Vincent Castellano is a man with a mission: Give property owners their day on the Internet.
The former electrical engineer, investment banking analyst, newspaper real estate editor and now radio and public-access cable TV personality has set up an Internet site for aggrieved property owners in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey to share nightmarish-tenant stories and useful information.
Castellano, who made his mark in broadcasting with an 18-part cable series entitled “Should Queens Secede?” believes that tenants get the lion’s share of media coverage and public sympathy while property owners in the region, particularly small owners, are engulfed in the most regulated real estate market in the country, according to a statement on Castellano’s home page.
But Castellano has given them a voice, on both a public-access cable show and an AM radio show in New York entitled “Real Estate Nightmares.” He also launched a Web site at the same time, which has continued to grow.
The site contains real estate articles by Castellano (with his decidedly pro-owner perspective) and guest writers (though none appears on the site now) and, of course, nightmarish scenarios by property owners.
Some are downright scary. One involves a 10-year fight by a mother and wheelchair-bound son who have been unable to evict a tenant from the single-family house they had purchased.
Others involve various unscrupulous tenant ploys to avoid paying rent, including one tenant who insisted that phantom squeaks in his apartment’s wood floor caused him harm, though construction experts were never able to isolate the noise.
Castellano puts his research talents to good use in setting up links to numerous trade associations, property rights groups, New York housing agencies (there are 26 in New York City alone), local news outlets and politicians’ offices. He also includes an extensive bibliography of resources for property owners.
