It Is What It Is: A True Manhattan Real Estate Nightmare With a Silver Lining

Deep in a hellish real estate fiasco nightmare and plagued with obstacle upon obstacle, Colin and Pam Rath persevered and managed to crawl to safety. It started with obtaining the right from the city to renovate a single-room occupancy rent-controlled "transient hotel" brownstone building and only got worse. From financial problems of a construction project gone haywire to the tune of $13.5 million, to contractor woes, accidents on the construction site, the disaster of a fraudulently installed foundation, falsified reports, a corrupt and antiquated Department of Buildings, political interference, and numerous lawsuits, their real estate project and personal residence was foreclosed, leaving them $13 million in debt. Nevertheless, they continued to hang on to their dreams of Manhattan real estate development and of a global sailing adventure with their children. In a surprising legal development in 2014, their foreclosure was dropped and their multi-million-dollar condo became theirs again, free and clear. The Rath's story of tragedy and triumph will inspire anyone with a dream and prove that the flames of failure don't have to destroy your vision; rather, they can toughen it, like tempered steel.