Stanford Alum Will Work For Housing

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I am currently in the midst of the most severe personal housing crisis, and I hope that I can find a solution. I am currently living in an apartment that is a terrible space for me at this time in my life. I'm not comfortable here physically, emotionally or economically. It is hurting my ability to work on my writing. It is hurting my ability to maintain my sanity. My landlord is problematic, and as we speak, I am in the midst of an eviction litigation, even though my landlord seems to be something of a slumlord and breached our lease agreement on the very first day it was signed, and many times thereafter. We'll see what the court has to say...

But I hope I don't have to wait for that. I would like to get out of here TODAY, but I don't have the means or an acceptable option for relocation, and I'm trying to find a creative solution...

I believe there are two separate economies in this society—a public one and a private one. The public economy runs on paperwork, records, numbers—assets and liabilities, credit scores, income, expenses, background checks. The private economy works on trust—do I know this person? Are they reliable and honest? Do I know their background? Do I have social, professional or ideological connections with them that make me feel secure that they will treat me fairly?

The typical process for renting an apartment works entirely on the public economy and that is closed off to me right now. I have credit problems and am currently living on a low fixed income until the point if and when I can generate some revenue from my writing. And with my legal problems, my options are reduced to rooming houses filled with criminals and drug addicts, usually managed by other ex-convicts where you have to share a room with another man, and homelessness. I refuse to consider these options. I have made the decision that I will go back to prison or die in the street first. I feel that the contributions that I have made to society are too significant, and my mistakes not significant enough, to justify my being forced to live in that kind of situation. For almost twenty years, I helped millionaires and billionaires make money, and I don't think decent housing is too much to ask in return.

At my last full-time job, my time was being billed to clients at a rate of $200 per hour, and based on the amount of work that was on my plate, it would appear that the clients considered this a bargain. And these clients were not fly-by-night enterprises who don't know how to evaluate talent. They were mostly Fortune 500 companies. I've never looked at the list to check, but when I think back over my professional career, I think that at some point, I've probably done work for at least 100 of the Fortune 500, certainly if you look at the list as of the mid-2000s.

I want to find someone who has an apartment or modest house for rent in San Diego who is willing to talk with me about making a “Trust Economy” leasing arrangement. If you are a business owner, I think that this represents a profit-making opportunity for you. If we say my time is only worth $100 per hour, and you lease me an apartment that has a market value of $2,000 per month in exchange for my agreement to do fifty hours of work per month for you, you are winning to the tune of $3,000 per month!

But depending on what kind of business you have, you may be winning much more than that.  I have extensive professional experience in a variety of areas, and extensive knowledge and expertise in areas outside of my professional experience. I'm a National Merit Scholar and Stanford alum who has worked for two CEOs and about a dozen highly respected lawyers.  I don't have to give my resume, though I'll show you a copy if you are interested in my offer. But suffice to say, I'm a smart, accomplished person and I love working. I absolutely love it. Probably my greatest frustration in life next to the lack of a wife is that I haven't had the opportunity to do enough meaningful work.

By meaningful work, I mean work that I believe in, and that it is work that truly allows me to fully exercise my capabilities. Now, I have problems with a lot of jobs, because sitting at a desk every day during certain hours is not work.  That's a job.  I'm looking for work, where the focus is on the end product, and I never have to sit in a chair somewhere just so that someone can see me there. But when it comes to getting things done? I am a machine.

If, for example, you owned a car dealership, I might agree to fifty hours of work per month in our contract, but you might, and probably would find that I end up being there fifty hours a WEEK because I want to be. The job that I did for most of my professional career now pays about $100,000 per year for a person with my knowledge and experience. So you've just hired a full-time six-figure a year employee at the price of an apartment where the annual rent revenue is $24,000. Even if I only last six months and flame out, you won.

If you're worried about whether this is all legal under employment and tax law, I worked for lawyers for over a decade.  An agreement that would be legal can be structured.  But that is the other thing about the private trust economy versus the public economy.  In the private economy, you don't worry about the law, you worry about whether the person you are entering the private contract with can be counted on to hold up their end of the agreement.  You give each other what you need to feel secure in the arrangement.

So if you have an apartment or modest house for rent, and you would like to discuss an arrangement, please drop me a line at michaeldavidboyd@gmail.com, and as soon as possible, because my position where I am is truly untenable. Because I am forced to negotiate from a position of crisis, I am even willing to talk about arrangements that would offer you even more of an investment opportunity, such as a percentage of future proceeds from any writing work I'm able to sell while I'm in your space, especially if you're willing to offer a place that is really nice. I don't feel I should have to go that far, but I need a place to live desperately!

Given my background and skills, I would think that there would be a bidding war for this deal between the intelligent property owners of San Diego, and that I might end up living somewhere nicer than I even need. But people with resources always surprise me with their unwillingness to capitalize on opportunities if there is even the slightest hint of risk, or even just a requirement to step off the beaten path. I hope this will be the point in my life where that begins to change...

Unfortunately, it seems like landlords are overwhelmingly, if not almost exclusively male. As I was just telling my therapist the other day, I actually would prefer to only work for female bosses for the rest of my life. While I had some absolutely great male bosses that had a profound influence in my life, on the whole, working with women was overwhelmingly better than working with men. In my experience, all the negative stereotypes about women in the workplace were the opposite of the truth—at least as it applies to women at the executive level. As a rule, women make awesome bosses for me.

I know there are good guys out there, though, and beggars can't be chosers. But if I can find a woman landlord and business owner who I can trust who wants this deal though, especially a Jewish one, you will have acquired a friend and ally for life, and I'll make you so much money, you won't be counting it, you'll be weighing it!

Follow me on Instagram: @michaeldavidmodern