Some Irony in Real Estate

Interesting article about downtown Brooklyn. Just shows the direction the real estate landscape is going.

and here's the sobering truth- http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2010/02/11/2010-02-11_number_of_new_yorkers_at_risk_of_losing_their_home_to_foreclosure_surges_stats_s.html

I'm grateful to actually read a few things that sound like the truth. I saw a lot of this in my apartment search recently, and at least now I know I'm not imagining things!

What an unfortunate truth @hhusted. Hopefully, after the breaking of this bubble, things will go back to reasonable (or, as my boyfriend calls it, " real money") again.

Well, some places in this country has seen real estate prices go up. Not a lot, but a little, whereas other areas are still seeing prices fall. Maybe once the areas that are seeing a rise in prices continue at that pace, other areas will follow suit. It is the dreaded let down of the real estate market that is fueling the recession. Once real estate prices, or the value of real estate starts to go back up, perhaps this economy will also bounce back.

Yes, I live in Bushwick and can hear the JMZ go by every ten minutes, but according to potential real estate hawkers this is "East Williamsburg." Right.

Aha! So THAT's what they meant by "East Williamsburg"! I had been wondering. I also stayed away from anything that had Williamsburg in the title because I decided I'm too much of a grown-up to live in Williamsburg.

@hhusted the real estate website -www.trulia.com gives a detailed picture of various NYC neighborhoods and its updated too-http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/New_York-New_York/

@Uraniumfish That's exactly how I feel. Clinton Hill, here I come.

10% decrease in median sales price is huge! @uptowngirl

@BroadwayBK I've got my eye on Boerum Hill/ Cobble Hill.

Great articles @Uraniumfish and @uptowngirl.

Woah woah woah, uraniumfish! Back off my hood! I am, in fact, a grownup and I live in Willy just fine. There are amazing restaurants, cool band venues, art galleries etc. AND, I have tons of grownup neighbors . . . especially super grownup (old) grumpy Italians.

I have a lot of grown up, professional friends who live in Billyburg, too. Really you have to be doing okay financially to live over there these days, so even though there are still tons of young hipsters around I think many of them are migrating this way - to Bushwick.

@JenMac Okay, okay, okay, all I'm saying is it wouldn't be very grown up for ME to move to Williamsburg, and definitely not now as Williamsburg has...ripened. I would feel I'm a wanna be to a degree I don't feel I wanna BE. Anyway, I've been noticing the stained glass and brownstone detailing in Boerum Hill and thinking I want me some of that.

Never been to Boerum Hill, @uraniumfish. What makes you like that particular neighborhood? What's it like?

Yeah, I hear so much about Boerum Hill in this forum. I understand Williamsburg. I actually went through there once and saw what it looked like. But am not sure about Boerum Hill since I never saw the place. I didn't even know it existed.

Here is a link that further explains it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerum_Hill

The neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn are utterly charming. I used to go the main drag Smith Street a lot at one time. It has some great brunch places and lovely shops located along it. If you can find something appropriate Uraniumfish you should grab it ...

@uptowngirl Agreed. Boerum Hill is awesome - the last guy I dated knew the area really well and I think we frequented just about every place on Atlantic. I would love to live there... hopefully the bottom falls out of the real estate market and landlords finally realize it.

There are some gorgeous areas of Brooklyn: Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Ditmars Park. It's the buildings that do a lot to give these neighborhoods their beauty and make them so attractive. I have an old aunt to whom I said I might want to move to Park Slope, and she said, "Well, now, how fancy!" So a lot of these upper end brownstone neighborhoods used to be thought of as destinations in and of themselves, and not places where people move because they can't afford Manhattan!

@ ajadeidealist I love how the area, including Cobble Hill, feels like a small, pretty village. The buildings are beautiful, and there are some streets near the Borough Hall station that are unbelievable. They look like mansions. In fact they are mansions. It's pure luxury. And it's an area that is only a couple of stops from Manhattan on the train, so you are very connected to the main NYC vein, while having a much sweeter, more peaceful feel on the streets. That's why I like the area. I'm an aesthete. I'm a sucker for stained glass windows. Don't get that in Manhattan, nor in Willy.

Interesting, @Dblack. I've always been really fascinated by the aesthetic appeal of Brooklyn Heights - I love the wrought-iron gates, especially, and the look of the houses. Never been to Cobble Hill or Boerum, though - although you make a convincing case for going, @Uraniumfish

I agree with you all that Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Ditmars Park are lovely neighborhoods. I think Clinton Hill has its high points, but it's not all roses as it sort of melts into Bed-Stuy, which is sort of run down, so to speak. I've always loved Brooklyn Heights the most, however, and hope to someday save a chunk of change and buy a home there. Guess I'll probably have to get a more square-ish gig, though, as I hear freelancers aren't getting a whole lot of loans these days.

@NeverSleeps Hah! no we are not the most credit worthy lot...

I have a friend of a friend who makes six figures, has $40,000 in savings, and still couldn't get a loan to buy her apartment because she freelances.

@Everyone Considering the fact there is such a growing population of freelancers in NYC you would think the lending agencies would be somewhat convinced that we are indeed credit worthy. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2010/02/25/05/3741-82/index.xml

The freelance profession is probably only growing because no one is hiring!

And everyone's touting freelancing as the way of working in the future....hah!

I guess someone better tell the banks, then. But I have to say that I have friends who are pulling in nice numbers with their "real jobs," and still getting denied for loans.

I worry about the day I will want a loan to buy the normal American necessities, too. Maybe I'm just going to have to find myself a banker husband? Where do you get one of those in this city? Definitely not in Bushwick/ Williamsburg or on OkCupid!

I agree with NeverSleeps. There is actually a report online about it. I can't find it now, but the article stated that people cannot find work because of a tight economy. So what are some of these people doing? They are going out and becoming freelancers. Either that or they are starting their own businesses. Some freelancers do not own a business, they just work for a company under 1099.

@BroadwayBk Don't worry, I think borrowing beyond your means is the American way. They can't, like, do away with that for much longer. There would be rioting in the streets.

Still, it's highly unsettling how hard steady/regular jobs are to get - especially for those of us with the sort of skill set that lends itself better to freelancing. Luckily I'm covered by the NHS - I wouldn't want to have to deal with US health insurance as a freelancer...

@Everybody I've been hearing a lot about community credit unions. Though I haven't looked thoroughly to see what they do, I bet they do make loans to their members, though likely not in large amounts like the banks would. I seem to recall one credit union I heard of for artists, where you could borrow against a future commission. Like, if you had a promissory note that you had been commissioned to do work for X amount, and it would be paid to you on completion of the project, you could borrow X amount now, so you could pay the bills now. Have to look that up...

@ajadedidealist that's the best thing isnt it ?.. I think when It comes to retiring my husband and I will have to move to the UK just to get the cover of the NHS.. do hope its around until then for the UK govt is currently floundering financially. @Uraniumfish I read recently that nearly 800K New Yorkers don't have a bank account or membership to a credit Union .. really wonder how they survive?Cashing checks?those places charge high commissions I believe.

@BroadwayBk there used to be a blog which I occasionally used to read called Dating a banker Anonymous-http://www.dabagirls.com/ which was insanely popular last year but now seems to have gone quiet all of a sudden but it made for a fun read while it lasted for it dealt with the trials and tribulations of dating a banker.. there was talk about making it into a movie as well...have a look..

@Ajadedidealist: What is NHS? Is that a strictly European thing?

@hhusted the NHS is the national health service which is the public health service in Britain. Its totally funded by tax receipts and free for citizens. In some instances even services like fertility treatments are provided free on the NHS,many Americans don't understand the system and have wrongly maligned the NHS during the townhall meetings on insurance. I do understand that the system has short comings say if you need a knee /hip replacement you have to wait for years/months on the NHS but for emergency care like heart attacks etc it is absolutely brilliant!

@Uraniumfish Phew. Can't wait to start borrowing beyond my means, then! @uptowngirl That's really great!

@uptowngirl That dating a banker thing is so great.

@BroadwayBK and Uraniumfish, it is great isn't it? actually much of what they say is quite true.. :)

I love this: "How do you start dating again when you’ve already met Mr. perfect-on-paper (just not-perfect-during-a-recession)?"

@uptowngirl: Thanks for the info. I like Britain's system better. Why can't this dang gone government create a public option like there were they use our taxes to pay it. Instead, they are fighting over whether to have a public option or not. I think I'll move to Britain. They sound more sane than we are.

@hhusted there are too many vested interests at stake in this country..a cousin of mine attended one of the town hall meetings on insurance in Miami and he said the opponents of the public option were absolutely belligerent .. it was as if they were a mouth piece for the insurance industry.

@uptowngirl I'm actually having trouble with the terminology on the dating a banker site. MVP? FBF? Help? I'm uninitiated, I guess.

@Uraniumfish- FBF finance Boyfriend here's a link to the rest of the vocab.. http://www.dabagirls.com/daba-vocab/

Aha!

That website is hilarious! Thanks for the link, guys

@Uptowngirl: You think what your cousin experienced is something, you haven't been to some of the town hall meetings right here in NYC or on Long Island. I have a friend who told me that some opponents actually came in and started to fight physically with the speaker and people in the crowd. They had to be removed and were arrested. By the way, the opponents you spoke about were hired by big insurance to fight against the public option. They do not want to lose all the big money they get each month. Considering they are just greedy ********.

@hhusted sad but very true.. how ignorant people are..that they dont realize this....

@uptowngirl That blog you posted is really an excellent read! So funny!

@uptowngirl I can't believe it, but even I was reading through that blog. Hilarious.

@Everyone wonder why they( the DABA girls) have gone so quiet though they are tweeting away- maybe they have a movie/ TV series coming out soon.

These town halls are scary- and the idea that people would reject a public option is so strange to me - as an expat, I can't imagine not being covered by the NHS, and having to spend 15-20K a year on health insurance on top of taxes not that much smaller than in the UK...

@Ajadedidealist: I always question what this government is doing because when I read about places like Europe and Canada, which have free central health care, it makes me wonder why the US can't adopt it. The main reason is greed and corruption.

@ajadedidealist It is pretty absurd that your average guy wouldn't be demanding free health care, and is instead doing just the opposite....

It is indeed, @neversleeps! And it's scary as well - how can people be manipulated into asking for precisely the opposite of what would benefit them most?

@Ajadedidealist: What you said can be turned into two million dollar questions. Why? How? I do know one thing. No offense to anyone in this forum, but the average person would shoot him or herself in the foot before finding a cure for what ails it. Do you know what I mean?

@everyone had this discussion with friends over lunch earlier today.. the tax rates in the US are not low by any standards 35%++, the tax rate in the UK at the highest strata is around 50% but the Brits get access to free health care and we get nada.. one of the guys at lunch was saying people in the US are just ignorant ..its only when you lose your job and don't have health care that you really understand the gravity of the situation. Even if you have insurance it doesnt cover comprehensive treatment for cancer and other such diseases. The Public option must be made available ..when will the general public realize this and stop resisting something which will aid us all..

@uptowngirl: Amen to the health care bill. You are right. Americans are ignorant. It is also greed and power that runs this country. Many executive wants to get rich and will step on toes to get there. Of course, I am referring to the health insurance companies. Why do you think they pay millions of dollars in side money to certain lobbyist and politicians in the government. This way they can keep having control, so they can continue to get rich.

@NeverSleeps Actually, your average guy IS demanding health care, if you actually ask him. No one's done much asking, otherwise they would have found out the average guy, Republican or Democrat, is overwhelmingly in favor of having an affordable health care option. The most powerful and outspoken opponents of health care reform have been Republican politicians, which number about 300, and which stand in the way of reform that could benefit 300 million! Ask me why people aren't writing their friggin' congressmen.

@Uraniumfish so true!!!!!! when will people wake up and get more proactive on this issue?

@Uraniumfish Right.. but it does seem like those outspoken opponents are all you ever hear from, at least in a public forum. And is it me or do outspoken Republicans sometimes seem almost clown-ish? Maybe I have been watching the Daily Show too much?

@Uptowngirl and @Uraniumfish: Actually people have been writing in. I belong to a political organization that monitors what the government does. And based on recent stats, over a million people have written in to their state senators and representatives, asking for a fair vote to pass the health reform bill. So far, the vote is about 50-50. The fight for health care reform could come down to just a single vote in Congress. But some New York Democrats still haven’t said whether they’ll support reform. One New Yorker, Rep. Scott Murphy, is actually meeting with health care activists from the Working Families Party this Sunday, to help swing the vote in a positive way.

I guess when I think of the average guy and health care I just think of that guy that the Republicans made a big deal of during the last presidential election. Joe the plumber? Remember? For some reason he is the face I put on middle America and how they feel about health care. Probably not the best idea, I'm aware.

@hhusted I am praying that all the people who are desirous of this change do manage to succeed in their endeavors.

Well, as you know, the health care bill passed. Now comes the waiting part to see when rates start falling.

DId you guys see this? http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-07/five-more-states-join-lawsuit-against-health-care-law-update1-.html

@BroadwayBK what a sorry state of affairs..

@BroadwayBK I'm so ashamed this is happening in my country...