Open House Picks

5:43, I guess you’re right. Wow. Thought I’d been keeping such an eye on this market too. My bad.

Musta been the damned dogwood.

By the way, 5:07, thanks. It’s never an easy subject. You made me feel okay about tiptoeing into it…especially on Brownstoner!

“4.31, pay your property taxes. And your interest for your mortgage. And your home owner’s insurance. And your maintenance costs.”

UHHH…not a real problem since i paid cash for my brownstone.

i pay less in those things you mention per month than you probably do to rent a studio in plg.

i own a 2 plus million dollar home outright.

you are comparing that to you renting how exactly???

5:21 – a measured response, and I agree that predicting a dramatic crash is probably off the mark. But your post only tells part of the story. The news has also reported that, despite economic news that has had some slight positive aspects, most economists agree that we are headed towards recession and indeed that housing prices will go down further, and that NYC will at last feel some pain (not catastrophic, but at least not the bubble-like immunity of late). I think the “bitterness” people talk about comes from people who understandably are shocked by the price increases of recent years. Even I’m shocked, and I benefited from it (my property has more than doubled) but since I’m trading up, I really understand the frustration of living in a city where the inequitable distribution of wealth shows itself so nakedly. But all that said, I do think there are many measured responses on the “other side” – that is, people like me who are not waiting for houses to be “given away” but are pointing out that there are buyers who are watching carefully to snap up a property not at a give-away price, but something more reasonable than these picks for example. I’m happy to pay 1.6-1.7 for a smallish (2000-2500 sf) house in a good area in good condition (read: no major renovations needed, or else are factored into this price), which I think is hardly a “give-away” price but is one that some owners don’t want to list their properties at. Though I have recently been seeing some place in the 1.8-2mil range where brokers have implied that indeed we could get the house for much less…

An example of how the pessimists totally miss the point:

In 2008, Wall Street bonuses are expected to be 11% less than in 2007. Ok, that sounds bad, right??

So someone who last year received a 1 million dollar bonus, this year will still receive almost 900,000 dollars. AS A BONUS!

See why it’s not as bad as you keep saying??

The people at the top, as 5:32 is saying are still doing just fine. To be honest, some of my wealthier friends say they are doing better financially than they ever have before.

I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but this country is fast becoming a have and have nots situation.

And nearly everyone buying these homes are part of the haves.