenly. Needless to say, I did not bother her widower John Bell for a while. I only started calling him when my rent checks were continuously delayed. I never got hold of him. Meanwhile, my parents-in-law took advantge of their trip to San Diego to fire John Bell from managing their properties in San Diego. I don’t recall exactly what deterred me from following suit, but my guess is that partly it was because I was afraid of losing the rent and the deposit John Bell owed me if I were to fire him long-distance without showing up in person in San Diego. And perhaps I also felt bad that his wife died.
But things got worse and worse. By October, he owed me two months of rent and was utterly incommunicado. I decided to switch to the agent that my parents-in-law hired for their properties, and fire John Bell, or Emperor Realty. The letter was returned – the office had already been shut down. When I asked the new agent, who is not really that helpful to locate John Bell, she said that she could not find anyone from Emperor Realty, and the only house associated with John Bell had just been foreclosed. No one could find this guy! Now the total amount he owes me is close to $8000, which is not an amount that I am happy to part with. This agent then provided me Aaron Cheng’s phone number, who’s Sandra’s son from a previous marriage. I called him and he actually returned my phone call. He gave me a 30-minute sob story of how he really does not have the money to pay me, although he was so innocent that he got a broker’s license so that his late mother could be a realtor under his broker’s license, how John Bell has been acting strange to him and how he cannot easily get hold of John Bell either, etc, etc. Honestly, he sounded like a broken record. He said that there were remaining bills to be paid, and some of these bills don’t have contracts associated with them, but he trusted these old chinese people. I said, “they may not have a contract with you. But I do.” He said that he would look into it and talk to John Bell, and asked me to keep all this private and quiet so as to not tarnish his mother’s memory.
My agent sent all the proofs of the money that Emperor Realty to Aaron. However, since then, he has also disappeared depsite my repeated phone calls. I now realize – if only I had hired a more expensive agent, I probably would have prevented all this from happening. After all, we do get what we paid for.
Perhaps it is time for me to learn something new – i.e. How to file a small claims lawsuit. It is not exactly an experience that I would like to gain, but perhaps I should not be so condescending as to what skill is worth obtaining and what is not. Who knows – I might have to do it again in the future! :)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Peer Pressure
I went to visit the International School of the Peninsula yesterday, which has the oldest Chinese immersion program in Bay Area. The school started out as a French immersion school, and added the Chinese immersion program in mid 1990s. When I showed up at the school, there were already a dozen parents there. Apparently, a lot of them met each other before. I did not know anyone, but I did recognize that one woman is a partner at perhaps most of the best-known venture capital firms in the country. They were chatting with each other, reminding each other where they last met, and I heard “Day One”. I asked what “Day One” was, and it turned out to be a place for expectant mothers and those with infants to attend classes. It has locations in San Francisco, Walnut Creek and Palo Alto, where perhaps there is the high-end need for super-attentive prenatal and post-natal care. Once again, I felt like the least prepared and most delinquent mother there. I now realize why I have hesitated joining any mothers’ club – it is because I will always feel like a loser in such a group! :)
Interestingly, out of the dozen parents there, only one parent was there for the French immersion program. I could not help asking the director of admissions what the acceptance rate for Chinese immersion program is these days, as well as the reasons for rejecting a kid. She of course tried to be reassuring and said that it’s about 60-70% acceptance rate, and the rejection was often because the kid was not ready for such a structured environment.
The tour was ver nice. Everything I saw and heard was great. I got to see the class in action in nursery, pre-K and kindergarten. The kids were chiming in Chinese and the classrooms had a lot of education tools and supplies. The yard is big with lots of room for running. The elementary and middle school campus is at a different location from the nursery to kindergarten. It was so interesting just standing in the hallway, as I would hear chinese being spoken here and there. And then suddenly a kid would walk down the hallway, greeting a teacher “Bonjour”, and the teacher would cheerfully respond, “Bonjour. Tu es bien?”
Apparently kids in the Chinese immersion program pick up French as a third language so fast that the teachers were astounded. The elementary and middle school offers exchange programs for kids to go to China or Taiwan for a week or two at a time.
After this tour, I must say that if I don’t send Winston to this school, I will feel really delinquent. Of course, I recognize at the same time that this is mostly due to the “peer pressure” for parents. I can’t imagine how much peer pressure poor little Winston will feel when he grows up! :)
Interestingly, out of the dozen parents there, only one parent was there for the French immersion program. I could not help asking the director of admissions what the acceptance rate for Chinese immersion program is these days, as well as the reasons for rejecting a kid. She of course tried to be reassuring and said that it’s about 60-70% acceptance rate, and the rejection was often because the kid was not ready for such a structured environment.
The tour was ver nice. Everything I saw and heard was great. I got to see the class in action in nursery, pre-K and kindergarten. The kids were chiming in Chinese and the classrooms had a lot of education tools and supplies. The yard is big with lots of room for running. The elementary and middle school campus is at a different location from the nursery to kindergarten. It was so interesting just standing in the hallway, as I would hear chinese being spoken here and there. And then suddenly a kid would walk down the hallway, greeting a teacher “Bonjour”, and the teacher would cheerfully respond, “Bonjour. Tu es bien?”
Apparently kids in the Chinese immersion program pick up French as a third language so fast that the teachers were astounded. The elementary and middle school offers exchange programs for kids to go to China or Taiwan for a week or two at a time.
After this tour, I must say that if I don’t send Winston to this school, I will feel really delinquent. Of course, I recognize at the same time that this is mostly due to the “peer pressure” for parents. I can’t imagine how much peer pressure poor little Winston will feel when he grows up! :)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Life and Death
These days news of death affect me much more than before. Is it because I am older and therefore closer to death than before? Or is it because I increasingly realize how vulnerable and fragile life is? Or is it because I can now better imagine how terrible it is to lose a loved one, whereas I was previously rather oblivious?
Elizabeth Edwards died from cancer. I do not envy her life - losing her son at age 16 to a car accident, being diagnosed with cancer a few years after she gave birth to her youngest child at age 50 due to aggressive fertility treatments which probably resulted in the cancer, seeing her once-dashing husband turn into a much ridiculed figure (in public and by herself) and now finally dying at a relatively young age of 61. I wonder – why was she so unlucky?
But that is a question that cannot be answered by anyone. Maybe by comparison to many people out there, she already lived a very lucky life. She has three beautiful and thriving kids. She had a good marriage for many years. She has a lot friends and family to support her. She has fortune that allowed her to have and do things that other less fortunate people cannot. She has felt her impact in the society. Yes, perhaps she was lucky after all.
Death humbles the most arrogant of us, and it makes us all appreciate life and treasure what we have.
Elizabeth Edwards died from cancer. I do not envy her life - losing her son at age 16 to a car accident, being diagnosed with cancer a few years after she gave birth to her youngest child at age 50 due to aggressive fertility treatments which probably resulted in the cancer, seeing her once-dashing husband turn into a much ridiculed figure (in public and by herself) and now finally dying at a relatively young age of 61. I wonder – why was she so unlucky?
But that is a question that cannot be answered by anyone. Maybe by comparison to many people out there, she already lived a very lucky life. She has three beautiful and thriving kids. She had a good marriage for many years. She has a lot friends and family to support her. She has fortune that allowed her to have and do things that other less fortunate people cannot. She has felt her impact in the society. Yes, perhaps she was lucky after all.
Death humbles the most arrogant of us, and it makes us all appreciate life and treasure what we have.
It Has Been Raining the Whole Day...
It has been raining the whole day. For sunny Palo Alto, it is rather rare. As I look out of the window of my office and listen to the rain drops falling on the roof, I cannot but feel a bit melancholy. Really I cannot imagine how the Scandinavians survive half of the year!
Apparently some scientists have found that there is some correlation between being born in the bleak winter months and having a higher chance of mood disorders - http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?NewsEntityId=204317&Source=YesterdaysMostPopular.
In that case, I certainly have no excuses. I was born in the heat of the summer, but I do find my mood affected by the weather. I actually like falling asleep listening to the raindrops, as it is so soothing. But when I am awake, I want beautiful sunshine.
Well, I hope that this latest study has some merit. Winston was a June baby...
Apparently some scientists have found that there is some correlation between being born in the bleak winter months and having a higher chance of mood disorders - http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?NewsEntityId=204317&Source=YesterdaysMostPopular.
In that case, I certainly have no excuses. I was born in the heat of the summer, but I do find my mood affected by the weather. I actually like falling asleep listening to the raindrops, as it is so soothing. But when I am awake, I want beautiful sunshine.
Well, I hope that this latest study has some merit. Winston was a June baby...
A Belated Report on Thanksgiving
I recall griping about Thanksgiving as I don’t like turkey, nothing opens and travelling is hectic during Thanksgiving. But now that I have a kid, I have to make him happy over this holiday. I always feel guilty about leaving him with the nanny even though I am not even working full-time... So I have to make up for it occasionally.
On Thanksgiving Day, we went to my friend Tim’s place for the traditional Thanksgiving fare. I have not had any turkey (and I do mean any turkey at all) for many years due to my intense dislike of it. Tim’s wife did everything from scratch – turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc. I have to say that I still don’t like cranberry sauce, but the turkey and stuffing were actually pretty good. Winston loved the stuffing and baked beans, and he ate a ton of them, which led to diarrhea the next day, as he’s lactose intolerant and there was milk in both the stuffing and the baked beans.
On Friday, we were going to go to Michael’s sister’s place, but her family all caught a bad cold. Instead, we went shopping with Winston at Stanford Shopping Center and eating out for dinner. Winston was not too thrilled sitting in the high chair at Hobbee’s in Palo Alto, but he was overall well behaved. On Saturday, we went to a neighbor’s house (who’s also a colleague of michael’s in the same department) for early brunch party with winston at 10 am where there were other kids from other stanford professors (all in the same department), all of whom were older though. None of the kids played with Winston, and they would push him away when he clumsily tried to touch the toys they were playing. Good-humoredly, Winston just walked away when he was unwelcome. After I put him down for his afternoon nap, we went to an adult’s party – a friend is having a big celebration of their turtle’s 30th birthday. He gave this turtle to his wife before they started dating! It was all big and formal with printed invitations. I realize that the only way for me to utterly relax is at an adults’ party, as otherwise my eyes and ears would constantly follow Winston to make sure that he’s well taken care of. On Sunday, we took him as usual to the nearby farmers’ market in the morning and then after some playing in the park, he ate lunch, drank milk and fell asleep for 3 hours. We were going to go to a friend’s place for dumplings – her daughter is 7 months older than winston. But her daughter started having a runny nose and to be safe, we did not go. Instead we took him to meet another friend – we met at the Santa Claus area of Stanford Shopping Center. Then we drove to see the Los Altos Light Parade, which apparently is like a phenomenon of the area – Winston was utterly mesmerized by the various bands from local public and private schools, as well as those colorful displays parading down the street. People treat this event like Bostonians with the July 4 fireworks – they lined up the street with their lounge chairs during the day time long before the parade started.
My arms were so sore after holding Winston up over the Thanksgiving holiday, but it’s all worth it as he had a very good time. Of course he will not remember a thing...
On Thanksgiving Day, we went to my friend Tim’s place for the traditional Thanksgiving fare. I have not had any turkey (and I do mean any turkey at all) for many years due to my intense dislike of it. Tim’s wife did everything from scratch – turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc. I have to say that I still don’t like cranberry sauce, but the turkey and stuffing were actually pretty good. Winston loved the stuffing and baked beans, and he ate a ton of them, which led to diarrhea the next day, as he’s lactose intolerant and there was milk in both the stuffing and the baked beans.
On Friday, we were going to go to Michael’s sister’s place, but her family all caught a bad cold. Instead, we went shopping with Winston at Stanford Shopping Center and eating out for dinner. Winston was not too thrilled sitting in the high chair at Hobbee’s in Palo Alto, but he was overall well behaved. On Saturday, we went to a neighbor’s house (who’s also a colleague of michael’s in the same department) for early brunch party with winston at 10 am where there were other kids from other stanford professors (all in the same department), all of whom were older though. None of the kids played with Winston, and they would push him away when he clumsily tried to touch the toys they were playing. Good-humoredly, Winston just walked away when he was unwelcome. After I put him down for his afternoon nap, we went to an adult’s party – a friend is having a big celebration of their turtle’s 30th birthday. He gave this turtle to his wife before they started dating! It was all big and formal with printed invitations. I realize that the only way for me to utterly relax is at an adults’ party, as otherwise my eyes and ears would constantly follow Winston to make sure that he’s well taken care of. On Sunday, we took him as usual to the nearby farmers’ market in the morning and then after some playing in the park, he ate lunch, drank milk and fell asleep for 3 hours. We were going to go to a friend’s place for dumplings – her daughter is 7 months older than winston. But her daughter started having a runny nose and to be safe, we did not go. Instead we took him to meet another friend – we met at the Santa Claus area of Stanford Shopping Center. Then we drove to see the Los Altos Light Parade, which apparently is like a phenomenon of the area – Winston was utterly mesmerized by the various bands from local public and private schools, as well as those colorful displays parading down the street. People treat this event like Bostonians with the July 4 fireworks – they lined up the street with their lounge chairs during the day time long before the parade started.
My arms were so sore after holding Winston up over the Thanksgiving holiday, but it’s all worth it as he had a very good time. Of course he will not remember a thing...
A Belated Report on Halloween
I am a complete pushover when it comes to peer pressure. Despite how much I talked about not doing anything for Halloween, we still decided to dress Winston up as a green dragon and went trick-or-treating around College Terrace area, which is on the edge of Stanford campus. Of course he had no clue what was going on, but he was welcome at every house.
When we came to one house with the door open, we knocked. A young woman came by, and then went back inside to report that it was a boy trick-or-treating. Suddenly a lot of young people came out, apparently partying at the time. The person in front was Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. I was so taken back that I probably stared at him a little bit. He was praising Winston to be the cutest dragon ever. We got some candies, thanked them and left.
Afterwards, when I watched Michael’s video, I almost laughed. The minute he caught Mark Zuckerberg on camera, it dropped, presumably due to his surprise. Then he picked it up again, and Mark Zuckerberg noticed it. He hesitated for a split second and decided to ignore it and laugh with Winston instead.
By the way, for those who have seen the movie “Social Network”, I have to comment that the real life Mark Zuckerberg is better looking than the actor. That usually does not happen, except in the cases of “Social Network” and “Sylvia”.
Winston got to meet Mark Zuckerberg at his first Halloween! Yeah!
When we came to one house with the door open, we knocked. A young woman came by, and then went back inside to report that it was a boy trick-or-treating. Suddenly a lot of young people came out, apparently partying at the time. The person in front was Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. I was so taken back that I probably stared at him a little bit. He was praising Winston to be the cutest dragon ever. We got some candies, thanked them and left.
Afterwards, when I watched Michael’s video, I almost laughed. The minute he caught Mark Zuckerberg on camera, it dropped, presumably due to his surprise. Then he picked it up again, and Mark Zuckerberg noticed it. He hesitated for a split second and decided to ignore it and laugh with Winston instead.
By the way, for those who have seen the movie “Social Network”, I have to comment that the real life Mark Zuckerberg is better looking than the actor. That usually does not happen, except in the cases of “Social Network” and “Sylvia”.
Winston got to meet Mark Zuckerberg at his first Halloween! Yeah!
Comparing the Education Systems of the US and China
Recently an article in New York Times has elicited some discussions among my friends, largly around comparison of the education systems of the United States and China- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage. The fact that China is investing so much money into educating the next generation should indeed be taken seriously by the United States, if it still wants to maintain a lead in science and technology.
Incidentally, I scheduled a visit to the Stanford daycare center where Winston is on the waiting list to enter next year as a two-year old. I figure that I should at least see what it’s like. Considering that only Stanford affiliates can get in, and it almost never has openings, I expected a great daycare center that would blow my mind away.
Suffice to say that the exact opposite happened. It’s a two-story building, but each class is confined to its own classroom most of the day, except for when they are let outside in the small yard to play. The classroom has some toys, and the teacher to kids ratio for the 2 year old class is 6 to 1, which is not bad. I asked where they would eat and nap, and the answer was the same room. When I expressed puzzlement as to where they could sleep, the teacher pointed to a stack of mats, which are rolled out for the children’s nap. Each family supplies a sheet and a blanket, and the kids would sleep in their clothes on those mats spread out on the floor. The teachers have associate degrees but there were no musical instruments around for music classes. They supply two snacks but parents would have to supply lunch.
I always thought that my son would have better opportunities than I did when I was growing up. However, when it comes to daycare/preschoo/kindergarten, I have to say that Winston might be worse off than I was. My daycare/kindergarten which I attended was the experimental kindergarden affiliated with Beijing Normal University. The campus is at least 10 times as big as the Stanford one. All the teachers were trained in early-childhood education, and most can play the piano. We had a classroom, a dining room, a bedroom where each kid has his or her own bed, where we would nap comfortably in our sleep clothes under our own warm blanket. There was a big performance hall with hardwood floors, where we would put on shows to entertain foreign visitors. The yard has a huge fountain, big trees, large area to run around, lots of play structures, and a vegetable garden where we were taught to pick cucumbers and tomatoes when they were in season. We were taught to sing along with our teachers’ piano playing, listen to stories and put on various performance shows. When we got up from the afternoon nap, the teachers would comb each girl’s hair. I remember wanting to have long hair, so that the teacher could braid my hair. But unfortunately I always had short hair. Both lunch and dinner were served, although I recall not liking the food too much.
When I complained to a friend of mine, she pointed out that my daycare/kindergarten was perhaps one of the most elite ones in China. She talked about hers when she was a kid. The teachers would chat among themselves instead of paying attention to the kids. While the yard was big, there was only one or two play structures, and all the kids would have to wait in long lines. The worst was the open-air bathrooms with those holes in the ground – apparently sometimes kids would fall into those holes. Out of fear of falling into those “shit-holes”, she often tried to hold herself instead of going to the bathroom, when many other kids just peed in their pants without the teachers noticing anything. Is that the norm in China then?
Regardless, I recall visiting my old high-school where my mom was a teacher before her retirement. In terms of facility and resources, it exceeds even La Jolla High School, which is supposed to be one of the top high schools in this country. And this article in New York Times further makes me question the quality of public education in the US. Private schools in the US, on the other hand, easily surpass the schools in China in terms of hardware and software.
Well, perhaps that’s why I feel the pressure to make some money so that Winston can go to private schools from the beginning...
Incidentally, I scheduled a visit to the Stanford daycare center where Winston is on the waiting list to enter next year as a two-year old. I figure that I should at least see what it’s like. Considering that only Stanford affiliates can get in, and it almost never has openings, I expected a great daycare center that would blow my mind away.
Suffice to say that the exact opposite happened. It’s a two-story building, but each class is confined to its own classroom most of the day, except for when they are let outside in the small yard to play. The classroom has some toys, and the teacher to kids ratio for the 2 year old class is 6 to 1, which is not bad. I asked where they would eat and nap, and the answer was the same room. When I expressed puzzlement as to where they could sleep, the teacher pointed to a stack of mats, which are rolled out for the children’s nap. Each family supplies a sheet and a blanket, and the kids would sleep in their clothes on those mats spread out on the floor. The teachers have associate degrees but there were no musical instruments around for music classes. They supply two snacks but parents would have to supply lunch.
I always thought that my son would have better opportunities than I did when I was growing up. However, when it comes to daycare/preschoo/kindergarten, I have to say that Winston might be worse off than I was. My daycare/kindergarten which I attended was the experimental kindergarden affiliated with Beijing Normal University. The campus is at least 10 times as big as the Stanford one. All the teachers were trained in early-childhood education, and most can play the piano. We had a classroom, a dining room, a bedroom where each kid has his or her own bed, where we would nap comfortably in our sleep clothes under our own warm blanket. There was a big performance hall with hardwood floors, where we would put on shows to entertain foreign visitors. The yard has a huge fountain, big trees, large area to run around, lots of play structures, and a vegetable garden where we were taught to pick cucumbers and tomatoes when they were in season. We were taught to sing along with our teachers’ piano playing, listen to stories and put on various performance shows. When we got up from the afternoon nap, the teachers would comb each girl’s hair. I remember wanting to have long hair, so that the teacher could braid my hair. But unfortunately I always had short hair. Both lunch and dinner were served, although I recall not liking the food too much.
When I complained to a friend of mine, she pointed out that my daycare/kindergarten was perhaps one of the most elite ones in China. She talked about hers when she was a kid. The teachers would chat among themselves instead of paying attention to the kids. While the yard was big, there was only one or two play structures, and all the kids would have to wait in long lines. The worst was the open-air bathrooms with those holes in the ground – apparently sometimes kids would fall into those holes. Out of fear of falling into those “shit-holes”, she often tried to hold herself instead of going to the bathroom, when many other kids just peed in their pants without the teachers noticing anything. Is that the norm in China then?
Regardless, I recall visiting my old high-school where my mom was a teacher before her retirement. In terms of facility and resources, it exceeds even La Jolla High School, which is supposed to be one of the top high schools in this country. And this article in New York Times further makes me question the quality of public education in the US. Private schools in the US, on the other hand, easily surpass the schools in China in terms of hardware and software.
Well, perhaps that’s why I feel the pressure to make some money so that Winston can go to private schools from the beginning...
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