Long & Foster Realtor Valerie Coleman Took My Money

This is my account with what is defiantly the worst landlord, I have seen since I lived in America. Her name is Valerie Coleman. This to tell an account and opinion about Ms. Coleman who is a nice dresser, smooth talker, and a smart business woman. Among her weaknesses however is her open apatite for money and easy money. Good for her she is a Realtor, has a government job, owns property and rents and now she can add another title, deposit scam artis. I have lived in more than a dozen of places,  all my landlords have always given back their deposit after I did the cleaning of the unit upon departure.

She rented us a home through Long & Foster (May 2011 to Oct 2013), she had listed her property on 2216th 11th St NW Washington, DC 20001 for rent. We rented it for tow and half years. First year she would do maintenance, but occasionally she would ask us to pay--and then she would get angry. She never uses professionals, she uses a nice guy who tires to fix things but he cannot do much. So get ready for leaking and what's not.

And yes, she charges 50 dollars for water? Do you know a place where people pay fifty dollars for water? So she used to keep some change claiming to pay 50 dollars for each unit--it was 20 when we moved in and then she made it 50!

Then there's that little thing (it's not little, they are big) rats all over the building, I though we were the only apartment that had this problem, but my upstairs neighbors confirmed, they had to deal with rats as well. Valerie, made a habit of ignoring our requests, and I have written communications with her where I had to go buy rat traps and kill the poor creatures.

All because she refused to close cracks in the wall where the rats would get in. It was gross, I swear I took out four rats that I trapped. Even one of them was not dead and kept screaming. She did not want to do anything, and it was obvious she stopped caring about her own property. I should have called the DC inspections on her, where they would see her violations and slap her with fines--but I thought (wrong) she deserved better. She charged a good rent, but she just wanted to keep it all to herself and not invest in the property. She would say stuff like this "I'm losing money", "You should pay for that", "I will bill You" etc. At first, I thought maybe because we cook, the rats get attracted to our place, but then I check with the neighbors and they confirmed having whether confronted or heard rats in their units.

If I wanted to pay for such things, I would buy a home and deal with that, but she seems not understand that she should take care of her tenants. I think she showed little class when our check would be a day late because of the mail. Never have I sent her the rent late, Always sent it on time, and I have records--now in one occasion it took the post office two days to deliver the check to her--she wrote and was all (whinger cry baby bleater groaner) and it was not even the third of the month.

And on March 22, 2013 at 12:07 pm there is also an incident when she allowed herself unannounced into our home, without emergency or need, and then she wrote back after complaining about something obscure. I let her know that was not right and she seems not to care. We weren't there and she had no reason to get into the apartment.

Since we got sick and fed-up of her inaction, we put in our notice and she was kind to work with us until the day of the checkout came and she started nitpicking, and looking for tiny little things, and she started saying "would you live in a place like that?" No, Valeria you care so much that you left us with a huge crack in the wall and rats running around the building. Then right away she said, "I am deducting 200 dollars from your deposit for this...and that" Then when I said, "you will do no such thing", she responded "sue me" "and I will take pictures" and started all bullying me. She took her smartphone and started snapping pictures. She even dared to tell me the carped is not new! I did clean the place, but what seemed to me is her way of making more money. I did not think that was fair, she wanted us out and I left. And by the way she is litigious, she sued the next door people over some random issue, but she won.

Again I had a horrible experience with this lady and I would make tell people, to think twice before they rent or use her as a Realtor. This is opinion of Valeria Coleman and her likes. I think Long & Foster owes us an answer for hiring a greedy person who makes a comfortable living sucking the blood of hard- working people like me. I do not understand why Long and Foster a reputable company continues to employ someone with character flaws. I would warn you to rent from her and make sure you bring up these issues. I cannot imagine how messed up buying a house she is listing would be.

Let's hope she won't sue me for stating my opinion of the way she does business.

  

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Egypt's Jon Stewart Is No Hero

My latest post for the Hup Post
Bassem Youssef, the famous host of an Egyptian satire news show, is being sued. Bassem is no hero of mine, and there are countless others who share my view. Facebook is riddled with pages and groups who declare their lack of affection for Bassem Youssef. The former heart surgeon has been gaining fans and building an audience throughout the Arab world with his jokes and zingers. At the get-go, I loved his jokes and delivery. I thought he was the missing breeze of comedy the Arab world has been missing.

Entire Post Here

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On Jewish Christmas And Jet Lag

1. Jet lag is not too complicated to explain, it is exactly feels like when you watch a midday manatee movie, and once you step out of the theater, you realize "ops, there is still more to this day than you remember."
2. Why would a Jew wish a Muslim Merry Christmas?! Neither celebrate this day religiously  but both agree on one things--it's always great to have a good time. I wish people happy Easter, and Merry Christmas, because things do not always have to be about me.   

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American Visa, Green Card, And Citizenship!

America liked immigrants and have always liked food. Now think of the two at the same time. there are different stages to the American dream and I like to think of them in terms of food.

1. Having an American visa is like eating at a cafe! You can get many things, but there are limits
2. Having a Green card is like eating at an all you can eat buffet, dig in
3. Having an American citizenship is like owning the restaurant. You can eat, but at the end of the day it's you who has to pay the bill

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Living And Working In The District of Columbia

I am enjoying this time of the year in Washington, DC. It's kinda of lame to be living in a nice city where smart people supposedly live--those people shape the how the United States runs the country and the rest of the world. Do they always make good decisions? I doubt anyone would dispute the many decisions made by the elected officials working in Washington, DC.

New York, thinks they run the world--maybe the world of entertainment and fashion. Alright, they also got Wall Street. But no need to be snobby about it. But the truth, folks around the country cannot stand this city and all the laws they make--and the ones they don't. For a city, the District of Columbia has very thick skin. According to one Hollywood producer, "DC is Hollywood for ugly people" and he cracked a joke about C-Span. The officials here, get to levy taxes, take that taxes and do whatever the hell they want with it. Sometimes  they put back that money into the State through various programs. Do you ever hear about the good work that goes on this city? Almost never, and you have politics to credit for that.

I am willing to think that DC itself was not that popular at the time it was chosen to be the center of American governance. For the longest time, no one likes bureaucrats they learn tolerate them. This is way, may founding fathers wanted nothing to do with DC and chose to live away form it.

I have learned that during the war of 1812, the city and its leaders ran out of town when they heard the British were coming. And sure enough, the rag tag militia that was commissioned to protect the city were no match for the British forces, and the city fell in their hands. The troops burned down the first White House.

Compare that to the city of Baltimore when the city fought off the British invasion and held its ground--inspiring one man to write the American anthem as he witnessed the shelling of an America fortress. I think DC is rich in its unique history- it may not have been a historic place itself but because so many important people lived here and ruled over America--it has become a place with historic significance.

Come see the place, not the government. This is a great place to visit, so many awesome things to do and see here. It really embodies so many things about the American experience. So many school buses come to DC from around the country to learn about history and about their government. There's a certain pride in living in DC--even though resident of the city get so little perks in return.        

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Smell This! Dead Bodies, Feces, Raw Sewage

I am reading an interview with a smell guru working with a company with the name Scent Air, a company that develops smells for big companies  Not the kind you sell, but rather the kind the company pumps through their system to communicate their message to your nose. Some retailers even use the trick to get potential buyers to feel happy. This is about branding and making the customer feel something. I have heard about this before, but when he spoke about one of his clients, I had special interest: He was asked about his clients whom have also included entertainment and the military. What are some examples?

For training our troops, the government would ask for smells of things like dead bodies, burnt bodies, feces, raw sewage, gunpowder, cordite. They’d use these to in a way desensitize the troops, so if they walk into a war zone and they see these things, the training helped them to be better soldiers. We've also developed scents for flight simulators. Depending on the smell, the pilot knows it’s burning wires, or fuel. “Oh, I smell fuel: I have to do these things to keep myself alive.”

I think this is an interesting take on scents, using them to train people for combat, and unpleasant surrounding  Surprises suck and no one likes them, I am glad someone had the foresight to develop such stench. I think the use for pilots and the burning wires is something no one wants to live through.    

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Mom With Benefits vs. Friends With Benefits

You have heard the term friends with benefits before, they even have a movie with that title. This morning, I was at the gym thinking about some of the posts I have written about dating and marriage in the Arab/Muslim communities and realized many of those guys are always on a search for a girl to take home. Most--not all Arab men are good boys, they love their mothers and often times get spoiled by them.

It's only natural for them to look for what they know, someone like their own mother. I know ladies hate this idea, of guys shopping around for a mother they can have a different relationship with. It's not twisted or anything, and it's not limited to an ethnicity. Many guys love a woman that can cook, keeps the house tidy and is a fun person. And down the road to rare their child. On their mind, their own mothers come to mind. Hence, comes the term mom with benefit.

Feel free to disagree with me, but many of us realize that soon but only come to admit it later in life. You may not marry your friend with benefits  but you certainly will snag the mom with benefit on the earliest opportunisty you have. After-all  she cooked you dinner for a reason.   

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