Real Estate

Real estate in NYC has gotten pretty damn expensive. I mean, really expensive. They want a million dollars for a loft these days. A two-bedroom in the village? One million dollars, please. Cobble Hill? Just under a million – but nothing’s available, anyway. And even at these price levels, we’re talking crrrap.

My wife and I want to find a relatively safe and friendly place to live for a good long time, make or borrow some kids, send ’em to school, and not keep wasting everything we earn on rent. Please don’t make us go to the suburbs…

Can we talk? I mean, there’s so many issues to tackle, here: is NYC a place where the middle class (meaning those of us who aren’t millionaires) can no longer live comfortably? Where will culture go if the artists and writers can’t afford to be here? Is there a cool town somewhere else where our peeps are gathering? Asheville? Charlotte? Chicago? Oakland? Beacon? We’ll go – someone just tell us. Or send a secret map-point.

Business-wise, this just isn’t making sense to me. The real estate people say the high prices and low turnover is an indication that everything’s going to go up even further. They say that just about everyone who is in their apartment is happy and doesn’t want to sell it. I have trouble with this analysis. If it were the stock market, a low volume bull market means bad things. That it’s not really real. I think the volume is low (and the prices have stabilized at these outrageous heights) because the people who want to sell are waiting for the real estate market to resume its rise. And this, in turn, would mean that a crash is imminent.

Or maybe I’m wrong, and the true community spirit has returned to NYC. Maybe these people are just happy to be where they are, and unwilling to sell at any price. If that’s the case, then it means one can’t really join one of these communities without a whole lot of dough, and then the only alternative is to start a community of our own.

Anybody ready?