It's Hard to Paint

Um... making art is difficult when you're in the process of moving:

Skepticism as Consumer Protection

If you’ve been on an apartment hunt in New York City in the last 5 to 8-ish or so years, you’ve probably been on Craigslist. Before that we all used the Village Voice classifieds or just whined to our friends until they let us crash on their couch ‘for a month’. If you had disposable income (or no choice) you walked into a brokers office with a list of stuff you want in an apartment and they find one for you.
K. and I recently landed a new apartment in one of our favorite neighborhoods, one where we have lived before and are very happy to move back to. Anyway, as is our wont, we used Craigslist (and a broker, minus the disposable income) and found a great new place. But before we found the new place, I responded to a few other ads, one of which seemed just a tad fishy. Now I’ve rented more than a few apartments in this city in the last 10 years and ‘too good to be true’ doesn’t even begin to describe what’s happening here.



See how the ad says that the place is $750 a month and it’s clearly a luxury rental? So I’m fairly certain that I didn’t hop in a time machine and go back to 1995 to find the first Craigslist ad for a Brooklyn apartment, so immediately my Skepti-senses were tingling. It wasn’t a share either, no mention of another roommate who would be splitting the total rent. Hmmm… I used my superior Google-fu skills and found this:



Notice how the wording in the box on the right-hand side is exactly the same as the first ad. Also notice that the apartments in this ad are FOR SALE. Not for rent. For sale.
In the first advertisement there is a Gmail address. Usually people don’t release their actual email addresses, but use the Craigslist reply address, which masks your actual address. Not this guy.

Ladies and Gents, meet Scott Loechner.

Here now is the fun email exchange I decided to have with Scott. Please note I am placing a big fat [sic] on this whole exchange. You'll see:

FINALLY!

Hello friends and neighbors. I have finally put up some artwork in the "My Artwork" tab at the top-right of the sidebar. Some of the artwork there was in my first post, but for some reason, that first post was not viewable to everyone. Still not sure why. But now it should work for all!
And if you want to zoom in, just do some clickity-click on the images and you can zip right up close.

Have a look.

If you like something, they are *ahem* for sale.

I am also happy to do commissions.